Starting a fire in my new offset

[Gersidi]

Start with a chimney of hot charcoal and drop a split on top of it once it catches set you intake to 1/2 open and let the pit come up to temp. Put on the meat and put a split on top of the fire box to pre heat. when your temp drops about 25 deg add the hot split and preheat another. Don't worry about the temp running up when you add wood\, just roll with it it will drop.

I am getting my first offset wednesday (a lang 60). Is this the route I should take? Once the initial split catches, close the firebox and cook chamber door, adjust the dampers, let it come up to temp, add meat, preheat split, add another when temp drops?

 

[SmittyJonz]

Yup but may need leave dampers full open.

 

[JackW]

No. It is going to take more than that to get all that steel up to temp. I have a Shirley the same size. I will start with a chimney of charcoal and four or five splits on top of that. I light my fire with a weed burner, open the main chamber doors and stacks and the firebox door. Let it burn for a while, you need a good coal bed to maintain your fire. You are going to have to do the trial and error thing with your new pit to figure out how to run it. Congratulations on your new smoker.

Jack

 

[Gersidi]

No. It is going to take more than that to get all that steel up to temp. I have a Shirley the same size. I will start with a chimney of charcoal and four or five splits on top of that. I light my fire with a weed burner, open the main chamber doors and stacks and the firebox door. Let it burn for a while, you need a good coal bed to maintain your fire. You are going to have to do the trial and error thing with your new pit to figure out how to run it. Congratulations on your new smoker.

Jack

But aside from just using more wood at the start, is the process outlined above what I can expect?

 

[Springram]

Unless my smoker is cooking at too high a temperature, I leave the intake damper wide open. Good airflow is my friend. My stack dampers are always fully open.

 

[Joe Black]

I find that having the intake dampers wide open gives me better heat and air flow. All smokers are different and have some personality of their own. Start with Bludawg's theory, then Smitty's and then tweak things to see how they work best for you and your individual smoker. Good luck. Good fire management is a learning curve, but don't be afraid of it.

 

[JackW]

But aside from just using more wood at the start, is the process outlined above what I can expect?

I usually run my smoker at 300 or more so it takes a little more sticks than someone who cooks cooler. I have to add sticks pretty often but I have also found that smaller sticks more often is the best way for me to keep my pit at 300 and above.

Jack

 

[ClintHTX]

What are these dampers you speak of...? Door wide open clean small
Hot fire. I built my offset with a door. No dampers.

 

[Smoke & Bark Barbecue]

We run the intake and exhaust wide open. The door gets cracked as well. We can't leave it wide open because we can't maintain heat, no matter how big of a fire we have. You adjust the temp with the fire, not vents. Airflow is more important than most people realize.

 

[pjtexas1]

leave the exhaust and intake wide open. once up or down to temp control the temps with the size of your sticks and/or size of the fire. once you can control the temp with fire management you are well on your way to making some great q.

the process you listed is a good place to start.

 

[Free Mr. Tony]

I have a Lang 36. Full length splits seem to smolder when they hang around the edge of the fire. I start mine with two handfuls of lump, two sticks of kiln dried kindling wood, and then three 12 inch splits on top of that. At first everything is wide open including the lid.

Once the fire gets cleaned up a little I close the lid in the open Latch position. Move the dampers to about 75% open, then close the firebox door. Once it's a little cleaner, I close the lid all the way.

Gets up to about 275 fairly quickly, and still have a good coal bed. At this point, I adjust the dampers for temp making sure the fire is still burning clean. Add the 12 inch splits and/or chunks as temp drops about 25 degrees below target. If the coal bed is getting depleted I'll throw an extra chunk or two on. If the coal bed gets too small it will take too long for the splits to ignite, and dirty things up.

I'm all for the firebox door open thing that seems to be the flavor of the day, but I think you may find it unnecessary for your Lang. The double wheel dampers let plenty of air in from both sides. You can easily get a full flame fire with the dampers open in the 50-70% range. The open firebox door is just wasting heat and wood. If you can get a clean burn without the door wide open, there is no need to have it wide open.

My smaller 36 actually loses quite a bit of temp with the door open unless I have an unnecessarily big fire. I leave it open until the log catches, then shut it. You will use far less wood this way. Sometimes a wet log, or odd piece may not want to stay flamed, so I'll do the open Latch on the firebox to give it a little boost.

