Lone Star Grillz Vertical Insulated Cabinet Smoker-For the new Owner

[GrillsGoneWild]

I don't see having water was an "error". The cooker is made to be able to cook with a moist environment. Now, it may be the amount of water you have in there that may be the issue. I would contact the manufacture to see what the right amount of water to place in the pan is ideal to be able to cook at the temps you want.
Also, a weed burner will go a long way in reducing the amount of heating up time it takes. I preheat my cabinet smoker with one and it helps get to temp within an hour (and that is with using water).

[mikes1212]

Hi GrillsGoneWild, I placed enough water in the pan so that smoke was not exiting from the top vent, and then added maybe a half gallon more. I used tap hot water. One of the problems that led to my temp issue was the screw for for door latch was a tad loose and the door did not have a good seal around it ,letting heat and smoke out. Both issues were pretty much corrected during my cook. The door now closes with a good click, compared to before, where there was almost no click sound at all. Do you happen to own one of these Lone Star vertical cabinets, or do you have something similar?

Weed burner is on order, and should be here in a few days. That should help get temps up there a tad quicker and also help with cleaning/sanitizing the cooking grates before a cook.

Slowly but surely I'm getting there!

[pjtexas1]

Originally Posted by mikes1212

Slowly but surely I'm getting there!

And that's half the fun. Keep smoking!

[ggee6688]

My water heater is set to about 140. I'll Havre to try that. Seems to take forever to boil water.

[mikes1212]

My second 2" DuraChoice 2" Brass Ball Valve came in today, and is snugly installed. I also receive some stainless steel polish for my doors.

[darkoozy]

Originally Posted by ggee6688

My water heater is set to about 140. I'll Havre to try that. Seems to take forever to boil water.

Yes it does take forever. I usually pour scalding hot tap water into 2x2 gallon pots and let them come to boil. It can take a good 30 minutes from there for the pots to come to a boil. Sometimes I cheat with an electric tea kettle

You have to take extra care transporting boiling water as not injure yourself or others.

[clweed]

Originally Posted by mikes1212

My second 2" DuraChoice 2" Brass Ball Valve came in today, and is snugly installed. I also receive some stainless steel polish for my doors.

I wonder what affect location/ elevation has on the cook. I am basically at sea level, I stick a pencil in the 2" valve as gauge when the smoker comes up to temp . That is all the opening that I need to maintain 250 +/-

[mikes1212]

Now that is a good idea! I should find a pencil or equivalent to help zero my temps.

Not sure how elevation will effect a cook. I know, I'm not at sea level, but I am about an hours drive from the Shenandoah, Skyline drive area. This is an area of smaller mountains, around 4000 feet high.

[pyroman175@yahoo]

Well I'm glad I found this thread I ordered my LS about three weeks ago, hoping to receive it in the first of May. Looking forward to doing some comps with it and would love to hear and see some cooks from this smoker. I currently have a Yoder Kingman stick burner..... Love it.... But was hoping to use the LS for catering and comps. Please keep more information coming along with some pics :-)
PS I don't think I will have the heat issues as you guys because it gets to 120 here in the summer LOL

[GrillsGoneWild]

Originally Posted by mikes1212

Hi GrillsGoneWild, I placed enough water in the pan so that smoke was not exiting from the top vent, and then added maybe a half gallon more. I used tap hot water. One of the problems that led to my temp issue was the screw for for door latch was a tad loose and the door did not have a good seal around it ,letting heat and smoke out. Both issues were pretty much corrected during my cook. The door now closes with a good click, compared to before, where there was almost no click sound at all. Do you happen to own one of these Lone Star vertical cabinets, or do you have something similar?

Weed burner is on order, and should be here in a few days. That should help get temps up there a tad quicker and also help with cleaning/sanitizing the cooking grates before a cook.

Slowly but surely I'm getting there!

I have a Backyard Bomber MJH cabinet smoker. It is my first cabinet smoker and took about 3-4 cooks to get down how to get it up to temp and to stay there. I do use a guru, which helps a lot to get the temps up along with using the weed burner to start my coals and warm up the inside. I even use the weed burner to heat up the water pan and the place water in it, so that is another option to try. Looking forward to seeing the results of your first cook.

[mikes1212]

Originally Posted by pyroman175@yahoo

I don't think I will have the heat issues as you guys because it gets to 120 here in the summer LOL

pyroman175@yahoo Welcome to our group!

Damn, 120 degrees! You probably don't have build a fire, do you. Just throw some meat inside, wheel her out into the sun, and let her go!

The wait for mine was ruff, 10 weeks! I hope we are able to help you make it through the long wait, while Chris is building your smoker!

PS. Do you know what the temps are in the Camp Verde area during the summer?

[mikes1212]

Originally Posted by GrillsGoneWild

Looking forward to seeing the results of your first cook.

Hi GGW
Go to the first page of this thread to see the results of my first (and only) cook. I had a ruff start, but everything came out pretty good in the end!

