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

[THoey1963]

Well, I am not able to help this weekend, but might be able to pull a leg next weekend if no one is closer and available. Say from LSG to the Beaumont, TX? Not sure that really helps much as it's a 4 hour drive for me to get to LSG, and then I only help it get 2 hours closer to you...

[Big Swole]

Originally Posted by THoey1963

Well, I am not able to help this weekend, but might be able to pull a leg next weekend if no one is closer and available. Say from LSG to the Beaumont, TX? Not sure that really helps much as it's a 4 hour drive for me to get to LSG, and then I only help it get 2 hours closer to you...

Man I appreciate the offer. But wouldn't want to put anyone out like that. Thank you.

I'll just have it shipped if I end up keeping it. I'm back to full duty on Friday and will be working my normal shifts and extra details all week to start trying to catch up. I'll just bust my tail the next several months to get back ahead.

Thanks again my friend.

[TomRaz]

Swole you have a tough decision but I am sure you will do what's right for you

It's hell to get old, I,had my right knee replaced in May of this year so I knew what I was getting into

You should try Synzisc One for your next injection
It only takes one injection instead of three per knee

[Big Swole]

Originally Posted by TomRaz

Swole you have a tough decision but I am sure you will do what's right for you

It's hell to get old, I,had my right knee replaced in May of this year so I knew what I was getting into

You should try Synzisc One for your next injection
It only takes one injection instead of three per knee

Hmmm.. haven't heard of it. I go back to my last apt. for my wrist in early Nov. I'll ask my Doc. About it. Thank you!!!

[TomRaz]

Hello again Swole
They actually have two products
Synvisc
And
Synvisc Ome

The first one requires 3 injections
The Synvisc One only requires one injection

Since getting a shot in my knee was not that much fun I opted for the Synvisc one

You would want to check to see if your insurance covers that one

[DBBQ]

Using a bbq guru on my LSG IV in a couple hours. I have not ever used one,
-Does it matter which ball valve the fan is hooked up to?
-Do I just put the pit temp probe through a potato or something and place on top cooking rack?
Thannks

[Pstores]

Question how hot can you one of these? I know more of a smoker and not a cooker....

[Inthewoods]

I believe your not to exceed 400...

-D

[harleykids]

DBBQ,

I use a DigiQ 2 on my LSG IVC. Works great!

I put it on the ball valve closest to the front, where I also build my initial fire for my S maze. Will regulate the pit perfectly for as long as you have briquettes in the firebox.

Pit thermometer clips onto the middle grate, or use potato, ball of foil, etc to hold it.

It was a great addition to the pit, now I can sleep thru the night, run errands, etc! Life is good now!

Only issue I have had was that towards the end of the briquette maze you will see the temp start to go up, even with the DigiQ doing its thing. For me, this ends up being about 13 hours into the cook with the last part of my S maze lit, and food about 10 degrees from done.

I think this is due to the sheer number of ashes and still hot burnt little coals that remain along the maze. That's the only thing I can think of. But it actually works out in my favor, as I run all my BBQ naked (no foil or wrap) for the entire cook, so the last 10 degrees of cooking get done at a higher temp. Works great!

I set my DigiQ pit temp at 235, which is about 225 showing on the LSG thermometer, and my DigiQ food temp set at 192. Stays that way for 13 hours, never deviates, then even with the DigiQ set at 235, the temp starts to climb and hits about 275 and stays there until the coals burn out. When the temp starts to go up, my food is usually around 183-185, just coming out of the stall (naked, takes longer to get thru the stall) so the hotter temp is timed just right coincidentally.

When I say food, I mean pork butts and brisket. For ribs, chicken, and everything else, the cook only lasts about 4-5 hours, as I put those in at about the 7 hour mark (butts and brisket have already been in for 7-9 hours), throw 4-5 chunks of whatever wood I want in the firebox at that time, and never open the doors again until they are done. The later raise in temp to 275 helps crisp up the outside and works great.

All in all, very happy with my LSG! Here is my advice on the LSG pit...take it as an you choose:

1) cook low at 225 with DigiQ set to 235 and maze/firebox 1/2 full. Use 10 fist size chunks of wood and the rest hardwood briquettes (Stubbs, etc). This will give you a 14-16 hour total cook time, about 12 hours at 225 before the rise to 275-285 sets in.
Plan your dishes accordingly, and only open the doors once to add second round of wood (if needed) for your secondary dishes (chicken, ribs, fatties, macaroni and cheese, etc)

2) start your fire in the bottom left corner of the firebox, have your front 2" BV open 1/3 (fan on this front BV) and fan shutter open 1/3. Rear BV closed, and water drain closed. Top vent open 1/2 way, stays that way the whole cook.

3) don't run water in the LSG, not necessary IMHO. Do what you like, but to me it detracts from the taste and texture of the final product, is unnecessary in such a tight insulated smoker, and just makes for a BIG mess to clean up. Plus as meat cooks it drips, giving off water, so why add more water to water!

