MMMM.. BRISKET..
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Q-talk *ON TOPIC ONLY* QUALITY ON TOPIC discussion of Backyard BBQ, grilling, equipment and outdoor cookin' . ** Other cooking techniques are welcomed for when your cookin' in the kitchen. Post your hints, tips, tricks & techniques, success, failures, but stay on topic and watch for that hijacking.


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Old 06-30-2022, 06:38 PM   #76
pjtexas1
somebody shut me the fark up.
 
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If the op is happy then I'm good. Not that what we think matters.

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Old 06-30-2022, 09:18 PM   #77
Inthewoods
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Location: Idaho, USA
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Glad he did right by ya. I'm not in the camp of "Send the f'ing thing back." I know what the labor, the blue collar market and it's prospects vs reality. Everyone is dying fer help and we get the gamers booted from mother's basement...f'ing think me jobsites is some 200 year old torture device, I imagine my fellow tradesmen in the welding shops know that as well.
Good on ya fer being reasonable!

-D
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Old 07-01-2022, 08:28 AM   #78
robertm
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Glad you were able to get all resolved. I've been contemplating a Big Phil 150 or 250 for a while. Looking forward to hearing more about how it flows and what you've settled on for maintaining temps, wood burn rate etc.

Biscuit test was quite impressive btw!
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Old 07-03-2022, 09:20 AM   #79
Bob O Q Shawtee
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Inthewoods View Post
Glad he did right by ya. I'm not in the camp of "Send the f'ing thing back." I know what the labor, the blue collar market and it's prospects vs reality. Everyone is dying fer help and we get the gamers booted from mother's basement...f'ing think me jobsites is some 200 year old torture device, I imagine my fellow tradesmen in the welding shops know that as well.
Good on ya fer being reasonable!

-D
Agreed and if anyone considers Big Phil's customer service below average, I'd like to hear what planet they live on.
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Old 07-04-2022, 03:34 PM   #80
Connor_Macleod
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Just a quick update on my smoker. Y'all may recall the leak between the firebox and cook chamber and the discolored paint on the surface where the firebox is not insulated...so after the mobile welder fixed the cook chamber leak and I verified with a rib cook where there was no leak anymore, I went ahead and painted the discolored wall of the firebox (after surface prepping it by sanding and rubbing down with alcohol) with Krylon 1,200-degree black high heat paint. The results look great, and the after photo below shows the condition after a 12+ hour brisket cook yesterday, so it is holding up great so far.

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Old 07-04-2022, 03:37 PM   #81
Connor_Macleod
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One more thing I wanted to post about Big Phil's pit design that I like a very, very much: his golf cart wheel axle system is built such that you can turn the wheels by more than 90 degrees, resulting essentially in a ZTR smoker. This comes in incredibly handy for me when maneuvering the smoker in my basement or on my medium-sized patio.

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Old 07-04-2022, 03:40 PM   #82
chingador
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Good resolution. The measure of a company isn’t whether they have flaws or make mistakes, have bad days etc. What really matters is what they do the rectify when those things happen. Kudos for you for keeping your balance and allowing them the opportunity to make it right. Obviously this is not a perfect transaction and I would be very attentive in case anything else popped up but hopefully everything is smoothed out and you will have many years of great and trouble free cooking on this rig.
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Old 07-04-2022, 08:22 PM   #83
SkaterSmoker
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Connor_Macleod View Post
Just a quick update on my smoker. Y'all may recall the leak between the firebox and cook chamber and the discolored paint on the surface where the firebox is not insulated...so after the mobile welder fixed the cook chamber leak and I verified with a rib cook where there was no leak anymore, I went ahead and painted the discolored wall of the firebox (after surface prepping it by sanding and rubbing down with alcohol) with Krylon 1,200-degree black high heat paint. The results look great, and the after photo below shows the condition after a 12+ hour brisket cook yesterday, so it is holding up great so far.
When I first saw your post I thought the grease leak was a huge oversight, but after some research I found another prominent pit builder revealed welds can easily be air proof, but water or grease proof is a different story and can be unnoticeable due to what he called “worm holes” that can develop well after the cooling process. Great remedy and there’s no reason I wouldn’t buy a Big Phil smoker in the future. Beautiful pit and that biscuit test was proof of the excellent design.
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Old 07-04-2022, 08:55 PM   #84
Connor_Macleod
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Fascinating about the worm holes leaking grease - I have not heard of that concept, but maybe that's what I experienced. Grease does seem to find a way to squeeze through openings that might not leak water.

This pit runs really well with very even cooking across the lower grates. The upper grate came in handy during the brisket cook, when I cooked pork steaks and chicken wings for lunch and dinner, respectively, on the upper grate while briskets were cooking and tallow was rendering on the lower grates. And with 60 inches of real estate to work with in the cooking chamber, I was able to arrange everything so that nothing on the lower level was getting dripped on by the top.
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Old 01-12-2023, 04:47 AM   #85
evanakarp
Got rid of the matchlight.
 