I actually do have a Guru, but it's a 10 CFM and Chris recommends a 25. I bought it a couple of years ago to use on my 2 BGE's. I guess I will need one of these to hook it up to the cabinet http://store.thebbqguru.com/weborder...alve%20Adaptor. Can anyone confirm that this is the right part?

Since I already have a controller, I guess all I would need to buy would be the Pit Bull 25 CFM fan.

[clweed]

Originally Posted by mikes1212

Hi GGW
Go to the first page of this thread to see the results of my first (and only) cook. I had a ruff start, but everything came out pretty good in the end!

I actually do have a Guru, but it's a 10 CFM and Chris recommends a 25. I bought it a couple of years ago to use on my 2 BGE's. I guess I will need one of these to hook it up to the cabinet http://store.thebbqguru.com/weborder...alve%20Adaptor. Can anyone confirm that this is the right part?

Since I already have a controller, I guess all I would need to buy would be the Pit Bull 25 CFM fan.

Mike,

Thats the right adaptor, I would give the 10 cfm a try and see if that is enough air

[pyroman175@yahoo]

Originally Posted by mikes1212

pyroman175@yahoo Welcome to our group!

Damn, 120 degrees! You probably don't have build a fire, do you. Just throw some meat inside, wheel her out into the sun, and let her go!

The wait for mine was ruff, 10 weeks! I hope we are able to help you make it through the long wait, while Chris is building your smoker!

PS. Do you know what the temps are in the Camp Verde area during the summer?

Ya the summers here are brutal that's for sure. We bbq all winter and hibernate in doors for the summer. Lol. Camp verde in this summer isn't to bad. Probably 90 for the high but cools off at night which is nice. Lots of rain during the monsoon months July-September

[lonestargrillz]

Hopefully I can chime in here and help out with some advice to new users. The water is definitely the key to cooking at higher temps. If you want to cook above 250-275 (which is not a problem I have cooked at 375-400 before) go without water. If you want to use water add it after your food is on, pit is up to temp, and add it slowly and gradually so you don’t overwhelm it all at once. Remember though that water boils at 212 so anything above 250 or so will boil off the water very fast, and creates a lot of steam. One other thing you can try if you want water at those higher temps would be to put a foil pan in the water pan and put the water in the foil pan. If you can elevate it just a little so there is a small gap between the two it would be even better. This will boil off a lot less water (since it’s not in direct contact with the heat source) and at the same time not affect the temp nearly as much when cooking above 275. The water in the pan is going to be best during your low and slow smokes since the water is there not just to add moister but also to act as a heat sink and allow you to get the long burn times at low temps. We try to get the latch adjusted before we ship but it may still need some fine tuning when you get the pit. Keep the seals oiled with cooking oil spray (PAM) to keep them pliable, this will make them last much longer and they will seal better. Mine are almost two years old and still don’t need replacement, my latch isn’t adjusted all the way in and smoke dose not leak from the doors so there is still plenty of life left in it. This brings up another thought If you’re trying to get the pit to higher temps you will need to open up the smoke stack accordingly in order to increase the draft, If you’re not opening up the stack your temp won’t increase and you can get some smoke coming from to doors because it has to go somewhere and if the stack isn't opened wide enough it "will" go somewhere. Remember the input and output should be matched up to get that clean efficient burning fire. Under normal conditions it should take about 1 hour to get to temp, I just smoked a couple briskets on mine Saturday and Sunday and 1 hour from lighting coals it was at 225 (I don’t use a weed burner during my pre heating). 10 cfm fan will work but I like the 25 for quicker recovery times and faster pre heating times. I think the weed burner will cut your pre heat time way down and I see no reason not to do this. It takes about 15-20 minutes for your coals to get lite anyways so I see no reason not to use that time to get things preheated with the weed burner. Outside temperature does not affect the inside space due to the insulation but remember if its 40 outside when you start so is all the metal on the inside of the cabinet so this will take longer than it does when its 80 out. Once you’re up to temp then there won’t be much effect on the pit from the outside elements. On my web page and emailed to every customer is a set of instructions from start to finish that have been refined and simplified to get you the shortest learning curve possible. If you follow this as a guide you will yield the best results (I have run this unit a hundred ways and the instructions are how I run mine and have given us the best consistent results). That’s not to say it’s the only way and once you figure it out by all means experiment. You can also email or call me and I will be happy to share what others have found and alternate ways to arrange or mange your fire. I don’t mention it here because I want you to get down the basics first then we can go from there. Remember that the way this is built and designed is for stable and constant temps, and efficient fuel consumption. If it reached 250 degrees in 5 minutes it could go back to nothing just as fast. Always give yourself enough time to get the pit to temp, manage your water and stacks for different desired temps and you will have consistent results with no trouble. Please feel free to call or email us at any time I we are glad to help. One thing that sets us apart from our competition is just that we don’t compete so I have no secrets that I hold back I will happily share any and everything I know to anyone even if you didn’t be a pit from me.
Thanks
Chris Goodlander
Lone Star Grillz