4) I run all my meats directly on the racks until 165 internal temp is reached, then I set butts and briskets in aluminum pans until finished. You get the benefits of collecting the juices, as well as the benefits of all the naked bark buildup. Never foil, not necessary and ruins bark and texture. I always use drip pans under all my meats from the very beginning of the cook. No mess, no cleanup, and keeps meat from dripping on meat. When I put my naked meats in their pans at 165, that's when I remove their respective drip pans, and that makes room for my chickens, ribs, etc. and I move the used drip pans under those new meats. No mess and nothing to clean when everything is done!

5) I start my pit the same way every time. Fill the maze to the top with Stubbs hardwood briquettes, place my 10-12 pieces of fist sized wood on top throughout the length of the maze (I run a 1/2 maze, about 10-12 lbs of briquettes, bag and a half of the 7lb bags, about 1/2 the firebox filled) and light the left front side front of my maze with a handheld propane torch. I just hold the torch there until about 3-4 briquettes are glowing red, about 5 mins, then slide the firebox in, close the door, and the DigiQ takes over from there. Takes about an hour and a half to get to 225. I use this hour to prep, inject, rub all my meats, then meats go on at that time, end of story!

6) when cooking is done, I shut the front ball valve and the top vent and let the pit naturally burn itself out. May take 3 hours or more! And I never reuse anything left over in the firebox, not briquettes or wood. There is nothing new in there, everything has been spent but sometimes big pieces of briquettes remain, etc. don't do it. Use new fuel each time and keep a clean, fairly ash free firebox for good performance.

Hope that helps! If I think of anything else I will let you know. This has worked the best for me, your mileage may vary. But my friends all say I make the best Q of any of them, and some of them make damn good Q. I am sure the LSG Pit helps me turn out great Q, better than my other pits have.

Jason

[lonestargrillz]

Originally Posted by harleykids

DBBQ,

I use a DigiQ 2 on my LSG IVC. Works great!

I put it on the ball valve closest to the front, where I also build my initial fire for my S maze. Will regulate the pit perfectly for as long as you have briquettes in the firebox.

Pit thermometer clips onto the middle grate, or use potato, ball of foil, etc to hold it.

It was a great addition to the pit, now I can sleep thru the night, run errands, etc! Life is good now!

Only issue I have had was that towards the end of the briquette maze you will see the temp start to go up, even with the DigiQ doing its thing. For me, this ends up being about 13 hours into the cook with the last part of my S maze lit, and food about 10 degrees from done.

I think this is due to the sheer number of ashes and still hot burnt little coals that remain along the maze. That's the only thing I can think of. But it actually works out in my favor, as I run all my BBQ naked (no foil or wrap) for the entire cook, so the last 10 degrees of cooking get done at a higher temp. Works great!

I set my DigiQ pit temp at 235, which is about 225 showing on the LSG thermometer, and my DigiQ food temp set at 192. Stays that way for 13 hours, never deviates, then even with the DigiQ set at 235, the temp starts to climb and hits about 275 and stays there until the coals burn out. When the temp starts to go up, my food is usually around 183-185, just coming out of the stall (naked, takes longer to get thru the stall) so the hotter temp is timed just right coincidentally.

When I say food, I mean pork butts and brisket. For ribs, chicken, and everything else, the cook only lasts about 4-5 hours, as I put those in at about the 7 hour mark (butts and brisket have already been in for 7-9 hours), throw 4-5 chunks of whatever wood I want in the firebox at that time, and never open the doors again until they are done. The later raise in temp to 275 helps crisp up the outside and works great.

All in all, very happy with my LSG! Here is my advice on the LSG pit...take it as an you choose:

1) cook low at 225 with DigiQ set to 235 and maze/firebox 1/2 full. Use 10 fist size chunks of wood and the rest hardwood briquettes (Stubbs, etc). This will give you a 14-16 hour total cook time, about 12 hours at 225 before the rise to 275-285 sets in.
Plan your dishes accordingly, and only open the doors once to add second round of wood (if needed) for your secondary dishes (chicken, ribs, fatties, macaroni and cheese, etc)

2) start your fire in the bottom left corner of the firebox, have your front 2" BV open 1/3 (fan on this front BV) and fan shutter open 1/3. Rear BV closed, and water drain closed. Top vent open 1/2 way, stays that way the whole cook.

3) don't run water in the LSG, not necessary IMHO. Do what you like, but to me it detracts from the taste and texture of the final product, is unnecessary in such a tight insulated smoker, and just makes for a BIG mess to clean up. Plus as meat cooks it drips, giving off water, so why add more water to water!

4) I run all my meats directly on the racks until 165 internal temp is reached, then I set butts and briskets in aluminum pans until finished. You get the benefits of collecting the juices, as well as the benefits of all the naked bark buildup. Never foil, not necessary and ruins bark and texture. I always use drip pans under all my meats from the very beginning of the cook. No mess, no cleanup, and keeps meat from dripping on meat. When I put my naked meats in their pans at 165, that's when I remove their respective drip pans, and that makes room for my chickens, ribs, etc. and I move the used drip pans under those new meats. No mess and nothing to clean when everything is done!

