Finally Got the Smoker....YE HAW!!!!!!!!! Kinda Long Post..

[JohnMcD348]

Well, picked up the Brinkman SKD at the Lowes down the road from the house on Friday evening. Had it together Saturday morning and was burning my first chimneys of Brickets and Oak to get it seasoned. I bought some carriage bolts for the coal grill to elevate it, seemed to work out OK. I'll be modding it over the next few days/weeks to follow, thanks to all your help and info. Especially to Kapndsl for the brackets. I've got another set on order and a set for a friend who also bought a BSKD about a couple of weeks before me. I also made a temp baffle out of HD Aluminum foil, well make a permanent one my first mod. Used extra SS washers on the spring loaded doors, seemed to help make the handles a little more stable
Here's what I did and my first impressions. I sprayed the inside of the smoke chamber and inside top of the firebox with Crisco vegetable oil. I started 2 chimneys of Kingsford brickets around 3pm along with a few small pieces of oak from the back yard wood pile. Temp guage reading prior to first fire was about 70*. Outside temp was about the same so I intially was using the temp guage as my guide for seasoning/first burn. I placed a large Oak split on the top of the firebox to preheat for later (that added a little extra excitement)...More on that later. After about 1 hour, the temp barely went about 120*. Alot of smoke, good thing I'm on the Vol Fire Dept for my area or Ida probably had someone in the neighborhood dailing 911 thinking my house was on fire. 4pm, wife came home from shopping, baby woke up from nap..went inside to bring in groceries. Walking back into house, wife asks why there's a fire on top of my smoker.....The Oak split I placed on top of firebox got warm ....very warm. I run outside and kick burning oak off top of firebox and hose down. After about 2 hours I stick a dial type meat thermometer into exhaust vent on smoke box. Temp circulates twice past 220*. I'd heard that the temp guages on the smoke box could be off but I didn't think it would be that bad. Now temp guage is beginning to rise, finally hits around 300* with use of small fan placed cloase to intake vent on firebox. Downside to this, sparks blowing into smoke chamber but that's OK, I'm not smoking anything but the chamber this burn.
I definitely see the need for a gasket mod and baffle mod for this smoker.
Is my experince with the guage typical or is it WAY out of norm? I didn't use any water in the pan for the first burn becuase the book recommended it be burned in at temps up to 400*. I'm guessing I was at least that high for about 4-5 hours.

Thanks everyone who's answered my questions over the past few weeks. Your insight has been greatly appreciated.

JTMcD.

 

[BigBelly]

LOL - you just learned that placing your wood on top of the firebox for to long will result in combustion sooner or later. I generally keep mine on the work surface they give you and on top of the smoking chamber alongside the exhaust stack. When I know I will need another split I stage one on top of the firebox 20 minutes prior to throwing it in.

Smart move not to use your water pan during this seasoning burn. Your temps will be all over the board for a few reasons. You were not using the water pan (either sand or water), don't have firebrick in the firebox or cooker to evenly distribute heat, and do not have a baffle in place to direct heat down and through out the cooking chamber. No baffle leads to some heat being lost because it comes out of the firebox, travels right up the side of the cooking chamber wall that connects to the firebox, and out the top.

Poof be gone mod!!!

Congratulations on seasoning your cooker. Post some pics of your first cook.

 

[tommykendall]

LOL - you just learned that placing your wood on top of the firebox for to long will result in combustion sooner or later.

Ditto - I've had more more fires on my box than I care to admit.

 

[Neil]

LOL - you just learned that placing your wood on top of the firebox for to long will result in combustion sooner or later.

Ditto - I've had more more fires on my box than I care to admit.

Double Ditto. The harder the wood the sooner the combustion takes place.

Not to long ago got my temps so high it vaporized my aluminum baffle and fried my Nu-Temp probes!

 

[Arlin_MacRae]

LOL - you just learned that placing your wood on top of the firebox for to long will result in combustion sooner or later.

Ditto - I've had more more fires on my box than I care to admit.

Double Ditto. The harder the wood the sooner the combustion takes place.

Not to long ago got my temps so high it vaporized my aluminum baffle and fried my Nu-Temp probes!

Triple ditto!!!

I'd be upstairs and my wife would come up and say, "Uh, the wood on top of the smoker is on fire." Now she just says, "It's burning again." :roll:

 

[chad]

Now, for you newer guys, the proper response when you light off a chunk of wood on the firebox lid is "Oops!" .

My wife's favorite comment is "Is there any significance to the flames on top of the smoker?" This goes back to a dinner we had with friends at their house - as we were eating I looked over at the oven (wall ovens) and saw smoke beginning to billow out - the hostess had forgotten the rolls! I calmly asked if there was any significance to the smoke coming out of the oven -- great reaction!! :mrgreen:

If you have flames shooting out the chimney or door when you open it the response is "Now that's a fire!" :twisted: This one works well when you flame a chicen on the rotisserie, too.