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

[jrben1]

Originally Posted by GrillsGoneWild

I would be interested in seeing if Chris modified the water chamber to have a space between the top of the firebox and the bottom of the water chamber. In my current vertical cabinet smoker the water pan is not built in and uses the bottom rack to slide in and out. This leaves a little space so the bottom of the water pan isn't sitting on top of the firebox. I think this helps to be able to heat the water and helps regulate the temps, but it doesn't take all the effort of the firebox to do so. Just a thought.
Interested to see your cook.

That's a good point. My Backwoods Smoker has a diffuser plate between the firebox and water pan. Doesn't use nearly as much water.
These cabinet smokers are hard to cool down if you overshoot. I have to shut down both intake and exhaust vents on my Backwoods if it overheats. Opening the door will stoke the fire.

[darkoozy]

Morning update...

17lb brisket looks good, wrapped at 180, bark looks good. Based on temps I am a little ahead of schedule, but better than being late. Forgot to take pics before the wrap

The other 2 briskets looks fine too and will get wrapped in another hour or so. So far not too shabby...

Had to put the pork butt in at 2am, and the water pan had dropped about 6 gallons. I would say that I boiled off 6 gallons in about 8 hours give or take. The refill feature without opening the door is by most the best feature of this smoker, genius!

Temps still holding at 225

I also believe one of my earlier errors in overshooting temps, is I left the secondary ball valve open as I was waiting to come to temp. This fueled the fire way too fast. I recommend letting the guru bring to temp on it own and dont provide any additional air into the fire box.

Fun to learn a new smoker...Will tweak as time passes.

I wonder if Chris can design, T-Plates for the fire box to allow for fused charcoal burn, without sacrificing too much charcoal capacity? Id buy that!

[pjtexas1]

I make my own mazes. I have used expanded metal, 16 gauge and aluminum flashing. Aluminum flashing is easiest to cut and bend and doesn't rust. Here is one I made for a very small cabinet smoker. I'm sure you could take measurements to a local welder and pictures and they would make them for you if you don't have time to make one.

[darkoozy]

Originally Posted by pjtexas1

I make my own mazes. I have used expanded metal, 16 gauge and aluminum flashing. Aluminum flashing is easiest to cut and bend and doesn't rust. Here is one I made for a very small cabinet smoker. I'm sure you could take measurements to a local welder and pictures and they would make them for you if you don't have time to make one.

Very nice! ill give that a shot! Thanks!

[lonestargrillz]

With any cabinet smoker you need to start closing your intake and exhaust way before you reach your set point or as mentioned it will take a hour or better to bring it back down. If you do over shoot don't open either door it will stoke the fire even more, simply shut down both the intake and exhaust and wait it out, if you have room to you can add water also. With the ball valve you should start closing things down 50-75 degrees ahead of your set point and let it coast up the rest of the way. The guru will do this automatically once it "learns" your pit, that's why it seams like the temp increase will stall out below your set point but if you look at the fan output it drops way down to avoid a overshoot and will gradually come up. For lower temps you have to choke down the input and smoke stack, I know that's counter intuitive (even for me to say it is) with a stick burner you would never close the smoke stack but with a cabinet at lower temps you must match the exhaust with the input (with the guru you will also need to adjust the fan damper once you reach your set point according to your desired temp). If not a wide open stack with a barely open intake will draw more air in and raise the temp even though you may barely have the valve or guru open (guru may even show a 0% output but can draw air through it when not on). I don't know if our cabinet has a temp it runs best at, I personally don't find it harder to cook at 200-225 than i do at 300-350 but I approach both completely different (as I have touched on in other posts). I will certainly admit though that when we first started testing this smoker I had many of the same temperature control issues that some of you have experienced. My Insulated Smoker Instructions are a basic summation of what I believe to be the best methods to learn how to use our smoker and then you can fine tune it form there.