5) I start my pit the same way every time. Fill the maze to the top with Stubbs hardwood briquettes, place my 10-12 pieces of fist sized wood on top throughout the length of the maze (I run a 1/2 maze, about 10-12 lbs of briquettes, bag and a half of the 7lb bags, about 1/2 the firebox filled) and light the left front side front of my maze with a handheld propane torch. I just hold the torch there until about 3-4 briquettes are glowing red, about 5 mins, then slide the firebox in, close the door, and the DigiQ takes over from there. Takes about an hour and a half to get to 225. I use this hour to prep, inject, rub all my meats, then meats go on at that time, end of story!

6) when cooking is done, I shut the front ball valve and the top vent and let the pit naturally burn itself out. May take 3 hours or more! And I never reuse anything left over in the firebox, not briquettes or wood. There is nothing new in there, everything has been spent but sometimes big pieces of briquettes remain, etc. don't do it. Use new fuel each time and keep a clean, fairly ash free firebox for good performance.

Hope that helps! If I think of anything else I will let you know. This has worked the best for me, your mileage may vary. But my friends all say I make the best Q of any of them, and some of them make damn good Q. I am sure the LSG Pit helps me turn out great Q, better than my other pits have.

Jason

The smoker is designed to run "with" or "without" water but that's not to say it works well at any temp either way. As a general rule with water in the water pan 250-275 max beyond that your making to much steam, using to much fuel, and its likely it will take you forever to get to those temps because we all know water boils at 212 degrees. 225 and below I recommend using water in the water pan because it helps at lower temps over long cooks by acting as a large heat sink. You can run it dry at 225 and below (and I have many times) but as mentioned above it will remain locked in until around the 10 hour mark and then gradually creep up slowly after that. Haven't ever really figured out a reason why you can keep it stable at 225 with out water for so long then without any change in variables it will creep but it does. My advise and when I cook if its 225 or below and I need to cook for more than 10 hours I always use water.

Thanks
Chris
Lone Star Grillz

[harleykids]

Thanks Chris, love the pit!

I prefer no water, just easier for me and seems to yield a better product believe it or not texture wise and bark wise. Since the meat is dripping with with juice and shedding its moisture, there is plenty of humidity without any water, IMHO.

I did use water as a heat sink when I first got the pit, but as water dropped, temp went up, etc. and it just seemed that running dry in a very humid environment worked more consistently for me. Plus the fact that I don't have to wait for the water to heat up (even adding 1/2 water, come close to temp, and then top off water pan thru hole adds time to heat up in my experience)

Glad you see the same thing on your pit as I do mine, with the rise in temp after the 12-14 hour mark. It was weird the first few times that happened!

I even shut my fan shutter and BV down to 1/8" open, if you can believe that! Then when temp kept climbing towards 260, I even shut off the fan.
Pit hit 275 and stayed there for the next 3-4 hours. No real reason.

It wasn't like it was running away, like it can do if you have too big a fire... it was more like a stack up of heat soak, like TIG welding kind of!

Anyway, I know it happens consistently now, so I just use it to my advantage and run my meats that like a hotter finish (chicken/ribs, ABT's, misc, etc) at the end of the cook. That allows me to start my big cuts of meat like butts and briskets around 10pm at night, and cook thru the night without worry. Then on goes my chickens and ribs around 12 noon, and everything is done by dinner time!

Kudos to you and your team for a great performing, solidly built life-time smoker!

Thanks Chris!
Jason

[pjtexas1]

If you notice your cooker running hotter at a certain point then make a note on where in the charcoal pan maze the lit charcoal is at that time. next cook thin out the charcoal at or before that point. After a couple cooks you should have it figured out.

[harleykids]

yes, same place every time, right at the tail end of the cook, last 6 inches of the maze end.

I will thin out next time and try that, but I am guessing it is heat soak stack up and not the last 6" of the maze....

[DBBQ]

Great write up harleykids. I used the cyberq and was very pleased with it. I ended up clipping it to the top grate. The ball valve..I used the front and left it all the way open the whole cook. I dialed in 275, and it was pretty much there for 10 hours. Was I supposed to close the ball valve some? I did close the valve on the fan some.

[harleykids]

I believe LSG and DigiQ both say to match the BV to the fan shutter, to the top vent. So for example if you run your BV 1/3 open, then your fan shutter and your top vent should also be 1/3 open.

I run mine at 1/3...on a windy day keeping the BV, fan, and vent at 1/3 will help not over oxygenated the pit (air passes thru the fan even when it is off, and can cause temps to increase even without the fan running! The pit is that efficient!)

This works well for me at 225. For 275 I think 1/3 is probably good too, but you can open more if u want.. the key is to open just enough to maintain target temp, and not too much as to consume fuel at a faster rate than necessary. And to keep the pit temp from rising due to over oxygen condition.

At least that's my take on it!