So, I used the link from the welcome message to create a post, and it doesn't appear to be showing. I am a first timer and will be doing a 9-lb brisket tomorrow morning around 7am here in Hampton Roads, VA. I have a Smoke Hollow model 3500, 3-in-1 gas/charcoal/smoker that I will be using. Hopefully I'm not double-posting, but I typed out a pretty long intro and if it's lost, here's a copy-and-paste of similar information from a Reddit thread I posted in:
I've been doing research the last couple days. I did a dry run today (no meat, just the fire) to get an idea of how my smoker works with what I picked up at Lowe's, which is lump charcoal and wood chips. Unfortunately I couldn't find any chunks or larger so that's what I will be working with tomorrow.
Here's what I discovered during my dry run: my smoker leaks air, heat, and smoke. A lot. I will attempt to remedy this tomorrow by smashing foil into any gaps I can find as a temporary fix for tomorrow, and have an Amazon order for rope gasket and high temp silicone for a long term solution.
I found some common mods online last night and attempted some of them. I got some aluminum ducting that is used for laundry dryer exhaust, cut a length and shoved that in my chimney to lower the opening. It doesn't sit flush and there is some leak from around the chimney.
Next I took the rest of that aluminum sheet and made a sort of triangle deflector to the opening between the firebox and smoke chamber to spread heat out through the chamber. This worked great and my oven thermometer placed centered on the grill surface read 235 steady.
The third mod I did was to create a charcoal bin of diamond mesh, roughly 11x9 and 3 inch high sides. While I found this great for maintaining temperature and easy to add coal to, I added ~2 handfuls of smoke chips touching the coals (on the air intake side) which lit and burned off in 5-10 minutes. I added another two handfuls with an inch or two space from the coals, and they did not light or even smoke. Tomorrow, I will try switching the sides, going from right to left air intake, charcoal, wood chips, cooking chamber.
Any other tips?
I've been doing research the last couple days. I did a dry run today (no meat, just the fire) to get an idea of how my smoker works with what I picked up at Lowe's, which is lump charcoal and wood chips. Unfortunately I couldn't find any chunks or larger so that's what I will be working with tomorrow.
Here's what I discovered during my dry run: my smoker leaks air, heat, and smoke. A lot. I will attempt to remedy this tomorrow by smashing foil into any gaps I can find as a temporary fix for tomorrow, and have an Amazon order for rope gasket and high temp silicone for a long term solution.
I found some common mods online last night and attempted some of them. I got some aluminum ducting that is used for laundry dryer exhaust, cut a length and shoved that in my chimney to lower the opening. It doesn't sit flush and there is some leak from around the chimney.
Next I took the rest of that aluminum sheet and made a sort of triangle deflector to the opening between the firebox and smoke chamber to spread heat out through the chamber. This worked great and my oven thermometer placed centered on the grill surface read 235 steady.
The third mod I did was to create a charcoal bin of diamond mesh, roughly 11x9 and 3 inch high sides. While I found this great for maintaining temperature and easy to add coal to, I added ~2 handfuls of smoke chips touching the coals (on the air intake side) which lit and burned off in 5-10 minutes. I added another two handfuls with an inch or two space from the coals, and they did not light or even smoke. Tomorrow, I will try switching the sides, going from right to left air intake, charcoal, wood chips, cooking chamber.
Any other tips?
