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

Ok guys, question. I seasoned mine last night and haven't cooked anything yet, but will be tonight. My question is about recovering temps after opening the door.

I don't have a guru, so just using intake/exhaust to control temps. This box is a freak of nature and holds temps super steady for an insane amount of time once you dial it in.

What I noticed, however, is that after I opened the door about 3 hours in at 250...the temp dropped to about 225 and never recovered. This is important to me because I like to serve and eat fresh BBQ at the peak time right after cooking or rest period. So if I'm cooking brisket & ribs, I'm going to pull the brisket several hours before the ribs are done to let it rest. If I don't recover my temp after pulling the brisket out, then it will extend my cook time.

What are you guys doing to combat this issue without the use of tech toys? Should I just be opening the inlet / outlet 100% till the temp recovers and then adjust again ?

Pics while I was seasoning and temp at about 35 minute mark:










I didn't wait till coals were all white...got impatient!









On a side note, I used all of a 17oz can of spray oil to lube this thing up. I got every freaking crevice well oiled, and also the seals. I had a hell of a time getting the deflector plate out and back installed because I hadn't read any directions on how it goes. I figured it out after like 6 or 7 minutes of messing around with it...and then I was like DUH so simple haha. It was fun and worth learning how all the parts fit. I also found out that the water pan is welded in place and isn't removable. Not that I was expecting it to be removable, only an observation.

I started roughly about 7:30PM and hung around till a little after 10PM with rock steady temps. After that I got bored and went inside. I checked it a couple of more times before I fell asleep. I woke up around 3AM and it was STILL at same temp. With so little fuel, I was impressed. At about 9AM, the temp was around 125 degrees....so I imagine sometime around 5 or 6AM maybe is when it finally ran out of fuel. Since this is my second smoker, it really makes me appreciate it that much more when compared to my stick burner.

Well it's about dayum time Jose. Sorry, can't answer your question. Nice to see you finally put some fire to that pretty box...

Welp, I guess I answered my own question. I did a fatty, 2 bratwurst, and rack of ribs for the first run last night. Was running around 260 and had the door open for a few minutes while I removed the fatty and sausages. After I closed it, I opened the ball valve wide open as well as the exhaust...and in 5 minutes I was right back up to temp. This is with no water mind you....I've never used water to smoke. I'll leave that experimentation till after I master waterless cooking on this beast.

Loving it!

THoey1963 said:

Argh. You guys are horrible. I just spent about 3 hours reading through this whole thread. I have had my 22.5 WSM for a year now, and there are times when it just wasn't as big as I needed and / or loading stuff on the bottom rack was a pain. Looks like a great smoker.

I was hoping that when it was time to upgrade I would get something that would replace both my gasser and WSM. I am guessing the vertical offset would be better for that dual purpose. But that seems to lead more towards a stick burner than charcoal / wood based (correct me if I am wrong).

Click to expand...

Insulated vertical and the 24x48 charcoal grill. Sure your bank account will cry, but your BBQ brain will dance with joy. :biggrin1:

DaveAlvarado said:

Insulated vertical and the 24x48 charcoal grill. Sure your bank account will cry, but your BBQ brain will dance with joy. :biggrin1:

Click to expand...

Hope his couch is really comfortable.:becky:

JoSal73 said:

Welp, I guess I answered my own question. I did a fatty, 2 bratwurst, and rack of ribs for the first run last night. Was running around 260 and had the door open for a few minutes while I removed the fatty and sausages. After I closed it, I opened the ball valve wide open as well as the exhaust...and in 5 minutes I was right back up to temp. This is with no water mind you....I've never used water to smoke. I'll leave that experimentation till after I master waterless cooking on this beast.

Loving it!

Click to expand...

There is no need to make any adjustments after opeing the doors this will just cause problems when you adjust it back down getting it to the same position you had it. It will recover on its own and should take no more than a couple minutes 5-10 max and 10 being really to long. Not sure what you did wrong the first time since your pictures of the fire box looked good unless you did it after it ran low on fuel or as it was just heating up, outside of that you open the door and close it the temp will pop right back up almost immediately.

