Steam coming out the stack

M

Mt.man511

Got Wood.
Joined
Jul 29, 2016
Location
Franklin...
New to all of this so i have a question i have been searching for a insulated vertical smoker i found one i fell in love with it is a custom build and a one of a kind and i'm a sucker for something different.
He calls it Goldilocks and he has 19 videos of the build and can be found by google, Goldilocks smoker.

Now to the point we had reached an agreed price but in watching the video 14 there is a lot of steam coming out the stack it has a very large water pan with no diffuser plate and it is a stick burner or charcoal.

Since i'm new i didn't know if this was way to much steam and did question him about it and i think i insulted him by asking questions.
I still want to buy it but don't want to make a big mistake.
Being a stick burner is a big advantage to me since i have all the oak and hickory i can burn, worried that i can't keep temps down without the water and to much steam if i do use water. I asked him to install a diffuser plate but he said he would just keep it for himself.
I know i should just move on but if the steam is not problem i need to know.
Any ideas would be most helpful.
 
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Sounds to me that you need to tell the guy to go get bent, and keep searching for one you like, any builder shouldn't have any problems making modifications to tailor the rig to the customer, or at least be open enough to explain why the modification wouldn't work, sometimes the things we want or think of just wont work or be cost effective to do but at least explain that, not just be so arrogant to say ill just keep it then.
 
Okay, I found a video and it show the water trough. That's not a water pan. If it needs that much water to operate correctly you don't want it. holy hannah! There's at least 5 gallons of water in that thing!! And it sounds like the guy is jerk too. I'd call someone else and have something better built.
 
That looks more like smoke from a poorly managed fire than steam. When he opens the firebox there is way too much wood creating too little air flow for it to "breathe". That's gonna put out some harsh flavors on your cook. It may work well with less wood in the firebox.
 
I know i need to get over it i just like something different i already had taken the money out of the bank but seeing #14 video just didn't look right.
 
You know i think that is a lot of some people problem they had been used to eating BBQ cooked with bad smoke so when they get BBQ that was cooked with clean smoke they think i doesn't taste right, i'm at the top of the list.
 
Mt.man511 said:
He said it was 18 gallons when full i just can't imagine needing that much water.
Click to expand...

pretty remarkable actually. that must take a ton of energy to heat that much water and still have heat to cook the food. That is 150 lbs. of water alone... wow.
 
pbj said:
That looks more like smoke from a poorly managed fire than steam. When he opens the firebox there is way too much wood creating too little air flow for it to "breathe". That's gonna put out some harsh flavors on your cook. It may work well with less wood in the firebox.
Click to expand...

I think you are right on i went back and watched the videos again when the temp was 300 he had very clean smoke when he loaded up the wood in the fire box then came the white smoke and as the fire died down you could see the smoke start to turn blue.
 
Mt.man511 said:
Well we must always look at the positive side of things 18 Gallons of hot water (Bath time).
Click to expand...

I hear ya lol ....if you just set aside how absurd an 18 gallon water pan is and just think about how long it would take 18 gallons to warm up and temps to settle and then how long it would take to cool down and safely remove it after the cook....id go tried and true if you're buying it or buid your own if you want something different.
 
18 gallons?!?! :shock:

I dont even want to know how much wood it takes to get/keep that up to temp.
 
everything else being equal...
you don't have to fill the water pan completely or you could run it empty.
on a positive note he may have figured out how to stick burn in an insulated cabinet...use so much water that you can actually have enough intake/oxygen to run sticks without running the cook chamber up to 800 degrees. :heh:
 
I didn't have time to watch all the videos to see what inside the smoker looks like but I have to say a few things:
1.) 18 gal water pan is ridiculous.
2.) That's white puffy creosote filled smoke, not steam.
3.) That fire is so choked out its basically smoldering and not giving a clean burn.

I think you could probably get a better product through lone Star Grillz or Pitmaker.

My two cents.
 
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