Smokers and meat smoking

[KacksterK5]

I have a Cookshack insulated Electric, UDS, Big Green Egg and an old offset like the OP, it doesn't have a label on it but looks the same and is rolled steel.

Green Egg gets used the most, it's set it and forget it. Open vents the right amount, stabilize temp, put food on. Hell half the time I just throw it on once the burn gets clean then set the vents. Cowboy or whatever giant bag of lump BJ's has. Different wood for different cooks. won competitions with it and the offset.

Offset has more room for briskets, but have to feed it more often, works when I need it but still like the ease of the Egg.

The Cookshack is awesome for cheese and fish, does a good job on Butts and ribs. I can use it inside with a little pipe chimney on it.

UDS will probably get trashed, haven't used it in years.

 

[east_beast]

I have it chugging along right now doing a seasoning smoke. Got the gaskets and thermometers ordered. I'll wait for the thermometers before I start playing around with different stacks and baffles and then do some biscuit tests when I think I have it dialed in.

 

[DuckTape]

Anyone want to buy mine?

 

[Tiha]

I had one like that.
Took a couple of modifications to get it to really work.
First, the hole for the fire box was too high. Some of it exited above the level of the grills. I added a blocking plate to make sure all the heat came into the smoke chamber below the grates.
Then I had to make diverters for the heat. Without them the end by the firebox was much hotter than the far end.
I made sone heat diverters. /\ shaped sheet metal to make the hot gasses move the whole length of the grill. I welded some small screws tot he edges to keep them (I made the diverters in two pieces) from resting all along the edge so some heat could come up around the diverters. And they were 1 inch short of being the full length of the smoke chamber. The first one I put in flush against the fire box, then a small gap between the two plates and the rest of the gap at the far end. This really helped even out the heat in the whole smoke box.

That right there.

I was given one just like that for fathers day years ago. First time I tried to smoke I said this will never work.

It rusted through before I ever got the urge to start modifying but agree completely. They are built wrong

 

[east_beast]

Okay, I'm impatient. Had this thing drawing pretty well and I had a can of biscuits, so why not? They came out perfect. The hot spot is the first five inches of the cooking grate. Biscuits just off the hot spot cooked the same as biscuits on the opposite side of the cooking chamber.

Here you can clearly see where the hot spot is on the grate.

 

[Pony_Driver]

Offset, reverse flow. Like anything else, you need seat time. The reverse flow is to keep temps more evenly distributed across the whole grate.

 

[JR4X]

Okay, I'm impatient. Had this thing drawing pretty well and I had a can of biscuits, so why not? They came out perfect. The hot spot is the first five inches of the cooking grate. Biscuits just off the hot spot cooked the same as biscuits on the opposite side of the cooking chamber.
Here you can clearly see where the hot spot is on the grate.

Can you fix the hot spot with a diverter?

 

[east_beast]

Can you fix the hot spot with a diverter?

With the hot spot being so small I'm not gonna even bother. I just won't use those 5-7" of the grate. A baffle usually just pushes the hot spot into the center of the grate and you definitely don't want that.

 

[Saloon65]

Well,I built this a few years ago. propane just runs a pear burner torch to start the firebox,and a crawfish burner that i’ve got on the other side. Do mainly briskets like God intended us to do.. Flat part on the left side is a santa maria style grill, top is just a road cover, and grill surface can get cranked up and down those risers on either side with a cable/pulley system. Warming box above the firebox holds two full-size commercial warmer pans. I’ve really gotten a lot of use out of it,very controllable heat and flow…does a really good job..

 

[east_beast]

Well,I built this a few years ago. propane just runs a pear burner torch to start the firebox,and a crawfish burner that i’ve got on the other side. Do mainly briskets like God intended us to do.. Flat part on the left side is a santa maria style grill, top is just a road cover, and grill surface can get cranked up and down those risers on either side with a cable/pulley system. Warming box above the firebox holds two full-size commercial warmer pans. I’ve really gotten a lot of use out of it,very controllable heat and flow…does a really good job..

That's

 

[larboc]

Well,I built this a few years ago. propane just runs a pear burner torch to start the firebox,and a crawfish burner that i’ve got on the other side. Do mainly briskets like God intended us to do.. Flat part on the left side is a santa maria style grill, top is just a road cover, and grill surface can get cranked up and down those risers on either side with a cable/pulley system. Warming box above the firebox holds two full-size commercial warmer pans. I’ve really gotten a lot of use out of it,very controllable heat and flow…does a really good job..