Thanks
Chris

My recovery times are within minutes of opening and closing the doors. This is without using any high tech fans.

Analog temp gauges take longer to recover too, this could be your issue.

One question for all you LSG owners out there. Is the taste and flavor profile the same as on a stick burner?

I am contemplating ordering a LSG of my own, but I want to make sure the flavor of my Q won't change much.

I had an original cookshack, started on it, and it was ok but not great.
Moved to an old brinkmann offset horizontal stickburner, the old original super heavy 3/16" thick one, and it makes great Q with lump and splits. I added a firebox baffle welded it in, and three 1/4" thick tuning plates. Works great. I can leave her for about 3 hours and she will stay at 225. Then I have to add some lump and splits again

But I like the stickburner taste 100% better than the cookshack.
I know the cookshack used a heating element, and the LSG can use lump and wood chunks.

is there a flavor change from stickburner to the vertical chunk LSG?
Thx!

DaveAlvarado said:

Insulated vertical and the 24x48 charcoal grill. Sure your bank account will cry, but your BBQ brain will dance with joy. :biggrin1:

Click to expand...

Settled for this:

• 24"x24"x22" square grill top firebox,
• 24"x30"x36" vertical upright smoker
• Warming oven 24"
• Upgrade to 1/2" steel on the firebox
• Slide out internal ash pan for easy clean out of fire box made from 1/4'' steel with 2 handles
• Ash rake with cool touch handle
• Fire poker with cool touch handle
• Utensil storage rack located on the back of the smoker
• GURU Thread adaptor/port
• Temperature probe hole-one on the oven and one on the smoker
• Stainless Steel Front Shelf
• Charge for making table folding
• Custom Fabrication - 2 sausage hooks in the oven
• Cool touch spring handle-on damper rods
• Brass ball valve water drain
• Pull handle-on smoker side
• Custom Fabrication-screw bottle opener on front of oven facing out-customer to send us opener he wants to use
• 8" Solid rubber wheels, includes 2 fixed rear wheels and 2 swivel casters with Heavy duty swivel lock and heavy duty wheel lock. 1500 lbs capacity per wheel
• Charcoal Basket with S baffles.
• Gas assist/log lighter in firebox. Includes adjustable regulator, hose, brass Venturi, burner

Click to expand...

Yeah, have about 58+ more days till pick up. Bank account didn't cry. It died.

An PJ, the couch is just fine, thank you... :tsk:

My crying will come when I get my LSG 24 x 40 but it will be for joy. Got it's new home all ready with plenty of splits.

I've been following this thread for a while and I'm getting close to pulling the trigger just have a few questions.

1- can I get the water pan without the drain and fill tube thus making the pan removable?
2- can I get the shelf installed on both sides of the cabinet?
3- most important, can you do a Washington Redskins maroon color?

1. You could use a hotel pan in the water pan
2. I'm positive Chris could do this
3. Nooooooooooo! (Cowboys fan:becky

Seriously. ..sounds like a nice configuration. You rarely see custom colors. I'm not sure if it's because it's expensive or because they look so damn good in black and ss.

Hoping to pull trigger at the end of next week. I have been wanting one for a bit now and after reading this entire thread last night and this morning you guys have confirmed it for me. Just out of curiosity, is payment in full required or a deposit and rest due upon completion?

8ball bbq said:

Hoping to pull trigger at the end of next week. I have been wanting one for a bit now and after reading this entire thread last night and this morning you guys have confirmed it for me. Just out of curiosity, is payment in full required or a deposit and rest due upon completion?

Click to expand...

50% deposit upon ordering and rest due upon completion.

Thanks

pjtexas1 said:

1. You could use a hotel pan in the water pan
2. I'm positive Chris could do this
3. Nooooooooooo! (Cowboys fan:becky

Seriously. ..sounds like a nice configuration. You rarely see custom colors. I'm not sure if it's because it's expensive or because they look so damn good in black and ss.

Click to expand...

Couldn't have said it better!

Send an email to them and they will answer any question you have. I asked close to a dozen questions before I ordered mine. Couldn't be happier!

harleykids said:

One question for all you LSG owners out there. Is the taste and flavor profile the same as on a stick burner?

