First Smoker Build, 24" Offset

[hogaboomer]

That's a very clean build for a first try. Kudos!

[dacolson]

Nice work! Pretty damn good work for your first welding project.

[Big T]

[towtruck]

Sweet!

[Pete Mazz]

Very nice!

[PostOak]

Just about finished it, wiped the outside down in BLO and spray oiled the inside tonight. Kept the fire going to get a feel for fire management and split usage. So far so good. Cold beer and live Allman Brothers is always a good time.


Thanks for all the kind words everybody it really helps.

[dacolson]

Such a great point in the build. Burning in is awesome. Messing around w vents, splits, vents, etc. Have fun! It looks awesome with the linseed oil. Did you hit it w th a torch?

[Big T]

It's always fun when you fire it up for the first time.

[Pete Mazz]

[towtruck]

Nice!

[Dirtytires]

FIRE!

I always wanted to yell that....

[PostOak]

It's happening this morning, picked up a Prime Brisket from Costco trimmed it up, a little salt and pepper then on it went. Cooking with Oak. More pics to come.

[PostOak]

Such a great point in the build. Burning in is awesome. Messing around w vents, splits, vents, etc. Have fun! It looks awesome with the linseed oil. Did you hit it w th a torch?

Thanks for the complements, I didn't torch it, the smoker was sitting in the AZ sun all day so it was pretty warm by the time I got home from work. I wiped it with the BLO and built the fire. It setup really nice. I'm excited to see the patina it'll get over the years.

[dacolson]

That’s a nice looking brisket. Good trim on it.

How is your heat across the CC?

[PostOak]

I think my splits are to big, I'm getting larger temperature swings than I'd like. Once it's a little later I'll cut them smaller. It's too early to upset the neighbors with a chop saw. Overall it seems to want to run a little hotter than I'd like but not by too much.

[hogaboomer]

I found those door thermometers to not be very accurate compared to a digital with probes. I started out with just the door thermometers and everything was getting overcooked. Bought a digital and found there was about a 50 degree difference.

[dacolson]

I think my splits are to big, I'm getting larger temperature swings than I'd like. Once it's a little later I'll cut them smaller. It's too early to upset the neighbors with a chop saw. Overall it seems to want to run a little hotter than I'd like but not by too much.

How’s your stack vent? I close mine on the standard offset about 50% and try and dial in the fine temp control w the FB vents.

[Dirtytires]

With your splits, I find in much more effective to split them into a 2-3 inch diameter piece. Length doesn’t really matter. A short fat log is just as bad as a long fat log as the goal is to increase the surface area and burn rate to get it burned down to coals as quickly as possible.

It’s a learning process....be patient and make one adjustment at a time till you get it to respond the way you want it.

[PostOak]

Update, it's way to freaking hot out here to tend to the smoker, I'm fading fast. So I'm updating my plan. Once I get to 160-165 I'm going to wrap it in butcher paper and finish it in my Yoder 640. The big smoker needs some more fine tuning once it the weather gets better here. I was a little to ambitious for a first cook, oh well

[hogaboomer]

Get you a digital, you can watch your temps from inside the house on your phone.

[PostOak]

We made it to the trade off point, the Yoder is on the job so I can cool off.

[dacolson]

Smart man. Use your tools. Stay safe, stay cool.

[PostOak]

Get you a digital, you can watch your temps from inside the house on your phone.

Yep I think I'm going to go that direction in the future. I really need to figure this cooker out and find the "sweet spot" so to speak. I had no idea what the temps were across the grate, but judging by the temps of the meat the far backside near the smoke stack collector was pretty hot. Possibly hotter than expected. I think I had the meat positioned too far towards the back. There were a lot of variables today but I think I made it to the wrap in pretty good shape.

The 3/8" steel heat retention is ridiculous with ambient temps over 100*. It was a challenge to keep the fire small enough but still have good coals. It only needed a tiny fire to maintain the temp I was looking for. I will be cutting/splitting my wood smaller for the next cook. I'll need to add them more often but that should help mellow the temp swing of larger logs.

[PostOak]

The only pic I got of it, I wish I had more.

It was good, not to smokey, nice bark, the point was awesome and the flat was about average for briskets I've cooked in the past. All in all I consider it a win. But cooking on MY Smoker was very satisfying.

[dacolson]

So true my man. Looks delicious. Well done.