Hello Everyone!

[dontknowsquat]

My name is Jon and I'm from the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio. I just got my first smoker as an early father's day gift from my wife, and I am super excited! I got one of the Oklahoma Joe Highland's from Walmart.

I did my first smoke yesterday, and boy it could have been a lot better. I smoked some chicken thighs using hickory, and when I tried the skin it was like eating a rubbery ash tray, but luckily the inner meat was good. I think I used way too much wood, and had my heat way too low (200-225 range). I ended up just peeling all of the skin off every one of them and tossing it in the garbage. 

Anyways, I have been poking around this site for a few days now to get any kind of information I could, and I finally decided it was a good idea to just jump in with everyone and learn from the community. Looking forward to meeting you all!

Jon

Cleveland, Ohio

 

[SmokinAl]

Welcome aboard Jon!

To get crispy skin you need to run your smoker at 300-325.

Or you can pull it off the smoker early & crisp it up on a hot grill.

Al

 

[dontknowsquat]

Thank you Al! I will definitely be turning the heat up next time!

 

[sauced]

Welcome to the forum!! 

The OKJ usually needs some mods. There are usually leaks and the temp is a bit hard to control.

The best mod I did on mine was adding a convection plate from bbqmods.com. Temps hold steady and even.

As far as the chicken skin, I put the grate over the coals and put the chicken on to crisp up the skin.

 

[dontknowsquat]

Yeah, I have been looking into the different mods and already ordered a Lavalock gasket as well as the hi temp RTV. I just need to put them on. I'd love to get one of those convection plates (if I am not mistaken they are also referred to as heat management plates and baffles), but my wife will kill me if I try to spend more money on this right now, haha. 

I did buy an additional thermometer and noticed that the temp was pretty consistently about 25 degrees different from end to end. Anyways, I am going to try to seal it up with the Lavalock and the RTV this week and try a pork loin smoke this weekend if I can.