- May 21, 2018
- 79
- 37
Got my 1st smoke in this weekend (actually yesterday) with my new Okie Joe smoker. Some tweaks, pro's & con's but all mostly pro's for sure!! Overall I was very very impressed and extremely happy so far. For my first try I started off w/ 2x whole chickens, just in case I completely botched it wouldn't be a huge $$ loss.
For my baffle/heat plate, I contemplated buying the aftermarket one online but after being scared off by the price I checked around for a cheaper alternative solution. I found one on youtube using the existing racks wrapped in heavy duty foil and figured what the hec give it a try. I couldn't have been more happy with such a cheap solution. Below is a pic of the setup (more on this later).
I started off with lump charcoal (in a homemade basket using this forums instructions) to get the fire going and added my pieces of wood. I did a mix of Oak and Hickory (not sure if your suppose to do that). One of my worries was getting high enough temps probably because my prior electric vertical smoker had major issues with keeping a temp north of 200 - 225.
So my one small con to the smoker so far was the paint peeling. Which I knew already and have heard of many many times, not a big deal but on the 1st smoke is just disintegrated. I had rubbed with oil, sprayed with WD40, I prepared it as much as I could to get some longevity out of the paint in that area. Again no big deal at all!!
On the cook temps, I had zero trouble at all getting a higher temp in the CC. I also worried about getting an even cook temp across the CC. Well I couldn't have been more happier, I had a flat out even cook temp within 5 degrees across the entire CC. I was blown away, that little cheap baffle/heat plate worked like a charm. It's extremly extremly hard to see in the pic but both my gauges were lined up in the same direction and both were spot on. I was shocked, it stayed like that the entire cook!!
Chickens came out awesome, extremely smoky flavor, very very juicy on the inside, skin was pretty colored but I knew that going in from what I had read on chickens that the skin can get little cooked. I had brined the chickens the night before as well and rubbed them down with a simply poultry rub.
There were about 2 small smoke leaks around the lid but they were minimal and didn't affect the outcome at all. My temp probs (which are new) acted up on me as I noticed the internal temp stuck at 145 for probably 20 - 30 minutes. After popping the lid and re-adjusting the prob it started reading correctly again. Other prob did same darn thing so I'll have to research that issue. I had no problem with the prob wires hanging out or causing a leak, the door shut on them nicely and I am glad that I didn't kill myself trying drill a hole through the side for a gasket to fit the probes through.
I also need a bigger grease catcher. Just before I threw the birds on I realized I didn't have anything to catch the grease, so I quickly improvised with a nice beer can. However it was a little small, lol so I will upgrade that!!
Overall I am extremely extremely pleased with this smoker so far. Well built, simple modifications to it made it even a little better. This was extremely fun for me, I love to cook and I really love to burn wood in the fireplace, fire pit, and now in the smoker. Thanks to this forum for the awesome information on getting my smoker up and running!!!
For my baffle/heat plate, I contemplated buying the aftermarket one online but after being scared off by the price I checked around for a cheaper alternative solution. I found one on youtube using the existing racks wrapped in heavy duty foil and figured what the hec give it a try. I couldn't have been more happy with such a cheap solution. Below is a pic of the setup (more on this later).
I started off with lump charcoal (in a homemade basket using this forums instructions) to get the fire going and added my pieces of wood. I did a mix of Oak and Hickory (not sure if your suppose to do that). One of my worries was getting high enough temps probably because my prior electric vertical smoker had major issues with keeping a temp north of 200 - 225.
So my one small con to the smoker so far was the paint peeling. Which I knew already and have heard of many many times, not a big deal but on the 1st smoke is just disintegrated. I had rubbed with oil, sprayed with WD40, I prepared it as much as I could to get some longevity out of the paint in that area. Again no big deal at all!!
On the cook temps, I had zero trouble at all getting a higher temp in the CC. I also worried about getting an even cook temp across the CC. Well I couldn't have been more happier, I had a flat out even cook temp within 5 degrees across the entire CC. I was blown away, that little cheap baffle/heat plate worked like a charm. It's extremly extremly hard to see in the pic but both my gauges were lined up in the same direction and both were spot on. I was shocked, it stayed like that the entire cook!!
Chickens came out awesome, extremely smoky flavor, very very juicy on the inside, skin was pretty colored but I knew that going in from what I had read on chickens that the skin can get little cooked. I had brined the chickens the night before as well and rubbed them down with a simply poultry rub.
There were about 2 small smoke leaks around the lid but they were minimal and didn't affect the outcome at all. My temp probs (which are new) acted up on me as I noticed the internal temp stuck at 145 for probably 20 - 30 minutes. After popping the lid and re-adjusting the prob it started reading correctly again. Other prob did same darn thing so I'll have to research that issue. I had no problem with the prob wires hanging out or causing a leak, the door shut on them nicely and I am glad that I didn't kill myself trying drill a hole through the side for a gasket to fit the probes through.
I also need a bigger grease catcher. Just before I threw the birds on I realized I didn't have anything to catch the grease, so I quickly improvised with a nice beer can. However it was a little small, lol so I will upgrade that!!
Overall I am extremely extremely pleased with this smoker so far. Well built, simple modifications to it made it even a little better. This was extremely fun for me, I love to cook and I really love to burn wood in the fireplace, fire pit, and now in the smoker. Thanks to this forum for the awesome information on getting my smoker up and running!!!
