Shagdog
Quintessential Chatty Farker
So I took off work Friday to drive down to Tuscaloosa and pick up my new offset from Shirley Fabrication. 1500 miles, 23 1/2 hours in the car and I'm back with what is now my most prized possession. I've come bringing lots of pron for y'all.
Got to Paul's about 5. The first thing that struck me was.. That's a little bigger than I expected.. These cookers are no joke. Massive! And about as solid as they come.
The boys went to work pretty quickly loading it into the back of my dad's truck.
Piece of cake. I only wish it was that easy to get it out!
Paul took us out to dinner at local joint. He and his wife are some of the most lovely and generous people I have ever had the privilege to meet. We spent the whole night speaking like old friends that had know each other 20 years. They insisted we stay at their house, and in the morning he got up at 5 to have a cup of coffee ready for me and see us off. He is a helluva guy.
Hit the road about 5:30am. Drove pretty much straight through, just stopping for fuel and drive-thrus. Landed at my folk's at about 3cst, loaded up a bunch of cherry I had seasoning in their woods and got back on the road. Finally made it home by 6pm. I had 3 guys lined up to come over at 6:30 and help me unload the beast.
Now, all the way home we puzzled over how we would remove this from the trailer. Its a tall truck, and its a very heavy smoker, so just a ramp to the ground would probably flatten whoever is behind it, so we come up with about 200 different ways to do it.. in the end, this was what we thought would work best..
It worked.... kind of. As soon as the smoker got on the tailgate, it sank in like it was made of cardboard! Big wheel ruts in the steel. And then it was stuck to boot. I had visions of the tailgate breaking off and the whole smoker finding the ground very quickly. We pushed it back into the truck, bridged the tailgate with some sacrificial 3/4 ply and did it again. Had to drag the smoker out with a Nissan titan, as the slight upward grade of the grass was next to impossible. Only almost tipped it twice. It was a total chit show, but we eventually got her out. And the tailgate damage seems to be limited to the inside..
OK, on the smoker. The fit and finish on this thing is INSANE. Way over the top. As a woodworker and perfectionist, I can clearly see that these guys take a lot of pride in what they do, and it shows. Everything is very user friendly, well thought out, and cut exactly how it should be. No wonky corners, weird gaps, or anything that stands out. It is made with some serious attention to detail.
Most importantly, you can put a beer on the shelf and open the cabinet doors.
This is what the smoke looked like all day
Here's one just for a little scale. Yes, that's a 22" weber
Covered everything with pam and added a chimney of coals and a couple splits. Let her warm up slowly for a couple hours, until she settled in around 285 at hour 3. Added the fatties...
One spicy sausage with SM spicy apple, the other regular with SM Pecan
Next I put on a couple butts.. She cruised at about 285 all day. when she started to drop I'd throw a split on and it would jump back in 2 minutes or less. Stayed within 20 degrees of 285 all. day. long. Except for once I was busy in the house and it hit 250...
Here's butts at the 3 hour mark
Added some beef backs a bit later, Seasoned with Dink's Udder madness that Paul gave me. Great Stuff!
Julian and I decided his job would be to keep the wood shelf stocked. He did a good job!
Started to rain.. Didn't want the smoker to get wet! or my guests I suppose..
Dogs enjoyed the firebox..
Ribs!
Butts!
Everything came out great. This smoker is super easy to use. Anyone in the market for an offset should seriously give Shirley Fabrication a hard look. I have never seen a pit this well built. We have a Lang at work and its not even in the same ballpark. The Shirleys take their pits seriously, and you won't go wrong with one of their builds. Its absolutely amazing!
Got to Paul's about 5. The first thing that struck me was.. That's a little bigger than I expected.. These cookers are no joke. Massive! And about as solid as they come.
The boys went to work pretty quickly loading it into the back of my dad's truck.
Piece of cake. I only wish it was that easy to get it out!
Paul took us out to dinner at local joint. He and his wife are some of the most lovely and generous people I have ever had the privilege to meet. We spent the whole night speaking like old friends that had know each other 20 years. They insisted we stay at their house, and in the morning he got up at 5 to have a cup of coffee ready for me and see us off. He is a helluva guy.
Hit the road about 5:30am. Drove pretty much straight through, just stopping for fuel and drive-thrus. Landed at my folk's at about 3cst, loaded up a bunch of cherry I had seasoning in their woods and got back on the road. Finally made it home by 6pm. I had 3 guys lined up to come over at 6:30 and help me unload the beast.
Now, all the way home we puzzled over how we would remove this from the trailer. Its a tall truck, and its a very heavy smoker, so just a ramp to the ground would probably flatten whoever is behind it, so we come up with about 200 different ways to do it.. in the end, this was what we thought would work best..
It worked.... kind of. As soon as the smoker got on the tailgate, it sank in like it was made of cardboard! Big wheel ruts in the steel. And then it was stuck to boot. I had visions of the tailgate breaking off and the whole smoker finding the ground very quickly. We pushed it back into the truck, bridged the tailgate with some sacrificial 3/4 ply and did it again. Had to drag the smoker out with a Nissan titan, as the slight upward grade of the grass was next to impossible. Only almost tipped it twice. It was a total chit show, but we eventually got her out. And the tailgate damage seems to be limited to the inside..
OK, on the smoker. The fit and finish on this thing is INSANE. Way over the top. As a woodworker and perfectionist, I can clearly see that these guys take a lot of pride in what they do, and it shows. Everything is very user friendly, well thought out, and cut exactly how it should be. No wonky corners, weird gaps, or anything that stands out. It is made with some serious attention to detail.
Most importantly, you can put a beer on the shelf and open the cabinet doors.
This is what the smoke looked like all day
Here's one just for a little scale. Yes, that's a 22" weber
Covered everything with pam and added a chimney of coals and a couple splits. Let her warm up slowly for a couple hours, until she settled in around 285 at hour 3. Added the fatties...
One spicy sausage with SM spicy apple, the other regular with SM Pecan
Next I put on a couple butts.. She cruised at about 285 all day. when she started to drop I'd throw a split on and it would jump back in 2 minutes or less. Stayed within 20 degrees of 285 all. day. long. Except for once I was busy in the house and it hit 250...
Here's butts at the 3 hour mark
Added some beef backs a bit later, Seasoned with Dink's Udder madness that Paul gave me. Great Stuff!
Julian and I decided his job would be to keep the wood shelf stocked. He did a good job!
Started to rain.. Didn't want the smoker to get wet! or my guests I suppose..
Dogs enjoyed the firebox..
Ribs!
Butts!
Everything came out great. This smoker is super easy to use. Anyone in the market for an offset should seriously give Shirley Fabrication a hard look. I have never seen a pit this well built. We have a Lang at work and its not even in the same ballpark. The Shirleys take their pits seriously, and you won't go wrong with one of their builds. Its absolutely amazing!
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