Sorry for the long post. Hope it helps even if just a little. Have fun with it. The langs are fun to use.

 

[BBQ Freak]

I skip the charcoal all together {why waste the money } , I just put 6 small diameter splits in and then hit it with a weed burner . it will spike in temps for a bit and then it will settle down and then just add a split every 40 minutes or so .

 

[Doog]

Usually I start my Lang with a lite chimney of charcoal. Then I add 4 wood splits.
Open all 4 dampers about 3/4. In cold weather it takes about an hour to get warmed up. Warmer weather about half that time.
Once it gets to temp. I will close 2 dampers and leave 2 on opposite corners 1/2 - 3/4 open.
Then add split or splits about every 1/2 hour.

It's just something you will have to play with, every smoker is slightly different.

 

[lantern]

My best advice is to do a trial run for a couple hours. One you see how your put likes to run and run clean then it's time to throw some food on.

 

[Texan79423]

I have watched many cook keep feeding wood trying to get a fire but never wait to get a coal base before throwing on the meat.

It is really simple once learned. Build a fire with all doors open, let it burn down to coals, add wood to build a coal base, Once the coals are established (this may take an hour) your ready to close down the pit and set your temp adjusting intake and/or exhaust as needed. Put a log or two on the fire box to warm them helps big time.

Your not ready to throw on the meat until your rid of the white smoke. Once settled and smoke turns blue throw on the meat. When temp drops add a split (feed the coal base) leave the fire box open a short time to watch the split flame up then close the door.

In short you cook on coals you add wood to maintain the coals. It's fire management mostly, That's where the term pit master comes from. If you can't manage a fire stick to grilling with charcoal.

 

[Lake Dogs]

I have watched many cook keep feeding wood trying to get a fire but never wait to get a coal base before throwing on the meat.

Yep. True that. Usually huge mistakes here, and it comes through in the taste of the BBQ. The BBQ usually ends up with a fuel (almost like lighter fluid) taste.

It is really simple once learned. Build a fire with all doors open, let it burn down to coals, add wood to build a coal base, Once the coals are established (this may take an hour) your ready to close down the pit and set your temp adjusting intake and/or exhaust as needed. Put a log or two on the fire box to warm them helps big time.

My experience on the larger Lang's has been similar with a few variances. Once the fire is lit, I close the main firebox door (and the cook chamber door as well). Keep the adjustable openings wide open. Also, the exhaust wide open. This will create a draw. A reverse flow smoker is a little tougher to come up to temps than some non-reverse flow... Once up to temp, close the dampers roughly 1/2 way. You'll learn fire control... It does take 40 minutes to an hour to come up to temp.

Your not ready to throw on the meat until your rid of the white smoke. Once settled and smoke turns blue throw on the meat. When temp drops add a split (feed the coal base) leave the fire box open a short time to watch the split flame up then close the door.

Yes yes yes! Bingo. Also, thin blue is just that; THIN. It's nearly invisible. Trust me, there's plenty of goodness there. White or black smoke; BAD.

In short you cook on coals you add wood to maintain the coals. It's fire management mostly, That's where the term pit mater comes from

Bingo again.

 

[mschwirian]

On my 60 I start with a big fire, up to 350-400, then two inner dampers closed about half and the two outer dampers wide open. Let the fire burn down to cook temp, 225-275.
Then hold it there by feeding splits.
Good luck, you'll love the 60.

 

[DanB]

Fire

Hi All Here is a line from Aaron Franklin's book Hits it right on the head.
"We pitmasters are more thermal engineers that we are cooks. Igniting,coaxing,cajoling,molding,suppressing and enabling fire is the essence of our work"
DanB

 

[Bludawg]

When you do your seasoning run it's a good time to see how often you need to add a split to maintain the coal bed to keep your temp where you want it, and map out the grate for hot spots. When I get a new pit I play with it for a day to figure it all out before I ever do a cook. It lowers the stress level when you got money on the grate.

 

[Durangutan]

Here's a video you might find helpful. It's geared toward Yoders but the principles are fairly universal.

http://community.yodersmokers.com/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=132

Have fun with that new Lang!