Beginner looking for fire advice...

svassh · Aug 30, 2017

So I'm not new to smoking been making decent brisket and pulled pork for years on my kamado and pellet grills. Recently I decided to take the plunge and have a real offset stick burner built for me by a local welder. Did a ton of research online to deliver the specs for my perfect smoker. Based on the smoking calculators I have found online almost all my dimensions are dead on.

Now for the fun part, been seasoning and running trials for Labor Day weekend every nite this week. I had some leftover lump charcoal and bought some bagged split oak from Academy Sports store. Been starting with a pile of lump and parafin starter cubes to get the fire going. Smoker comes up to temperature rather nicely and quickly. Once I have a good bed of coals I throw a split of oak on and things look good for several hours. When temps begin to drop I throw on another split but by this time by coal bed is nearly gone and have had trouble getting the next split going. Last nite I had to throw on more lump to get the fire going again.

I just got a Weber chimney starter and some plain charcoal I was gonna try next. I was thinking I would just start it with coals and then only add splits to keep it going, maybe not. So my questions are really the following:

1. I know I start with the chimney to get a bed of coals going, but is it normal to have to add more coals?

2. If not is it possibly my splits are just too big and maybe need to be split down smaller so they burn faster

Thanks for any advice!

PS: I should probably add its been rather windy lately. I have been keeping the chimney fully open and only adjusting air on the firebox intake side.

SmokinAl · Aug 30, 2017

svassh said:
So I'm not new to smoking been making decent brisket and pulled pork for years on my kamado and pellet grills. Recently I decided to take the plunge and have a real offset stick burner built for me by a local welder. Did a ton of research online to deliver the specs for my perfect smoker. Based on the smoking calculators I have found online almost all my dimensions are dead on.

Now for the fun part, been seasoning and running trials for Labor Day weekend every nite this week. I had some leftover lump charcoal and bought some bagged split oak from Academy Sports store. Been starting with a pile of lump and parafin starter cubes to get the fire going. Smoker comes up to temperature rather nicely and quickly. Once I have a good bed of coals I throw a split of oak on and things look good for several hours. When temps begin to drop I throw on another split but by this time by coal bed is nearly gone and have had trouble getting the next split going. Last nite I had to throw on more lump to get the fire going again.

I just got a Weber chimney starter and some plain charcoal I was gonna try next. I was thinking I would just start it with coals and then only add splits to keep it going, maybe not. So my questions are really the following:

1. I know I start with the chimney to get a bed of coals going, but is it normal to have to add more coals?

2. If not is it possibly my splits are just too big and maybe need to be split down smaller so they burn faster

Thanks for any advice!

PS: I should probably add its been rather windy lately. I have been keeping the chimney fully open and only adjusting air on the firebox intake side.

The biggest thing to learn about an offset is to maintain the coal bed.

It sounds to me like you let it burn down too far and then there weren't enough coals to start the new split you put on.

It takes some experience to know when & how big a split to put on the fire.

If you have a big coal bed you can put on a big split, but if the coal bed is small then a couple of small splits would work better to build the coal bed back up.

On my offset I usually have the exhaust open all the way & I have 2 firebox dampers. I keep one of them closed all the way & the other one just cracked open about 1/2".

After starting the fire initially with lump, I never put anything in the firebox except wood.

Al

ammaturesmoker · Aug 30, 2017

you need to get that up to temp with coal and then switch to wood. Make sure that air flow is happening.....some smokers you need to put a fan blowing twards the firebox due to the chamber not being able to pull the smoke through. This is common with longer chambers. They struggle with the convection process and the wood just starts to smolder and not burn. Offset can be easy once you learn how each one acts. You can't tell it what to do, you have to adjust to its behavior. But once mastered, look out for that good tasting food!!!

svassh · Aug 30, 2017

Thanks guys, I'll work on a better bed of coals and maybe some smaller splits.

pit 4 brains · Aug 30, 2017

SmokinAl said:
The biggest thing to learn about an offset is to maintain the coal bed.

It sounds to me like you let it burn down too far and then there weren't enough coals to start the new split you put on.

It takes some experience to know when & how big a split to put on the fire.

If you have a big coal bed you can put on a big split, but if the coal bed is small then a couple of small splits would work better to build the coal bed back up.

On my offset I usually have the exhaust open all the way & I have 2 firebox dampers. I keep one of them closed all the way & the other one just cracked open about 1/2".

After starting the fire initially with lump, I never put anything in the firebox except wood.

Al

Yes, you are definitely letting it burn down too far. There needs to be a fairly constant supply of wood that matches the burn rate of the wood, the size of the fire/coal bed and the amount of air it's getting.

There is going to be an optimal of each that will create the "sweet spot" in your smoker where you can have 250-275 temps all day long.

I guess for an analogy; running a stick burner is like operating a hot air balloon. The gondola being your firebox and the envelope being your chamber. You need plenty of energy (large fire) to get things heated up. once you get flying, you need to maintain the heat input for level flight. let the bag cool too much, the balloon drops. Too much heat, the balloon goes up. The pilot has to know to fire the burners just often enough to maintain desired flight.

I personally like to add smaller logs or splits more often vs. large ones less often.This, to me, helps maintain a fire that has three to four logs smoldering at any given time and the area between them stays a nice orange color. The smaller, yet hot fire will accept new splits without big swings in temps and without pouring out white smoke while the log comes to light.

The final suggestion from me is to put the next two or three split on top of your firebox. This will get them pretty well pre heated before they go in. You can move them around ( I'll put the very next one directly over the fire and the other two on the opposite side) and as you put one or two in, add one or two to the top.

Here's my rig in action... Note the logs on the box and the TBS.. This was just after adding a log.

20170805_133115.jpg

pit 4 brains
Aug 30, 2017

svassh · Aug 30, 2017

Thanks Pit 4 Brains, I think I do need to spend more time watching the fire and less relying on the temp gauges to decide when to tend the fire. I did have my builder add a warming plate on top of the firebox just for warming the next split. I think it has helped but my splits are simply too big. Good advice and I like the analogy!

banderson7474 · Jun 26, 2018

Something I have noticed is that when I start off with coal chimney and then add a stick or two (depending on size) an hour I can keep temp for a good 5hrs with no issues. Then there comes a point where I lost coals and then I'm scrambling around hour 6 or 7 to get back.

Now one problem could be that I typically like to quench my thirst when smoking and maybe I get too relaxed about putting more wood on but I now try to be in front of that hour 6 cool down.

I've also noticed that If I'm trying to stay around 220-245 temp, I need to add wood when I'm at 230 to stay in front otherwise I drop below 220 and then having to catch up which is annoying.

banderson7474 · Jun 26, 2018

Come to think of it, it might be the ash build up after hour 5 that is slowing things down for me. hmmmm

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Beginner looking for fire advice...

svassh

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SmokinAl

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ammaturesmoker

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svassh

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pit 4 brains

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