Thanks
Chris

[darkoozy]

Originally Posted by lonestargrillz

With any cabinet smoker you need to start closing your intake and exhaust way before you reach your set point or as mentioned it will take a hour or better to bring it back down. If you do over shoot don't open either door it will stoke the fire even more, simply shut down both the intake and exhaust and wait it out, if you have room to you can add water also. With the ball valve you should start closing things down 50-75 degrees ahead of your set point and let it coast up the rest of the way. The guru will do this automatically once it "learns" your pit, that's why it seams like the temp increase will stall out below your set point but if you look at the fan output it drops way down to avoid a overshoot and will gradually come up. For lower temps you have to choke down the input and smoke stack, I know that's counter intuitive (even for me to say it is) with a stick burner you would never close the smoke stack but with a cabinet at lower temps you must match the exhaust with the input (with the guru you will also need to adjust the fan damper once you reach your set point according to your desired temp). If not a wide open stack with a barely open intake will draw more air in and raise the temp even though you may barely have the valve or guru open (guru may even show a 0% output but can draw air through it when not on). I don't know if our cabinet has a temp it runs best at, I personally don't find it harder to cook at 200-225 than i do at 300-350 but I approach both completely different (as I have touched on in other posts). I will certainly admit though that when we first started testing this smoker I had many of the same temperature control issues that some of you have experienced. My Insulated Smoker Instructions are a basic summation of what I believe to be the best methods to learn how to use our smoker and then you can fine tune it form there.

Thanks
Chris

Thanks Chris for the great pointers.

I have learned to match the guru damper with the smoke stack opening. My next run will definitely use ALL of your advice. My biggest error was leaving all intakes and exhaust wide open and closing them down way too late. Besides that, I seem to be able to keep the temps at 225 based on your recommendations. Also, fuel consumption is quite good. I loaded the firebox with approx 30lb of kbb and only half way burned through it after about 16 hours. I am liking this so far...A few tweaks here and there and I will get the hang of things.

Again, your advice and tips are greatly appreciated, and thank you for watching out for us!

[darkoozy]

Still in a food coma, will post results tomorrow.

My first run results were pretty good despite losing control of the fire early, later was able to manage fire for the entire cook...

Amazing fuel efficient smoker, 30lbs for 30 hours and I still had time left. My cook only lasted 20 hours, and the smoker kept on holding temp after I was done.

This thing is amazing!

[jrben1]

Chris is right about closing down the Guru fan damper. I noticed my Guru was overshooting then undershooting yesterday. This was corrected by closing the damper half way. In the future I think I will leave the damper open until up to temp, then close it half way.

[darkoozy]

Originally Posted by jrben1

Chris is right about closing down the Guru fan damper. I noticed my Guru was overshooting then undershooting yesterday. This was corrected by closing the damper half way. In the future I think I will leave the damper open until up to temp, then close it half way.

Yes, during my cook, it seemed to stoke the fire and hold temperature perfectly when half way open. Thats the setting I am going to use going forward...

[ggee6688]

I did something different last night and got great results. I closed my intake foe my Stoker. I also did the snake method byte only had coals about two to three pieces high. With only a few coals lit, got to 225 and stayed there. Only burned through 12 lbs over 17 hours. Not shabby. No water.

[clweed]

Originally Posted by ggee6688

I did something different last night and got great results. I closed my intake foe my Stoker. I also did the snake method byte only had coals about two to three pieces high. With only a few coals lit, got to 225 and stayed there. Only burned through 12 lbs over 17 hours. Not shabby. No water.

Did you cook without the stoker?

[ggee6688]

I cooked with it. I didn't need it though. Just to restore temp after I opened up the chamber. Î just finished some chicken at 300. All done.

[J15491]

Originally Posted by jrben1

That's a good point. My Backwoods Smoker has a diffuser plate between the firebox and water pan. Doesn't use nearly as much water.
These cabinet smokers are hard to cool down if you overshoot. I have to shut down both intake and exhaust vents on my Backwoods if it overheats. Opening the door will stoke the fire.

Can you describe the difference withe your backwoods and your Lonestar cabinet? I'm trying to decide between the two

[ggee6688]

I shut my smoker down 4 hours ago. It's still over 200 degrees. No visible embers. It's fantastic.

[darkoozy]

As promised here are results of the first cook. I gambled alot and it paid of well...

I am very very happy with the smoker, and cleanup was a cinch too!

Brisket done
brisket.jpg
flat sliced
flat_slice.jpg
flat close up
flat.jpg
point sliced
point.jpg
burnt ends
burnt_ends1.jpg
more burnt ends
burnt_ends2.jpg
the butt done
butt.jpg
the butt pulled
pulled.jpg
spareribs out of foil
spare_rib_foil.jpg
spare ribs done
spare_rib_done.jpg
baby back done
baby_back.jpg
hot links and bacon wrapped jalapenos
links_jalapeno.jpg
....and the smoker in action :)
smoker.jpg