Char-Griller Smokin Pro with firebox- Mods

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These two thermos are definitely going as close to grate level as I can get them in the top half of the CG. I haven't even looked yet but hopefully I can get them around 1" or so from the grate. May pick up one of the puck type units like you have if I catch one locally at a decent price. Would be neat to have for checking for hot spots. I think I've got my CG cooking pretty evenly now though. Just need to come up with a welding blanket or something to keep the temps from NOSE DIVING when the cool wind blows this winter...
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A "smoke shack" would be great, but don't have the extra $$$$ to do that right now. Maybe I can build one for the big smoker I hope to get eventually.
 
I should probably start my own thread, but it got me thinking (yea, there he goes again) and it relates to Mossy's original post. There have been times when I wanted to tune my box. When you're cookin a bunch of the same thing, it would be handy. But there are times when you're cookin things like ribs and chicken. You don't want the temerature even then.

So I just got to thinkin about a solid steel sheet across the bottom of the smoke chamber; baffeled down to get you more room. But about every 4-6 inches add some adjustable sliding dampers so you could adjust the tune of the pit as needed. When you don't want even temperatures, open all of the dampers. When you need to even things out, open the far side all the way and work your way down as you get close to the firebox.

Maybe it wouldn't work. Maybe too complicated. I dunna. Just a thought. Here's a rough illustration to what I'm thinking. The tall rectangular thingies are sliding dampers (slide up and down).

baff1.jpg
 
You could do the same thing with tuning plates. i just lay mine in they are not fastened in place. Just increase the gap on the firebox end. I wanted to be able to remove mine for use as a large grill.
 
ok guys here is what I did with my char-griller pro. I took the pictures before using the mods so you guys could see the contrasting in color and see exactly how they look at fit. I installed the flex tube just like a lot of guys did in here. The pictures might help people know how to do it, hope they ilustrate how its done. the tube has to be 3inches, that fits perfectly in there, now what you do is this: mold the tube like an "S" towards the front and dont cut just yet. manipulate the tube to get a tight fit in the little eyelash that the grill has on the door, rest the tube there in one of the gaps that it has until you get a tight fit, with a knife cut it there, this helps because it helps the tube stay in place even opening the door and closing it.

here is the pic so you guys can see how I did it.





now on to the firebox. We all know that you need a charcoal basket in order to achieve constant temperatures in this smoker. Here's what I did to mine. Weel , actually I didn't do a think. I just bought it in lowes, The fit was perfect and it holds itself up and allows air flow to circulate. They had an assembled char-griller pro there and I went ahead and measured different things in the side fire box and this matched like a charm in there. It holds itself so you can take the ash tray out without moving it. It makes your work a lot easier when refueling. you can see the model and everything for you guys that want to get the same one in the pics.











Hoe you guys like the pics. Now I have a question for the people that turn the ash catcher upside down when smoking. How high do you have it, do I pull it all the way up like in this picture, or do I just let i rest on the grill itself? there is a gap between the tray and the hole to the fire box. I don't know if I leave it hanging, will it cause a hotspot on that side because of the gap?

If I let it rest on the grill I can pretty much eliminate the gap and almost cover the hole with the tray. what do you guys do? heres a pic



thanks to everyone for the huge help, hope this helps people out too.
 
I just made the recomended mods to my brand new chargriller pro and have a rack of ribs smoking for a test run to see how things are going. I've got the intake and chimney closed down about 50% and got a perfect 250 degrees at the grill level. I'll post pictures tonight when dinner is cooked and all is good and done.
Dave
I know I should have smoked the ribs longer but the wife and kids were hungry and it was 8 pm when I took the ribs off. cooked through, juicy and smoked lightly with a narrow smoke ring around the meat.
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This thread is great, i'm getting some good ideas. Let me know how well you think this would work. I have a chargriller with no mods. I was thinking about, as a previous member said, flipping the charcoal rack upside down, perhaps covering the far right grill section with foil, and throwing a water pan on top of that. Then maybe run the tubing from the smoke stack more to the right side or middle of the grill (lang inspired). Would this work together? Am I over complicating it? Let me know your thoughts. I have also been seeing lava rocks at the hardware store. Would these go well in the bottom of the main barrel to help hold in some heat?
 
