As I said in a separate thread below, my Master Forge smoker gave out. Time for a new Smoker. I decided on the Smoke Hollow. the 38" model. 38202G. It arrived Monday (yesterday, 10/31). Assembled it last night. seems to be fairly well built for the amount of money spent.
Today I seasoned it, filled the large (three times the size of the Master Forge) chip box, added water to the large oval shaped water bowl. Lit the burner. My plan for today was to season the smoker and see where all the smoke holes were, so I could plug them.
Ran gas control knob to max and watched the temperature climb. (used a separate thermometer to gauge how the door thermometer was reading. The door thermometer tracked pretty close with my remove thermometer.
Max temp 400 degrees for 1 hour. then backed the gas control to min. .Temperature dropped to 204 degrees and stayed for 45 minutes when I turn off the smoker.
Extremely small amount of smoke leaked out of both door hinge area, very small amount, I may not even bother sealing its such a min. leakage. No other smoke leaks seen.
Will try a first smoke with it this weekend.
I was concerned about the upper rear wall exhaust (instead of a top stack), this was not a problem, even with the wind blowing toward the open exhaust. seemed to draw just fine. I don't see any problem , I do not cold smoke, usually I smoke between 225 and 250.
This unit should work just fine. However, I will insulate, as I did with the Master Forge). As any rain hitting these thin steel smokers will drop the temp. My smoker is under a roof, but rain will blow in. Wouldn't be Florida without the rain.
From near Ocala Florida, Walt and the Asphalt Eagle (my motorcycle).
Today I seasoned it, filled the large (three times the size of the Master Forge) chip box, added water to the large oval shaped water bowl. Lit the burner. My plan for today was to season the smoker and see where all the smoke holes were, so I could plug them.
Ran gas control knob to max and watched the temperature climb. (used a separate thermometer to gauge how the door thermometer was reading. The door thermometer tracked pretty close with my remove thermometer.
Max temp 400 degrees for 1 hour. then backed the gas control to min. .Temperature dropped to 204 degrees and stayed for 45 minutes when I turn off the smoker.
Extremely small amount of smoke leaked out of both door hinge area, very small amount, I may not even bother sealing its such a min. leakage. No other smoke leaks seen.
Will try a first smoke with it this weekend.
I was concerned about the upper rear wall exhaust (instead of a top stack), this was not a problem, even with the wind blowing toward the open exhaust. seemed to draw just fine. I don't see any problem , I do not cold smoke, usually I smoke between 225 and 250.
This unit should work just fine. However, I will insulate, as I did with the Master Forge). As any rain hitting these thin steel smokers will drop the temp. My smoker is under a roof, but rain will blow in. Wouldn't be Florida without the rain.
From near Ocala Florida, Walt and the Asphalt Eagle (my motorcycle).
