High heat insulation for smoker door

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eppo

Meat Mopper
Original poster
Jan 17, 2011
232
11
Lindenhurst, NY
I remember reading on here that someone found some high heat insulation that he put around his smoker door. I have a vertical propane smoker, and although my meat comes out great, it takes a lot longer to smoke than i would like.

This is the smoker i have

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...ping-_-googleads-_-pla-_-202650720&ci_gpa=pla

I was hoping someone could point me in the right direction as to where i could get some insulation that i could put between the door and the smoker to keep the draft down (and keep the smoke in).

Thanks a lot.

Joe
 
If you are looking for an easy low budget solution, a number of folks have wrapped part of their smoker with welding blankets.  If your door has a sizable gap between the door edge and door frame, you can reduce the heat loss by either installing fiberglass rope gasket or high temp RTV silicone.

For the silicone, you can thorughly clean the door frame, wrap the door edges with plastic wrap, and then apply the silicone to the door frame and carefully close the door.  Let it cure for the time required and then open and trim the excess RTV.  The plastic wrap keeps the RTV from sticking to the door frame.

If you want to use fiberglass rope, there are others on this forum that can help you - there are a number of threads about both ways you can reference too.

A simple windbreak works very well for windy days too.

If you want to go full out, you can build a cart around the 3 sides of your smoker and insulate it.  Her are a few pics of what I did with my GOSM...

59496503_Duane_Smoker_Front_2.jpg


c42cb97c_02_Door_Gasket_Closeup.jpg
 
One thing that will help is too use play sand in the water pan in place of water. I have done this with my Master Forge, and Perfect Flame which is basically the same smoker you have. I get much better temp control, temps, and recovery time.  Also using a wind break of some kind helps with temps. 
 
My temps are pretty consistent, but my guess is that the temps may vary quite a bit from front to back due to a draft from the door. 

as a for instance, I smoked a 15lb brisket, i cut it in half. at 225 it took 24 hours, a 7lb piece of brisket should be done in about 14 hours, no?

at one point i did try some of the silicone, but it cracked and fell off, not sure if i didnt get the door clean enough, or i used the wrong stuff.

I might give that another shot, because it seemed to work well.

When i have some time i'm going to clean the door REALLY well, maybe use a wire brush on my angle grinder. I was in kind of a hurry last time because i planned to smoke that weekend, and i rushed the job.
 
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