Offset: Firebox damper+stack damper for best smoke/temp/fuel control?

[PGarSD]

All,
I'll be firing up my "new to me" 20x60 Klose BYC offset smoker soon. I have been reading all about fire management and am interested in different offset management techniques.

Stack damper setting: Some appear to run with this wide open, all of the time while others choke it down some once the smoker is up to temp. Closing this damper down some might also result in more smoke flavor on the meat?

Firebox damper setting: Most seem to control/maintain their temp via adding smaller "coke can size" sticks (small fire) every ~30-45min and adjusting the firebox damper. Do you adjust this damper much (at all?) during your cook?

Smoke color goal: The overall goal is a very faint thin blue smoke out of the stack, correct? White smoke means green wood and black smoke means the fire is too choked (both are bad)?

As wood is expensive here in SoCal, I want to use my wood as efficiently as possible. It seems like I should use both dampers to minimize fuel usage as long as I maintain temp/thin blue smoke?

Do you use both dampers?

 

[Back9Q]

You might hate this but it will be based on your pit and how it cooks. Ill use my offset as an example. Wide open on both dampers my stack side will run 25F hotter. 1/4 turn closed on both will have side to side temps within 5F. If I am only cooking small item ill run wide open and place meat where temp suits me best. If smoker is full I run damper closed off bit give me even temps

You should run a 8 hour test. Get smoker up to temp with nice coal bed. Over 300F. Let it drop to your temp zone and open dampers 100% and monitor temps and see how it reacts when you throw log on. Then close FB a 1/4 turn and so same. Open FB back up and do exhaust 1/4 turn, then both 1/4 turn etc.


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[SmoothBoarBBQ]

The whole point of using an offset smoker is that you can burn a good amount of wood to give you that lovely smoke flavor. If you're concerned about wood cost / consumption then a 60" offset smoker might not be a good tool in your situation.

I've ran direct flow and reverse flow smokers and I've gotten the best flavor by running exhaust and firebox dampers fully open. This gives the most oxygen to burn a clean fire, and it continually keeps the cook chamber bathed in clean smoke. You can certainly mess around with the dampers to slow the draft and alter the temps a bit, but this can be an issue if the wood you have is still a bit too wet.

I always recommend this video to new offset users because it hits the nail on the head.
Mad Scientist BBQ : Fire Management offset smoker

 

[PGarSD]

Thanks for the feedback and that video was awesome. He kept the fire much larger than I expected so, that was something I learned.



Yeah, 60" is bigger than I need but, it was a good deal so the savings will be put towards wood. Plus, it's just bad ass so, what the heck



There's seems to be lots of contradictory info online (imagine that) so, I'll use the info in the video along with playing a bit like back9 suggested to help "learn" my pit.

 

[SmoothBoarBBQ]

Thanks for the feedback and that video was awesome. He kept the fire much larger than I expected so, that was something I learned.



Yeah, 60" is bigger than I need but, it was a good deal so the savings will be put towards wood. Plus, it's just bad ass so, what the heck



There's seems to be lots of contradictory info online (imagine that) so, I'll use the info in the video along with playing a bit like back9 suggested to help "learn" my pit.

You have a fantastic attitude so I'm sure you'll get the hang of this very quickly...not to mention Klose makes a great pit so you've got yourself a very capable tool.

 

[Pog Mo Thoin]

I will echo the "it's pit specific" recommendation. There is a new (ish) guy on UTube (Offset Rookie) who has just started using an offset. I think his first video was on his first fire management error (too big a fire). He just put out another on fire management mistakes.

Anyway, lite a fire, and see how your pit likes to run and let it go. Just don't stress over it. Have fun!

 

[txsmkmstr]

Quick chime in here.... I never close the exhaust - ever. The intake is wide open until things come up and it looks like the coal base might be getting a bit large and/or temp is getting too hot. Intake reduction doesn't last the rest of the cook since toward the end I find it needs to be re-opened to keep temps steady.

None of this has anything to do with side-to-side temps since my tuning plates take care of that. My smoke color throughout is usually very clear unless viewed thru sunlight. Light blue is generally not there unless i get a bad split. You don't need to "see" smoke to get the smokey goodness of an offset.

Like others have said - have fun with it and you'll find the best for your pit soon enough.

 

[tom b]

^^^ pretty much sums up my thoughts

 

[SMOKE FREAK]

^^^ I was gonna say that...

 

[Fooball]

The Klose backyard chef has quite the history on this forum pre-2012 or so.

The 20x60 is big with the upright, I bet it will need a lot of wood to keep temp where you want it. A lot of steel to heat.

Better start searching for a cheap wood supplier as you mentioned it's expensive out there. Not trying to be a Debbie Downer, but I think she will eat some wood. Hopefully I'm wrong.

Beautiful pit made by a legend. Enjoy...

P.S.- As long as you maintain flame on your wood and don't smolder, you should have clean smoke.

If you kill the draft too much with either damper to save some fuel, you may hit that smolder point. You'll find it with experimenting.

 

[rque]

As a relative newbie myself who’s done lots of searching, YouTube watching, and now just trying out different things on my offset, there’s definitely some good advice here. One thing I will add is try to change only one thing at a time. If you make multiple changes at once to your process you won’t know what went wrong or right. In the end…In order to learn, you gotta burn! (the wood that is).

 

[PGarSD]

"The Klose backyard chef has quite the history on this forum pre-2012 or so."

Yeah, when I was researching Klose, activity appeared to drop off ~10 years ago and LSG's and Lang kind of became all the rage. Now, I'd guess Shirley along with a slew of new pit makers have been the talk of the town for the past few years.

Who says the smoking scene isn't trendy?

At the end of the day, a quality pit is quality pit, whoever the builder and the rest comes down to the operator.

As for me, I went and bought a 1/2 cord of Oak yesterday and have been busy with my "XL Kindle Cracker" and will be playing pyro with my massive hunk of steel this week. Thanks for all of the advice!

 

[OMFDave]

I run with the exhaust damper(s) wide open all the time and I build the smallest fire I can that will maintain cook chamber temperature, and adjust the intake damper as needed. Typically once I get a coal bed and get the intake damper set with the pit running clean and cook chamber temperature stable I just feed it a stick every 20 minutes or so. If the fire size is maintained, then the airflow needed to maintain a steady temperature will remain consistent and no adjustment should be required...


Also, I prefer to use small diameter splits (2" or so, called pizza oven splits) as they are more efficient and maintain the coal bed easier. Large splits can take too long to burn down and you will lose your coal bed.

 

[gtsum]

For my workhorse offset, it’s Wide open exhaust all the time. I Finally learned to control my temps with proper fire management (size of splits, stacking arrangement, blocking, etc) vs choking the intake or exhaust. If my fire is going a bit too much, I either open the door (allows cooler air to be drawn in)or I rearrange how the splits are stacked in the firebox…I’m generally adding a split every 30 minutes or so. Other smokers are designed to use the exhaust to control the temps so I suppose the best answer is it depends!


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[smokeisgood]

My offset (Pitmaker) ran the best with the exhaust wide open. I would open the vent on the firebox door until I had a good fire and the pit was up to temp, then would simply close it to about 1/4-1/2 inch. The pit would hold at 250 like an oven.