My off set troubles.

[Bob O Q Shawtee]

I'm too dumb to post pics but the one in post #7 above will work for what I want to say regarding my small offset. The rusty piece is secured flat against end and extending barly below 1/8th" plates which are higher and closer to meat rack than the one in pic. In my experience,variations in wood present's a larger challenge than all other things combined. For that reason,I cut or buy 1/2 rick of pecan at a time,cover with metal roof panel where it's in shade during summer. Humidity in N. Tx averages 60%- 70% so wood never get's really dry. Splits are 3"-5" on each of 3 sides,rounds up to 8"diameter. I lay a 4"-6" piece accross rear of fire box on 1/2" rebar grate then two 3"-5" pieces in front of it. Small campfire burn's atop splits while I go about prepping meat. A separate fire is built in fire pit from which I feed fire during cook. Wood is 50% consumed when shoveled from it to fire box during cook. Fire box door has a 1/16th gap around paremiter and the air shutter is open 3-6 square inches while temps run 275-300. My fire is mostly large glowing coals. When I have many flames,I get more smoke than I prefer. Having said all that,my 30"x48"with 3/8ths walls is much easier to cook on. I also find using charcoal in small smoker is far easier than sticks. As others said,keep at it and things will come togeather for you. I might suggest trying fires without putting meat on when you will be around most of the day anyhow. That alow's experimenting without fear of ruining dinner.

 

[Czarbecue]

Hey, did you went back in time and wrestle that out of my trash can? :heh:

My version was called the Smokin’ Pro back then and all the advice so far have been spot on from what I read and concluded after several months of struggling with the fire management.

If you can master the meats with this one, you can cook on anything. It’s like starting a game on the highest difficulty level.

 

[Guamaque]

Hey, did you went back in time and wrestle that out of my trash can? :heh:
.

Haha, ya, i did, its called being on Guam. And I'm here unelectively, so dont make me feel worst than I already do. Trust me, if I was in Texas now, I would be showing off my 10K pit, no problem !!!! I have it picked out already, but, they don't ship to Guam, nobody does.... But on Guam , you either cook on an old Dioxin oil drum-- local style ( good flavor by the way ) or, you buy whatever Home Depot has for the month. Hence, my love, of this grill, as my Dioxin based UDS cooker finally gave out. Its sort of fun to live in lawlessness. But, ya, it sucks too...

 

[Guamaque]

Thanks guys,

I got it now, my mojo is back in gear, I will work on the fine tuning, but after a 6 hour double pork butt smoke, im feeling it, very good. I have a 3/4 inch -1 inch smoke ring and wow, does it taste delicious, way better than Kamado smokes, so I'm happy I took the step back , to move forward !! Thank you everyone for all the help... !!! Great forum !!!

 

[Cook]

Good job getting results you like. It sounds like, from your opening post, that the pit runs around 230 with the door open. That is where I would have just let it run if that was in your range.

 

[Monkey Uncle]

Guamaque, congrats on getting your cooker dialed in! I will offer two more pieces of unsolicited advice, though.

First, if you start doing longer cooks, you may find that you still don't have enough air space under the basket. It looks pretty low in the pictures. So you might think ahead about what you would do to raise it if the need arises.

Second, if you do small cooks such that most of the cooker is empty (e.g., one pork butt or one rack of ribs), you may find that the meat turns out a bit dry. The offset has much greater airflow than you are used to with your previous cooker, which can result in low humidity in the cook chamber when you don't have it filled with a lot of moist meat. If this happens, you may want to put a pan of water on the cooking grate directly adjacent to the firebox opening, then put your meat "downstream" of the water pan.

 

[LTG]

Success!

 

[LordRiffenstein]

Well done, it proves again that the brethren have all the answers!

 

[MAT5243]

Under your basket make a shallow pan that the ash will fall into. That way as the cook goes on you can just pull that pan out to dump the ash and restore the airspace under the basket. I had a char griller before and the best “mod” I did was to build a firebox the proper size with the proper size throat in it. Made huge difference. After a while attached a built coook chamber and ended up with a proper offset lol.

 

[Blythewood BBQ'er]

Well done man!

 

[Happy Hapgood]

I found this post Helpful. :clap2: