Cold Weather Season Preparation - Advice on dealing with the elements especially rain

[MeatyOakerSmoker]

Hello

Weather around here is showing signs of Old Man Winter's arrival. I've always pretty much MacGyver solutions to the elements he throws at me but this year I wanted to take a more strategic approach. My tactical solutions worked well mostly because I always used my UDS which has I feel has a small exposed surface area compared to say an offset. Going through a good deal of previous posts I found some parts of the solution here and there but never a complete solution.

Precipitation
This is the most annoying one to me especially because weather forecasting sucks. I'd like to really solve this because it would help year round. In the past I've used upside down cardboard boxes over the openings to block rain/snow from getting into the smoker. However the boxes get soaked, smoker still gets wet lower temp, opening the smoker is difficult to wrap or do anything is a pain in the neck. I've seen people attach umbrellas to their smokers but I feel that's only good for a UDS/WSM sized smoker. The other thing I've seen is suggestions to use a fire retardant tent. Any recommendations on a reasonably priced tent? Or any other suggestions?

Wind
For this problem I just put my smoker somewhere where it's partially sheltered from the wind or try to put something to obstruct the wind from the vents. However moving the smoker isn't always feasible and sometimes it's obstructions don't always shelter the smoker from the wind well. I also have a smoker controller which helps with the USD and WSM but not so much with the offset. Really the worst case here is consuming more fuel and more fire tending but I was hoping to find a better solution than what I'm doing.

Cold
Welding blankets seem to be a popular choice for offsets. I've also seen some crazy concoctions for UDS's. Any other inexpensive choices?

I'm also going to get some snapware type container to put my HeaterMeter inside so I can use it in bad weather without worrying about it.

Thanks in advance for the input.
Sam

 

[Dmakkk]

This might be helpful.

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/coldtemp.html

 

[daninnewjersey]

This is what I use for the crappy weather down here at exit 36 :mrgreen::mrgreen:. It works really well.....

 

[Fwismoker]

I made these and called them reflectix sleeves. I had these for my drum down to this mini wsm. The cooker got plenty of airflow and because of the buffer between the cooker and the sleeve which had warm air the cooker isn't drawing in iced cold fuel.

The Maverick would freeze on days that were well below zero but not hanging on the inside of the sleeve.

 

[aawa]

Use a canopy when cooking to keep rain/snow off your cookers. Keep in mind that you will have to make sure to dump the water/rain off the top or your canopy will bend or fall over.

For wind, you can make a wind blocker using 3 pieces of play wood and some hinges. Wind is the enemy of almost all bbq cookers because it will cause your temps to swing all over the place.

For cold weather on a UDS. It will simply user more fuel. Brother PWA lives in North Pole, Alaska and he has cooked in -20F and lower using UDS's, and cooking hot and fast (300+). One way to limit your fuel consumption is to use more lump charcoal as it burns hotter than briqs. PWA used Wicked Good Weekend Warrior in his UDS's. WG is much more dense than Cowboy and Royal Oak, so he wouldn't have to use as much of it to hold his temps.

For the stick burner cookers, I have seen people use welding blankets to help retain heat. Between keeping the rain/snow off the cooker and welding blankets, you should be able to maintain your heat pretty effectively, but you will need to feed the fire more.

 

[MeatyOakerSmoker]

Any recommendations on canopies? I saw some people saying you need a fire retardant canopy but I can't imagine why when the material is so far from the cooker.

 

[aawa]

Any recommendations on canopies? I saw some people saying you need a fire retardant canopy but I can't imagine why when the material is so far from the cooker.

I believe all canopies on the US market are fire retardant. I think it is an regulation in place, but not 100% sure.

A lot of the competition cooks use the commercial canopies that you can purchase from Sam's or Costco. They are better than the entry level canopies because they have more support bars/framing and the material for the canopy is thicker.

The ones from Sam's club cost about $200. It also includes sidewalls for it.