I am contemplating ordering a LSG of my own, but I want to make sure the flavor of my Q won't change much.

I had an original cookshack, started on it, and it was ok but not great.
Moved to an old brinkmann offset horizontal stickburner, the old original super heavy 3/16" thick one, and it makes great Q with lump and splits. I added a firebox baffle welded it in, and three 1/4" thick tuning plates. Works great. I can leave her for about 3 hours and she will stay at 225. Then I have to add some lump and splits again

But I like the stickburner taste 100% better than the cookshack.
I know the cookshack used a heating element, and the LSG can use lump and wood chunks.

is there a flavor change from stickburner to the vertical chunk LSG?
Thx!

Click to expand...

I can only qualify this answer from eating a ton of bbq from stick burners and cooking my own on WSM and the cabinet smoker.

Nothing comes close to cooking on pure wood. Stick burners in my opinion put out the best tasting bbq.

Having said that, this smoker will give you some really awesome bbq without sacrificing too much. I went from wsm to this and it gives the same flavor profile as a drum/bullet type smoker.

Every time I fire it up for a cook, family and friends wait in line for me too cook them briskets and butts. It must be good :becky:

Darkoozy,

Thanks for the reply. I don't use 100% wood in my offset, but I use laround three 12-14" 1/3rd splits of usually post oak or hickory, sitting on top of a big bed of Royal Oak USA lump from Wal-Mart. I light the pit with a 3/4 full chimney of lump, dumped in the far corner next to my air inlet.

I use a half sheet or full sheet pan full of water under my grate, sitting on top of my tuning plates.

Takes about 30-45mins to get up to 225-250, then holds there for at least 3 hours, then I have to add more lump (and a bit more wood if meat temp is less than 165)

I am assuming since I am cooking with splits on top of lump, using a water pan, that the LSG would be very similar since it uses chunks on top of briquettes?

Only difference I can see is the vertical configuration, and the insulated cabinet?

Thanks for the help.

I figured with 53 pages of LSG thread, I would get a bunch of replies on taste profile, since I cannot be the only person moving from a stickburner (or lump and stick) to an LSG?

Thx!
Jason

harleykids said:

Darkoozy,

Thanks for the reply. I don't use 100% wood in my offset, but I use laround three 12-14" 1/3rd splits of usually post oak or hickory, sitting on top of a big bed of Royal Oak USA lump from Wal-Mart. I light the pit with a 3/4 full chimney of lump, dumped in the far corner next to my air inlet.

I use a half sheet or full sheet pan full of water under my grate, sitting on top of my tuning plates.

Takes about 30-45mins to get up to 225-250, then holds there for at least 3 hours, then I have to add more lump (and a bit more wood if meat temp is less than 165)

I am assuming since I am cooking with splits on top of lump, using a water pan, that the LSG would be very similar since it uses chunks on top of briquettes?

Only difference I can see is the vertical configuration, and the insulated cabinet?

Thanks for the help.

I figured with 53 pages of LSG thread, I would get a bunch of replies on taste profile, since I cannot be the only person moving from a stickburner (or lump and stick) to an LSG?

Thx!
Jason

Click to expand...

Yes, you will be laying wood chunks on top of briquettes. The flavor profile should be close to what you are experiencing today. I am generous with the wood chunks and pretty much cover the entire surface of coals with a mixture of hickory and mesquite.

The vertical configuration is awesome for heat management and you get about the same temps throughout the cabinet. The insulation is great for holding temps, fuel conservation and allows you to cook all year round.

You won't be disappointed...glad I can help!

I can't do an apples to apples yet because the wood I cooked with in my stick burner was pecan....and I've tried only apple and hickory chunks in the IV.

I made a brisket and jalapeno sausage yesterday. The texture of the bark and tenderness and moisture was pretty awesome, but I don't think I like Hickory more than pecan. I gotta cook another brisket with pecan to really compare.

Having said that, with the sleep I get back from not having to keep the fire going in the stick burner....I am totally OK x100 with what the LSG puts out. Really fine BBQ!