damnit brother!! I'm stick burner bound! need advice...

[x-man]

3+ years ago my brother gave me his old Masterbuilt ES, which just sat in the corner of my garage for well over a year... until Covid hit,,, and then I rolled it out and began my first smoking experience... since then I've spent (waaaay) too many hours on my computer drinking beer at night researching and watching YouTube videos, and silently dog-cussing my brother for starting me down this path.... I had never even heard of words like "spatch-cocking", "dry-brining", "bark" and "resting".... whelp, 2 years later, 20+ pork butts, 12-15 briskets, dozens of chicken, ribs and jerkey, damnit, I'm hooked!! So I decided it was time to graduate to a bona-fide stick burner and get the true smoking experience! Now I've got a friend building me a custom off-set smoker... and I'd like to ask my more experienced friends... 1) What 3 things do you know now that you wish you woulda known when you first started smoking on your off-set? and, 2) worst mistake? Thanks in advance and looking forward to interacting with this crew!!! X-Man

 

[smokerjim]

Congrats in the new smoker, probably my worst mistake when I started with my offset was thinking the more smoke the better , was I wrong. Just wish I had more time to use it I use my mes and pellet smoker the most but if you have the time to spend with your offset in my opinion my mes and pellet smoker dont match up in flavor.

 

[Zombotrec]

nice

 

[SmokinAl]

Great looking smoker, can’t wait to see it in action.
I really don’t think I made any bad mistakes when I got my Lang. There was a learning curve for sure. Your biggest challenge will be fire control. I guess my biggest mistake was starting too large a fire. Then my next biggest mistake was trying to micro-manage the pit temp. I have found that if you begin with the right size fire then the temp will fluctuate in a small range of about + or - 20 degrees. The learning curve is deciding what size fire produces the temp range you are looking for. Good luck & looking to see some fine Q from your pit!
Al

 

[JLeonard]

Welcome from Mississippi! Look forward to your posts and pics.
Jim

 

[sandyut]

Welcome from Utah

 

[phatbac]

The worst mistake I made was like Al said building too big a fire and getting it too hot. also, worry about temps so much if you run at 285 degrees it's ok that you aren't running at 225 (the meat don't care).
mainly just build a small fire and keep a coal bed going with as clear of smoke as you can get.

Happy Smoking,
phatbac (Aaron)

 

[x-man]

3+ years ago my brother gave me his old Masterbuilt ES, which just sat in the corner of my garage for well over a year... until Covid hit,,, and then I rolled it out and began my first smoking experience... since then I've spent (waaaay) too many hours on my computer drinking beer at night researching and watching YouTube videos, and silently dog-cussing my brother for starting me down this path.... I had never even heard of words like "spatch-cocking", "dry-brining", "bark" and "resting".... whelp, 2 years later, 20+ pork butts, 12-15 briskets, dozens of chicken, ribs and jerkey, damnit, I'm hooked!! So I decided it was time to graduate to a bona-fide stick burner and get the true smoking experience! Now I've got a friend building me a custom off-set smoker... and I'd like to ask my more experienced friends... 1) What 3 things do you know now that you wish you woulda known when you first started smoking on your off-set? and, 2) worst mistake? Thanks in advance and looking forward to interacting with this crew!!! X-Man



Almost done!! Updated picture. Gonna be a beach getting it to the back patio...

 

[bauchjw]

Wow! That is a Hog! Looks awesome!

 

[x-man]

3+ years ago my brother gave me his old Masterbuilt ES, which just sat in the corner of my garage for well over a year... until Covid hit,,, and then I rolled it out and began my first smoking experience... since then I've spent (waaaay) too many hours on my computer drinking beer at night researching and watching YouTube videos, and silently dog-cussing my brother for starting me down this path.... I had never even heard of words like "spatch-cocking", "dry-brining", "bark" and "resting".... whelp, 2 years later, 20+ pork butts, 12-15 briskets, dozens of chicken, ribs and jerkey, damnit, I'm hooked!! So I decided it was time to graduate to a bona-fide stick burner and get the true smoking experience! Now I've got a friend building me a custom off-set smoker... and I'd like to ask my more experienced friends... 1) What 3 things do you know now that you wish you woulda known when you first started smoking on your off-set? and, 2) worst mistake? Thanks in advance and looking forward to interacting with this crew!!! X-Man



Almost done!! Updated picture. Gonna be a beach getting it to the back patio...

yep, wasn't fun getting it on the patio... seasoning today, will be taking it for a test run this weekend!!