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I'm off to the store to get all of my modification needs. I just bought a char-griller pro with the side box and have been having a few issues, i.e. uneven temp, hard to control temp, and all the little quirks of owning a new grill.
I really appreciate all the awesome info on this site. I also find it a little odd that us smokers and grillers are so darn computer savvy!
Til next time.
 
I has held pretty good, after about 5-6 smokes it's still going strong and with no signs of letting me down any time soon.

sorry for the late reply.
 
Glad I took the time to look at this thread! Guess I have a little bit of work to do tonight before I start smoking tomorrow!

I seasoned my CGSP last night. I wonder how much my temp gauge is off? Had a heck of a time getting it up to temp (according to the gauge). It wanted to hover around 150-175. Finally threw in some charcoal (and log of striped maple) in the main chamber. When I went to bed it was reading 300*. I've never had to season cast iron, so I was worried about hitting the correct temp - sheet said 300 for 1 hour and 2 hours at 200. Guess I'll be okay?

I'll have to stop on the way home and get some real thermometers and a cookie sheet to use as a baffle. I got a lot of meat to smoke tomorrow and I'd hate to ruin it!
 
first pic look close, and see the mods. first i ran flashing only part way across, not enought to put out hot spots. then i ran it all the way across, that was too much as it didnt get hot enough. then i just bent up the sides some, and i put three rows of holes through the flashing front to back, side to side to allow some extra smoke through. this worked great, bit the holes get clogged and have to be cleaned often. also extended the pipe down to the grate for temp control. now, no more hot spots, and no more temp problems. i can stuff it with a ton of wood, and the temp still stays low. and the resulting butts are some of the best i have ever had, and the ribs, well more practice with them yet to come.
stuffed spud... we ran a special on these at the restaurant. . mmm good!
 
Im glad I checked out this thread there was a lot of good info and some of those links helped a lot
 
First post here... I wanted to thank y'all for the great mods and useful info! After this weekend's (3rd) attempt, I finally seem to be on the right track.

We got a Chargriller Outlaw with sidebox; it's really too big for my wife and I, but Academy had a great deal on them. Most of the mods here (smokestack extension, fiberglass rope to seal the smoke chamber, coal basket) work great, but I had a lot of trouble with the baffle. I had flipped the cooking chamber coal tray but discovered that it was really hard to get up to 235F (even with the Afterburner system-- ran it at full tilt and went through a tank of propane in 6 hours). This weekend, I returned the coal tray to its standard position, put the chicken, ribs & brisket at the far end, put water near the firebox, and went back to coal & wood. Worked great; I even had to nudge it back from hitting 250F! I think it's because the Outlaw's big volume needs as much heat as possible; maybe a full-length baffle bleeds off too much heat? (I'll have to try it with the Afterburner system again.)

Another thing that I found helpful was having a thermometer (with +700F calibration) in the firebox lid; it shows when flare ups occur, and gives advance notice of where the smokebox temperatures are heading. I'd have never suspected this but saw that opening the smoke chamber sometimes caused temperatures to increase, presumably because it gives the firebox more oxygen.

I can't wait to put in some more grilling time during the upcoming long weekend!

-Jim
 
On my last smoke, I flipped the main chamber charcoal tray to use as a baffler. What I noticed was the left side now ended up much hotter than the center of the smoker.

As I do not intended to use this as anything other than a pure smoker (I've got another grill to use for grilling), I was thinking of drilling holes in the charcoal tray to allow heat to come through. Thoughts were 3-4 1/2" holes ever 4-5 inches across the tray, with the first set probably 10 inches from the fire box.

Would this help out overall? I think it will, but would love some expert opinions. Thanks everyone.
 
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