Jacks Old South?

[Frank_Cox]

The smoker design I have is based off of JOS but with several mods. The steel was just ordered yesterday, so I will try to post pics when it begins. For example, the water pan has been cut way down in size and volume it will hold. It does sit directly above the firebox with a 3" gap all the way around the cooker. I am thinking too now, that if the water does prove to be an issue with baby sitting, it could serve as just a baffle from the firebox below to keep temps steady....agree? Thanks again gents!

use at least 1/4" plate for the baffle and you will be fine

[The Czar]

I think the second one is your war face.....

[Smokeone]

Only if he is holding a Red Bull!

[FLCRACKER]

A JOS cooker burns wood a backwoods uses charcoal

[DUAYNE B]

good read there by all........ I will stick to esrever flow, till i build my cabinet

[BBsSmokeShack]

I cook on a JOS 72". Great cooker. As with any other design, it's different than other styles and you have to learn its caveat's. Great results from it though. And have no problem getting to temp or holding temp.

[Puff]

What Gizmo said... My friends daughter is on a show on the travel channel. They stage almost everything to have the video help create a story. Some of it looks really set up, and some of it flows well. I'd bet my last E7018 they yell CUT...TAKE 14..." This time, say it with feeling!" " Action". Roll camera

[dennisjwalter]

I DID read all that ... now I have to go lay down ...

I always thought a drip-oiler design to constantly drip water onto a hot plate would be one heck of a good idea for a water cooker - water vapor WITHOUT the water volume to speak of... or I could just be full of it ... most people tell me I am ...

Sorry fella's I'm new here but this post here made me register.

I have been Q'ing for a long time now, not competition, but I am thinking about going into it.

Anywho, this got me thinking. I do a bunch of cooking at home using things like Sous Vide and such (when not smoking) and I think this idea could work based on the same idea of the BBQ Guru, or any of it's derivatives. You just use a hydrometer and control a water supply to drip onto a plate to control humidity. Just one more of those pesky variables you might be able to control. Add it with one of those controllers (I personally do not use them) and you would have complete control over the inside of the pit without looking. Experimentation would tell you the settings you would need. But a cheap controller would be perfect here i.e. Raspberry Pi or Arduino. No one currently makes one though.

It seems to me that humidity matters, maybe to a small degree, but in a competition every control you can have seems to benefit (as it appears to me). You would lose the problem of the water pan absorbing BTU's. I have a background in electronics, maybe I can test this idea out. What are y'all's ideas on this?

[Pete Mazz]

I always thought a built-in mister that could be positioned over the meat would be kinda neat. You'd be able to spritz some apple juice or whatever w/o opening the smoker. If you could set it up on a timer, even better!

[Gizmo]

The main reason I never built something like this is because I'm afraid the water that's coming out of the meat as it cooks would completely overwhelm the system - making all this discussion pointless. The meat packers inject so much water into the meat we buy ($/pound) that I have water dripping off my stack cap on designs like Edgar and I'm constantly wiping it off the top of the CC as I cook. This isn't true with ribs or chicken but it sure is with the large cuts….

[dennisjwalter]

You are probably right about there being enough humidity from the meat (I don't use a water pan in my offset). But if you have a badly designed or POS smoker that draws too much and is not well sealed, then it may be beneficial in that instance. The whole point was to address the absorption of BTUs by the large water pan in the Jack's Old South Flat smokers. I think they are there by design to keep the heat from directly hitting the meat, but with that design it seems like it would take a large amount of fuel to heat it up to cooking temps. Once it got there though, the thermal mass would be enormous, making it recover and hold temps better. (I would think it would be next to impossible to get it to 400 with water in it. But who needs those temps anyway?)

Just my thoughts.

[Rodcrafter]

Glad you joined up. It is funny I was just talking to Fishless Mickey about the whole water pan scenario earlier today. We both agree with Gizmo on the point of moister is coming out of meat not going in it. Misting juice on the outside of the meat will change some flavors but we can't think it is being absorbed. jm2cw

[SoloQue]

Gonna chime in on the misting ... all I ever get from those misting occasions are extended cook times because the misting is killing my external temps on the meat. I've committed to picking out a good rub to get the flavor desired and then I let the meat baste itself. In the case of ribs and chicken they get a glaze for the last 30 minutes and maybe a temp spike for crisping but heck at that point all the cooking and flavor enhancing from smoking has ran its course.

jm2cw