And yet, only one picture.

 

[Saloon65]

And yet, only one picture.

No, have several hundred. did a whole build thread on a now defunct BBQ forum. if you’d like more i can certainly post them.

 

[Saloon65]

 

[east_beast]

Got the gaskets on the cooking chamber and firebox and thermometers installed today. Time to throw down this weekend!

 

[Chicken Corners]

Looks nice, except for your gay pride flag

 

[east_beast]

Threw down this weekend!

What's in the box???

The goods

Because I'm a shitty photographer making the meat look all dry, here's a better angle

There were no knives at the table.

 

[Leadfoot21]

Anyone want to buy mine?

Maybe!! LMK price and a few more pictures !

 

[blakes]

I'd love to get into smoking meat.

Anything different about smoking at high altitude? I'm at 8500 feet.

 

[east_beast]

I'd love to get into smoking meat.

Anything different about smoking at high altitude? I'm at 8500 feet.

I smoked for years at 7800' in Evergreen. Not really a lot different, just intricacies. One, you have a lot less oxygen so you usually need more fuel(wood) to produce the same heat. Two, with the dry air you DEFINITELY want to use a water pan. Three, you want to pull the meat earlier. Back here in NC I pull brisket at 200. You're gonna wanna pull around 190.

 

[east_beast]

Gonna be pulled pork today

 

[landscraper]

We cooked up some butts last weekend. South Carolina style mustard rub on a cheap vertical propane smoker with pecan chips. The only after pics I took were before it went in the freezer.

 

[east_beast]

Oh yeah

 

[Rttoys]

We cooked up some butts last weekend. South Carolina style mustard rub on a cheap vertical propane smoker with pecan chips. The only after pics I took were before it went in the freezer.

I love my vacuum sealer

 

[Rttoys]

Yall making me hungry

 

[east_beast]

Had a moment of mild panic today. Smoked a brisket all day yesterday and pulled it at about 11pm and put it in the oven at 170 to hold it. Was out running errands and taking the kiddo to egg hunts and what not all morning and just got home a few minutes ago. Luckily I looked at the stove to check the time and noticed that it wasn't on. Oh no. Opened the door and the oven was just barely even warm. Oh fuck. Checked the temp on the brisket and it was still at 160. Breathed a sigh of relief. Still plenty north of the danger zone. Little did I know that oven has a 12 hour auto shutoff feature. That's handy info to know. Glad I didn't ruin an $80 brisket and a day of cooking to find out.

 

[KarlVP]

Got a pork butt, some jerky marinating, and some bacon curing in the fridge right now.

I'm going to turn myself into a fat guy.

 

[KarlVP]

Had a moment of mild panic today. Smoked a brisket all day yesterday and pulled it at about 11pm and put it in the oven at 170 to hold it. Was out running errands and taking the kiddo to egg hunts and what not all morning and just got home a few minutes ago. Luckily I looked at the stove to check the time and noticed that it wasn't on. Oh no. Opened the door and the oven was just barely even warm. Oh fuck. Checked the temp on the brisket and it was still at 160. Breathed a sigh of relief. Still plenty north of the danger zone. Little did I know that oven has a 12 hour auto shutoff feature. That's handy info to know. Glad I didn't ruin an $80 brisket and a day of cooking to find out.

It will be fine. I hold briskets wrapped in a towel in my oven for hours.

 

[east_beast]

It will be fine. I hold briskets wrapped in a towel in my oven for hours.

Yeah, I just had no idea how long the oven had been off when I looked at the clock. 30 minutes? 3 hours? 8 hours? Could've been any of the above. Knowing the 12 hour auto shutoff time now, it was probably about two hours.

 

[ANGELO]

Anyone have tips for this type of smoker? The bottom is completely open, I can only adjust the exhaust.

 

[dun ploughin]

Anyone have tips for this type of smoker? The bottom is completely open, I can only adjust the exhaust.

Will it damper down with just the exhaust closed? Try setting bricks under it to close the gap?
New Braunfels always made good smokers.
I had an offset new Braunfels smoker for years, the legs rotted out and the bottom was getting thin so I retired it.

Are you missing any parts?