Question about use of wood for smoking

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Looks to me like you have it nailed. I think this will work fine. Let us know how it turns out.
 
I'm going to give this set up a try for my next smoke.the pavers give me enough clearance to get my shovel in there so I can clear out the ash if I have to.  Also did a bead of the high temp RTV around the door to help keep the heat in..we'll see how it works.

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I'm new and still learning but here is what I've done over the past few weeks.  I have a Hondo off-set smoker, and charcoal alone just doen't get that huge cooking chamber hot enough, nor does it keep it at the right temp long enough.  So I have to use wood.  I start off with whatever wood I want to have the dominant flavor on top of a bed of coals.  That may be Apple for poultry, or hickory for beef.  Once that is going good and the temp is regulated, I don't throw in any more of that type of wood.  I go to a milder flavored wood such as Pecan. 

So far, a turkey, two racks of ribs, two bolognas, and a whole herd of chicken have turned out pretty good.

Jeremy, I like your mods to your fire box.  But I couldn't help notice (and I didn't read everyone's response so if addressed, please forgive me), I couldn't find your air inlet into the fire box. 
 
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Thanks Danny..Actually I'm having a buddy of mine build me a custom charcoal basket out of stainless expanded metal and it will have legs as well..Plan is to weld it together so it fits almost the exact dimensions of the firebox.  I'll post pics up once it is done. 

Here is a pic on the air inlet.

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Ok, I think I've got it right now.  Had a friend build me a box for inside my fire box out of 5/16th steel with legs, punched holes in it with a plasma cutter and made the bottom out of expanded metal. this gets it up higher and should allow me to build a better fire.  take a look and let me know what you think.

Before

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After

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The new set up works great, actually a little too great..  this weekend I filled the basket with some large pieces of oak that I used as my primary fuel.  Lit a chimneys worth of lump charcoal and dumped it on top to get everything going..After about 1/2 hour the fire was going really well.  My Tru-tel therm on the door read about 225 degree and my ET-72 was reading about 260 - 270, so it was a little hot..I closed the baffle between the fire box and smoke chamber about half way and shut the intake down to less than a quarter open..The ET-72 fluctuated between 260 and 275 the whole time and the fire burned this way for about the next 3 hours..Other than move the wood around inside the box a time or two I really didn't have to do much else. 

So my question is this, what can I do to get the temps down??  Should I close the baffle even further, or should I put some sand or water in pan to act as a heat break?  Don't think I can close the intake anymore than it already was without completely choking out the fire..
 
The new set up works great, actually a little too great..  this weekend I filled the basket with some large pieces of oak that I used as my primary fuel.  Lit a chimneys worth of lump charcoal and dumped it on top to get everything going..After about 1/2 hour the fire was going really well.  My Tru-tel therm on the door read about 225 degree and my ET-72 was reading about 260 - 270, so it was a little hot..I closed the baffle between the fire box and smoke chamber about half way and shut the intake down to less than a quarter open..The ET-72 fluctuated between 260 and 275 the whole time and the fire burned this way for about the next 3 hours..Other than move the wood around inside the box a time or two I really didn't have to do much else. 

So my question is this, what can I do to get the temps down??  Should I close the baffle even further, or should I put some sand or water in pan to act as a heat break?  Don't think I can close the intake anymore than it already was without completely choking out the fire..
You probably have to catch the temps on the way up and damp down earlier. Once you let a wood or charcoal fire get hotter than you want it can be a bear getting it to come back down. Also maybe start with a smaller fire - easier to add than take away.
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The new set up works great, actually a little too great..  this weekend I filled the basket with some large pieces of oak that I used as my primary fuel.  Lit a chimneys worth of lump charcoal and dumped it on top to get everything going..After about 1/2 hour the fire was going really well.  My Tru-tel therm on the door read about 225 degree and my ET-72 was reading about 260 - 270, so it was a little hot..I closed the baffle between the fire box and smoke chamber about half way and shut the intake down to less than a quarter open..The ET-72 fluctuated between 260 and 275 the whole time and the fire burned this way for about the next 3 hours..Other than move the wood around inside the box a time or two I really didn't have to do much else. 

So my question is this, what can I do to get the temps down??  Should I close the baffle even further, or should I put some sand or water in pan to act as a heat break?  Don't think I can close the intake anymore than it already was without completely choking out the fire..
You probably have to catch the temps on the way up and damp down earlier. Once you let a wood or charcoal fire get hotter than you want it can be a bear getting it to come back down. Also maybe start with a smaller fire - easier to add than take away.
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Good suggestion...Hadn't thought about damping it down earlier, and you're also right, I probably could have used about half the amount of wood. 
 
LOL... I speak from experience. Been more than a few times I let my WSM get away from me and I would be trying to damp it down after it had passed 300° - I can tell you it aint easy getting 16 lbs. of charcoal to want to come DOWN in temperature... lol.
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Jeremy, you can and I do myself.I have a smallish 16"er by New Braunsfeld(a precursor to the ones Horizon makes now-heavy) and a big Tejas.

I burn wood only(thus my name) and intend to use wood in my UDS when I finish her.

The trick is to get a small hot fire,feed it with wood when she starts to drop temp.I had some really good shots of my fires bvut a computer worm ate every thing.

My pieces are usually 3"X3"X8" or so and YES it is a lot more work,but worth it. Oh, when you put your wood in it should almost catch fire immediately.

Pre-heating the wood on top of your fire box helps too
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The wood catching quicky helps in not getting the dreaded "white" smoke,and creating a nice blue,barely visible, wispy smoke ;remember , you don't have to see smoke to get the effect, if it smells like smoke it is doing what you want.
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 Hope this helps and always remember,
 
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Gentlemen, thanks again for the information. 

Oldschool, I'll give that a try and start with a smaller fire. I also probably need to do a better job making sure the wood is completely dry.  My stack was kicking out the TBS after about 45 minutes into the initial burn.  Anyway, I'll mess around with it some more and see if I can bring those temps down earlier and post back.  Will try to take some picture too.
 
If using lump in that box try snaking it around.

I think you would be ok if using just splits on the grate about 2" square bay 8-10" long.I think oldschool nailed it

I have to use the smaller splits and sometimes will add two or three, the idea here is to keep a small controlled fire and a decent bed of coals.

also you can place splits in the firebox about six inches or so from the fire.

What I have done to concentrate my fire a little better is to use a basket similar to the one you just made.

Ton of good advice.

here is a pic of what I just started using recently.

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