First cook on the Yoder w/ Qview

[tsonka]

Dinner Plate Qview!!

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• tsonka
• Feb 18, 2017

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• tsonka
• Feb 18, 2017

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• tsonka
• Feb 18, 2017

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• tsonka
• Feb 18, 2017

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• tsonka
• Feb 18, 2017

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• tsonka
• Feb 18, 2017

 

[gr0uch0]

 
Now. My first big question ...... All of my previous fires have been 3ish hour fires to 225.

It took me forever to get the cooker to 300deg and right now my coals are gone .. no way I could have pulled off anything longer .. I lucked out.

Should I have built a much larger, roaring fire to begin with to get up the thick metal to temp? Is it ok to add more lump coal as the cook goes along? How do you keep the coals / heat for an all day smoke?

Remember, my previous smoker was a WSM .... I just filled the cooker to the top of the ring with Kingsford Blue and I was good for 8+ hours 

Welcome to the world of offset stick burners.  As far as long cooks go, you can do multiple things to help it along.  First, keep a chimney of hot coals that you can add to the firebox as needed.  Second, search "minion method" above in the search bar--another way to keep your fire alive.  Third, build a charcoal box from expanded metal:  cost you less than $20 for the sheet of metal, and a half hour doing it--just search "charcoal basket" above also for several different ideas on how to do.  Fourth, I lean more to briquettes than lump because of the evenness of the burn.  2 lumps seldom burn the same, and I've had a harder time keeping constant temp with lump.  Fifth, you'll have an easier time getting up to temp once the weather warms up, especially if you keep the cooker situated in direct sun where your cooker can absorb the sunlight.  There are tons of other ideas as well:  just look around for more.  My $0.02.

Good looking loin:  congrats on a good looking initial plunge!

 

[tsonka]

Add a chimney of hot coals as needed ... The obvious solution sometimes eludes you ... You watch the offset cooking videos and everyone is "Once its going, you add a split about every hour" and that looked to be it

 

[gr0uch0]

 
Add a chimney of hot coals as needed ... The obvious solution sometimes eludes you ... You watch the offset cooking videos and everyone is "Once its going, you add a split about every hour" and that looked to be it

      Don't worry about it...getting a new rig dialed in can sometimes be an exercise in futility.  When you walk away for a bit or get a different perspective to a stumping issue, sometimes the simplest of answers hits you over the head like an anvil.  We've all been there!

 

[firemanjon]

Just takes a few cooks to get used to how it wants to run. You will get the hang of it. My large offset I cut my wood to a certain size for it once I figured out what size split it wanted to hold temperature. It just takes a little trial and error and you will have it going in your sleep. Great first run!!

 

[hardcookin]

Add a chimney of hot coals as needed ... The obvious solution sometimes eludes you ... You watch the offset cooking videos and everyone is "Once its going, you add a split about every hour" and that looked to be it

If your coals start to get down, burn some smaller/thinner splits to create more coals. As mentioned above after awhile you will know what size splits to add to maintain your fire. It will become second nature.

 

[SmokinAl]

Yep as said above, it's a learning curve and if your temp fluctuates a little that's OK.

The main thing is not to loose your coal bed.

A couple small splits are better than one big one.

I usually add them when the temp starts to drop a little, sometimes that's every 1/2 hour, some times it's every hour.

It just depends.

You will also find that your smoker has a sweet spot temp that it likes to run at.

In my case that's 270-280. It will stay there all day with very little effort.

BTW your loin & beans look fantastic!

Point for a great first smoke on your new rig.

Oh, and the smoke out of your stack looks perfect to me!

Al

 

[tsonka]

Thank for the replies ...

Thinking back I think I should have built a much larger fire from the beginning, then added hot coal to it as needed .... Never thought of adding more hot lump and that si the most obvious solution.

And those beans are great