GOSM Smoke Box Mod and TBS

[mabrandt]

2 quick questions on the GOSM. I have been using the box that came with it and I thought I would try the bake pan mod to go longer before added more chunks. I looked at Wal-Mart and Meijer for the square pans I saw pictures of here and all they have is non stick. I saw on Good Eats that heating these nonstick pans too much gives off toxic fumes and was wondering what the members think. My wife has some round aluminum (not foil, solid aluminum) pie pans that might work, but I saw on here that some say you will burn thru the aluminum. I guess I am a little confused.

Next question was the TBS. When I start out, I always get a lot of white billowly smoke for about an hour and then it settles down for a while until I add more chunks. I never thought anything of this and now see that this is bad. How do I prevent this white smoke?

Son's graduation party this weekend and will be smoking three butts!

 

[flatbroke]

Great questions, sorry i do not have the answers, but do share in your eagerness to here them as I have been wondering the same thing.

BTT

 

[blacklab]

I still use the orignal smoke box, never had the need to change it I guess.

The first color of smoke is white, which is normal. You just don't want a london fog type smoke. After that come TBS which is money. You don't always have to see the TBS but you have to smell it. Reloading your box, when it's ash or almost all ash time to reload.

 

[jtribout]

I was having trouble with smoke. I change up some things and I now have no problems. Every smoker has it's own personality. I've tried the tin pan and a 10'' cast iron skillet. I found these ss grill pan and smoker box at lowes. this setup works nice for me.

Hope this helps!

 

[grillin_all_day]

i've got the same smoker box that i use on the grill and was going to try it out on the smoker tonight during my seasoning session. glad to hear that it works, as i have a cast iron box as back up as well.

 

[travcoman45]

Pan's at the dollar store. White smoke can be caused from the chips er chunks catchin fire or flarin up as we sometimes call it. I stop this by coverin my pan with aluminum foil an pokin bout 5 er 6 holes in it, after the smoke dies down I pull the foil, shake the pan a bit an put it back in ta finish burnin. Just how I do it. Hope it heps.

 

[racemonkey]

I use the original lil smoke box and if I pack it with the wood it tends not to catch fire and smoke like a coal train. Before this all my smokes had a heavy flow of smoke then it would die down, now it just smokes a wee bit for a lot longer. Probably more like a log effect than small pieces of wood.

Kinda funny my 5 year old wanted to pack it full so i was like ok and threw it in and this is when I saw the difference. I did it again yesterday and so far the same result.

I also wanted to add that my preference is to only use 1 load of wood in the box no matter how long I am smoking.

 

[monicotti]

I cut the handle off a 10" cast iron pan and thats what Ive been using, I like the idea of the heavy iron for heat stability. I was having a little trouble getting smoke at 220-225. today i cut aboutt 1/2" off the four legs on the chip pan rack. Works great. I get smoke at 200 now.

 

[grillin_all_day]

i hope you went out and bought your kid a special treat for showing daddy something

my 3 yr old is the same way....gotta start em young!

 

[racemonkey]

Funniest thing is when I was putting the GOSM together he could barely stand up but insisted on putting the screws in the GOSM for the handles. I was surprised that he could actually do it at the time. So when I think about the smoker its one of those lil fun memories i have.

Now he is my bbq companion, he hauls wood, water, or whatever i give him.

Cut the legs off the wood rack? interesting. wow. Love the GOSM mods. I have to read alot more and see what everyone has been doing with em.

 

[grillin_all_day]

it's always fun when they want to do stuff like that with you. my boys were gathered around the smoker yesterday when i was doing my pork butt.

i used the same box as jtribout yesterday (stock on stopped producing smoke after 1 hr) so i switched to that box on the stock rack and worked like a charm! next project is probably going to add a rack on the outside to hold my "tools" and of course beer, haha. got a lot of school work over the next week though, so that will have to be my little side project when i take a break as to not burn myself out.

 

[racemonkey]

I need a rack as well on the outside. Always putting stuff on the deck etc so I am very interested in seeing some ideas. Could be as simple as 2 L brackets but will check the gallery. Looking forward to seeing what you do.

 

[slvance]

I bought a two pack of steel cake pans 9" and use them in my GOSM and use wood that is 3-4" long and split about the size of your finger or so. I pack the pan full and throw in any smaller chips and it keeps a nice TBS smoke w/o any billowing white clouds. I restock every 45-60 minutes and if the ash/burnt wood build up too much I dump out and reload. Most of the wood turns to a charcoal look and doesn't always ash all the way.

 

[trent]

Check this out: shelf mod
Is this what you need?

 

[dajints]

Going to pick up the GOSM medium. Was $148 on walmart.com....lowered to $130 after I ordered. Called them and they gave me a $32 refund so $116 plus free shipping to store. Ordered it online on Sunday and it arrived today...5 days total. It seems some folks do ok with the chip box and others go for the mod. Any tips for seasoning this thing. Also any recommendations for a newbie smoker???

Thanks all.

 

[pineywoods]

What most of us do is cover the burner with a plastic bag and wash the smoker out good to remove any dust or oil that ma be in it. Then either put it in the sun to dry or remove the bag and light it to dry. Once dry put the bag back on the burner if you removed it then spray the inside including racks with Pam. Put water in the pan and fire it up on low for a half hour or so then add the chip pan with some wood in it and turn it to medium for 30 minutes then high for about 15 minutes. Then take it back to 225 and put something it in to smoke since ya got it fired up.

 

[arount]

I just got my new GOSM BB smoker Friday and love it.  I'm also having a hard time getting even TBS at 200-225.  Any other suggestions or something I may be doing wrong.  I started with wet chips and after an hour or so they dried out and started smoking a little.  Only produced visible smoke for 20-30 minutes.  The next two loads I used dry chips and got a little better (faster) results but I had to bump the heat up some, which defeats the purpose of a smoker.  Dry or not, I only had about three 20-30 minute periods of visible smoke throughout the day.  I did achive a moderate smoke ring on the pork loins that cooked all day.  The chicken and ribs had less smoke ring than I would have liked. 

Also, how is everyone setting the dampners?  I found that closing the bottom ones to the stop and opening the top all the ay worked best.  Opening the top actually increased temp about 20-30 degrees.   

Thanks for any suggestions or help.

 

[igolf2]

Arount,

#1 - Don't soak your wood - just causes steam and temperature problems

#2 - Don't use chips - chunks are the way to go - last a lot longer

#3 - Just because you can't see the smoke does not mean it's not there - TBS is nearly invisible - billowing white smoke is bad

#4 - I usually fill my water pan and wood bowl and turn the smoker on high while I prep the food - by the time I load the smoker and turn the temp control down the bad white smoke is gone and the thin blue is left.

 

[arount]

Excellent advice, thanks for the help.  Plan another smoke next weekend and I will post my results.

 

[arount]

The dry chunks worked great.  Everything was great, can't wait til this weekend.