- Jun 6, 2010
- 29
- 18
Well, I finally completed my first smoke on my Char-Broil American Gourmet SFB smoker. It's basically a scaled down version of the SnP. I was chasing temps all over the place. When I first fired it up, I was getting around 650 on the firebox side and 350 on the other. My fuel of choice was some Royal Oak lump and a few mesquite chunks, started in a partial basket I made out of expanded sheet metal using the Minion method. I did use a makeshift baffle that I fashioned out of a small grate wrapped up in foil, but it wasn't the most efficient thing in the world. About 3/4 of the way across the smoking chamber, I put a fireplace brick wrapped in foil as a pseudo tuning plate-thing-whatever. After the fire settled in, I was able to get the temp difference down to between 75 and 100, which was still a pretty big gap. I decided to go ahead and try the leg quarters, figuring I could fix things in the oven if necessary, and if not, chicken's pretty cheap.
Well, it actually came out good! I had to do some creative maneuvering of the pieces, and I was probably opening the smoker up too much, but this is a learning process after all. Unfortunately, I'm probably the only guy in the world without a digital camera, so there isn't any Qview to go along with this.
Mods right now include the aforementioned baffle and partial basket, as well as some flashing to extend the chimney down. Oh, and the brick. I think I'll try to make a new baffle with sheet metal, cut to fit the contour of the smoking chamber, and experiment with 2 or 3 tuning plates along the bottom of the smoker. I don't have a whole lot of tools, so my mods are going to be the "minimal tools required" variety. But hey, it's all good, and I still got some decent chicken out of the deal! :D Looking forward to my next smoke. I'm itching to try a fatty...
Well, it actually came out good! I had to do some creative maneuvering of the pieces, and I was probably opening the smoker up too much, but this is a learning process after all. Unfortunately, I'm probably the only guy in the world without a digital camera, so there isn't any Qview to go along with this.
Mods right now include the aforementioned baffle and partial basket, as well as some flashing to extend the chimney down. Oh, and the brick. I think I'll try to make a new baffle with sheet metal, cut to fit the contour of the smoking chamber, and experiment with 2 or 3 tuning plates along the bottom of the smoker. I don't have a whole lot of tools, so my mods are going to be the "minimal tools required" variety. But hey, it's all good, and I still got some decent chicken out of the deal! :D Looking forward to my next smoke. I'm itching to try a fatty...
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