 

[Ringer]

Excellent job on the smoker. Be sure to post up some good food pics from the test run. Congrats on a beautiful piece.

 

[Brokenhandle]

Looks beautiful! Look forward to your first cook on it!

Ryan

 

[phathead69]

nice smoker for sure. already mentioned but worth repeating. that smoker will have temp sweet spot, and a range it like to operate in. shoot for 225 to 250. don't fight it when old drier splits run it up 285 right after you add them, it'll come back down. not the end of the world if your a little late on adding a spit or two and temp is 215. it'll catch back up. you will find a rythem and flow with it. I'm every 45 min add a spilt or two pending size. nap for 45 repeat. don't fight it don't panic. enjoy the journey.

 

[sawhorseray]

Sweet lookin' rig, your bud did a fantastic job! RAY

 

[daspyknows]

Besides stuff temp/fire related biggest thing I learned is to plan ahead and have plenty of good wood stored. Buy in bulk and let it sit and dry. I always have at least a cord of wood here and a selection of types locally available. Planning in advance/getting green wood costs me free to $75/quarter cord which in season dried wood typically $100 to $125/quarter cord and buying buy the bag triple that.

 

[BCP3006]

3+ years ago my brother gave me his old Masterbuilt ES, which just sat in the corner of my garage for well over a year... until Covid hit,,, and then I rolled it out and began my first smoking experience... since then I've spent (waaaay) too many hours on my computer drinking beer at night researching and watching YouTube videos, and silently dog-cussing my brother for starting me down this path.... I had never even heard of words like "spatch-cocking", "dry-brining", "bark" and "resting".... whelp, 2 years later, 20+ pork butts, 12-15 briskets, dozens of chicken, ribs and jerkey, damnit, I'm hooked!! So I decided it was time to graduate to a bona-fide stick burner and get the true smoking experience! Now I've got a friend building me a custom off-set smoker... and I'd like to ask my more experienced friends... 1) What 3 things do you know now that you wish you woulda known when you first started smoking on your off-set? and, 2) worst mistake? Thanks in advance and looking forward to interacting with this crew!!! X-Man

My first mistake starting out on and offset smoker would be thinking that white smoke was all that I needed.

Using green wood that wasn't seasoned

And the last mistake was putting too much wood in the firebox

And here's another one not knowing when to add fuel to your fire. There is an optimal time to do that

And here's another one learning how to bypass the white smoke stage of a fire when you're starting your smoker up.

Have I sparked your interest give a holler I'm a newbie also but I've been using offset smokers for 35 years and I'm trying to beat a pellet smoker into submission and having it give up flavor on the meat I'm trying to smoke. I'm just experimenting with it so give a holler I'm free anytime during the day and if you send a message at night I'm probably awake. Smoke on from The lone Star State...

 

[x-man]

Trying several quicker cooks on chickens (3-4 hours) to see how she cooks… great early results though!!!

 

[Brokenhandle]

Looks great to me!

Ryan

 

[3montes]

Nice looking stick burner and I'm always happy to see someone join the fraternity. I've been saying for awhile that stick burning is becoming a lost art people just don't want to invest the time and attention.

I have a trailer stick burner it's a custom one off. I've had it for around ten years now I guess. It has a lot of features but if I had to pick one that would be on every stick burner I will ever own it's a top loading door on the firebox. Makes it so nice to be able to feed and tend the fire from a standing position. It also has a front door that is used for emptying ash. In addition I use the top loading door for open fire searing. The other feature is venting on all three sides of the firebox. You can catch the slightest breeze no matter which direction it comes from.

If you look closely at the bottom of the firebox you can see the sliding vent covers. Those are on all three sides. Makes for very effective and adjustable air flow.

 

[x-man]

Had 3 shorter smokes (chicken) to see how she burns and just learn the fire, split consumption, large splits vs small splits… ventilation and smoke stack (6”) adjustments… all 3 smokes she wanted to settle in right around 275… is that too hot?