Join Date: 04-13-21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin James View Post
Very glad I saw this post, and right in the nick of time. I have one of his Blue Smoke Smokers that is finished and just awaiting shipping, and it has a removable T bar attached to the barrel under the collector. It has the elbow just like yours.

Funny thing is I saw the below picture on his FB page of another smoker with the T bar and it has a brace welded in at the elbow, apparently yours didn't, and I just looked at the picture he sent me of mine on Friday and mine doesn't have it either. Gonna have to call him on Monday and have him add that before it hits the road on it's way to me!

first post - this is my pit!

in the spirit of this thread, which is to post a detailed & honest assessment of Big Phil's product & service, I'd like to share a few things as well:

positives
i.) the smoker runs great. even temps, strong draft. has made it easy adjusting to an offset. the insulated firebox is clutch as we enter the cold weather months in the northeast.
ii.) from my eye, the welds are clearly of high quality/craftsmanship. the customization aspect of phil's offering is what ultimately drove my decision making to pick him as my pit-builder. especially the cart, with wheels thin enough to fit through my gate.

negatives
i.) reliability/responsiveness. when I contacted Phil in 4Q'21 to discuss the pit, and ultimately order it, he was more than happy to talk through ideas/process. after ordering it in Dec'21, i was given a 6-month lead time (which to be sure, I was totally fine with); still, it was virtually IMPOSSIBLE to get any updates on when he'd actually be either a.) completing the build or b.) shipping the pit. in fact, when i did get pics, there were several features i caught that he forgot to include - and had I not, they would not have gotten done. moreover, he did not note that i wanted the pit shipped - and because he did not arrange shipping in advance, this became a major problem as labor was scarce.

ii.) follow-up/resolution. i finally received the pit in mid July '22. the first thing i noticed was that the wheels were white, not black as i specifically discussed with him (multiple times) - and is clearly detailed in my invoice.

i flagged this immediately and he ordered the wheels promptly. since, he has gone completely silent, only telling me that the wheels are sitting in his box in the shop. no offer for a new solution, no timeframe, nothing. what went from solid, if spotty, customer service has become really upsetting. i would not have paid $750 for the wheel upgrade if i knew this was going to be the resulting outcome. at this point, i'm likely going to take care of the wheels myself - as there's no reason for me to expect phil to suddenly decide 6 months later that he'll actually take care of a frustrated customer.

correspondence below...

me:
Smoker made it. Can you send a nut for this wheel?
Also, we discussed spray painting the wheels black!

Phil Big Phil’s Smokers:
I can mail you a lug nut.
Sorry I forgot to get that done. Would you like for me to refund you for having white wheels ?

me:
Awesome. Yes that’d be greatly appreciated, whatever you think Is fair for the wheel painting

Phil Big Phil’s Smokers:
Well I was gonna get em Powdercoated
Which was $150.00 for all 4 wheels.
Are you gonna get em Powdercoated or just spray paint them

me:
If you can get 4 of them powder coated, and UPS them to me, I can put them on and I can UPS the white ones back to you.

Phil Big Phil’s Smokers:
Is there any powder coat shops around you

me:
Yes. But Problem is would be a pain to get those tires off those wheels. The powder coater won’t do that. Then, once they are coated, I’d have to reinstall the tires onto the wheels with tubes inside the tires.

Maybe you’d send the wheels, then i’d have them powder coated here? What are you thinking would be easiest?

Phil Big Phil’s Smokers:
I’ll just ship you the wheels and you can keep the others. To much of a hassle and I have no use for those wheels
And these tires don’t have tubes in them. They are tubeless
Wheels are ordered. When I get em in. I’ll take em to get stripped and Powdercoated and then once they are done. I’ll put em back in the box and ship to you
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Old 01-12-2023, 09:20 AM   #86
Connor_Macleod
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Quote:
Originally Posted by evanakarp View Post
...he has gone completely silent, only telling me that the wheels are sitting in his box in the shop. no offer for a new solution, no timeframe, nothing.
Man that sounds frustrating! It could be easy to resolve if Phil would just get those wheels out the door and on their way to you. Here's hoping he will ultimately take care of the issues with your smoker.
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Old 01-12-2023, 11:32 AM   #87
SmoothBoarBBQ
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@Evanakarp, that's a good review and it seems so silly to me that Phil would risk that much bad publicity over what he claims is only $150.

Otherwise I'm glad the smoker is working out and hopefully the wheels don't cost you too much to get it all squared away.
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Old 11-11-2023, 08:36 AM   #88
Sid Post
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Location: East Texas, USA
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I realize this is an older thread but, I wanted to recognize the OP and thank them for the great write-up and follow-through.

Turns out, this maker is not that far away from me so, I will likely visit them this month and see about building me a small trailer smoker.
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