Central TX Newbie

[pineywoods]

Thanks for the advice! Yes, it does have a grate in the base of the firebox. Is that preferred? I figure it probably is since it will allow some oxygen under the coals as well as prevent a bunch of ash from building up in my coal bed, but would appreciate any insight otherwise.

I'd also love any tips on getting it fired up properly to ensure I'm not fighting to keep my fire going during long cooks. My current plan is to fire up a chimney of lump charcoal, burn down 2 or 3 splits of wood to get the smoker up to temp and start building a coal bed, and from there just keep a split preheating at the front of the box at all times, turning it over into the fire as needed to keep a flame going (and placing a new split to preheat). Any and all suggestions are welcome.

Yes you want the grate in the firebox in place to do exactly what you were thinking.
Don't make your splits to big try some that are just shorter than the door opening and about the size of a magnum beer can in diameter. What your looking for is thin blue smoke (TBS) not thick white billowing smoke. Add another split or two when the last ones you put in are burned down but not to the point you loose temperature. A 1/4" thick steel smoker is going to retain some heat so by the time the temperature gauge starts to go down you've let it go to long. I would suggest when you season the smoker spend some time trying to get your temps stable and figure out about how long between adding splits and get somewhat comfortable with how it works before starting the smoke. I usually am adding a split or two every 30-45 minutes with my smoker. For short smokes you can do chicken as I mentioned earlier or hamburgers, sausages

 

[tx smoker]

Sounds like Jerry ( pineywoods ) has you pointed in the right direction as far as running your smoker. You can take what he says to the bank and accept it as gospel.

Duly noted! Hey, any recommendations for sourcing wood around these parts? Would be greatly appreciated

You can get most of the stuff at Academy but it can get a bit pricey. There's a guy about 5 minutes from my house that did all the lot clearing for us when we built. He keeps oak and mesquite split and stacked on his lot and you can just drop in and grab what you need. The one I'm having a hard time finding is cherry. As far as finding stuff in Austin, I'm at a loss. Although I spend too much time in town for work, I'm just trying to get in and out as fast as possible. Being that everything is pretty much built out in the city it's not likely you'll find anything there that folks have taken from lot clearing. Add to that the Austin Tree Nazis won't let you touch a tree for any reason, there won't be any taken down.

Robert