Oklahoma Joe Exhaust mods

Hello again -

At my last post, I was still looking to purchase an offset. While my budget was up there, honestly the only thing that would fit into my budget would’ve been the OC Pecos - and at $1200 shipped I just couldn’t swallow that for something that was less than 1/4” construction.

There were a plethora(relatively speaking) of barely used OKJ highlands around me used for cheap so I ended up picking one up that looked to be in great shape for much less than new - it’ll suffice for now.

I’ve done a few cooks on it so far - the longer cook I did on it with a butt was the least painful in terms of fire management but I was running 275-325 which is where it seems this thing wants to run. Running charcoal and splits. However, after about 2.5 hours my coal bed is dying out and I need to re-up with a fresh bed to keep the splits burning cleanly(also to note - I found a source for wood and have cut the splits down to about 8” long and 3”ish inches thick at most so I’m not trying to run big splits here). I also keep the firebox side door open 2-3” to promote good airflow.

In any case, the more reading I do on these styles of smokers the more it becomes evident that AIRFLOW is king, and it seems some folks have had good results putting in a bigger stack to achieve this goal. I have a friend who welds on the side who wouldn’t mind installing a bigger pipe(and moving it to grate level) for no charge other than some frosty beverages.

My questions is this - should I go 4” or 5”? My thinking is going 5” and having the option to use a damper if there’s too much flow. You can always restrict the flow, but you can’t make a 4” flow like a 5”.

I may end up throwing some other mods at it at a later date as well as my work always has steel of some sort laying around(truck shop - it’s never anything big enough to construct a smoker unfortunately).

Thanks for the help and advice guys. I’ll leave you with a pic of the butt I smoked this past weekend pre-wrap. I will say the chicken quarters, butt and whole chicken I’ve smoked with this thing have been the best barbecue I’ve ever made. I’m gonna try a brisket on Friday!

Back9Q said:

I had OKJ longhorn and dis a lot of mods. There is thread on it here. For total investment that I had in it it worked as well as smoker 3 times value

If running traditional flow I would run 5” with damper for reasons you mentioned and add collector

Also look to get that heat up to top asap which will maximize grate space. Vertical piece of 1/4” steel from base of CC to about 1” above grate will work well

Also I found that for me to maintain a consistent burn without losing coal bed I had to use chunks. I would cut 16” splits into 4” chunks and feed more regularly. I ran mine at 275-300


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I’ve already got a piece of metal set aside for the collector

I figured for what little I have in this, I can do some mods and make it work for now. I just want it to run better, and if I have to throw a hundred or two at it to make it better that’s fine.

Maybe in some years I’ll decide to pony up for a nicer smoker. When that day comes we’re talking Mill Scale or Franklin. Until then, I’ll make this work.

Fishwater2002 said:

I'm currently searching for an offset as well & have found a few places dedicated to modding the OKJ as well as other pits, the first one is pretty well known & probably the largest, BBQsmoker mods

https://bbqsmokermods.com/oem-smoker-mods-by-brand/oklahoma-joe-s.html

The second place was mind blowing to me since the guy who started it also owns Fat Stack smokers which is as far from an entry level smoker as possible, I watched his video & just thought WOW, this guy really gets it, I wish I could afford one of his pits! Whether you purchase from them or not I'd watch his video's as he does a great job of explaining why the COS needs mods as well as basic theory behind smokers, great stuff.

https://goprometheus.com/

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That’s actually really helpful - thank you. He goes over exactly what’s wrong with the system.

I’ve got metal for a collector, and I plan on making the 5” stack about 36” high. I was toying with the next mod which would be either building an entirely new firebox - or just modifying the one I have to not only seal it up and make it bigger, but maybe even welding the little door shut entirely and cutting a “huge” door in the end like the big boys have. Take the firebox apart at the seam, flatten it out then add a 4” or so strip around the entire firebox so it’s that much bigger and then weld it all up.

Before I go to that length, I’d like to see what changing the exhaust does for it.

I would need to spend about $300 to approach what one of these costs new, so until then I’ll keep spending. With scrounging at work of metal scraps, it’s likely it’ll cost me next to nothing in materials(save for the exhaust pipe). If I decide to build a new firebox I’d likely have to buy those materials, but just making the current one bigger I’d likely only need to buy hinges for the bigger door.

Did this one up Aaron Franklin style - Salt Pepper Lawrys Garlic. Mustard and pickle juice binder. On the smoker over oak until bark was nice and cap was rendered at 175 then wrapped with wagyu tallow and into the oven.

Plan on slicing this for dinner around 5pm.

The fire this time went great. I started with one chimney of charcoal and didn’t need to reup for the entire cook - only splits!

Back9Q said:

Send pics of mods


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The only mod I’ve done so far, save for the $10 slip on exhaust, is just getting better at using this thing.

My buddy is a couple weeks out on getting time to weld my stuff up.