Hello! New to smoking but eager to learn. NEED HELP WITH BAYOU CLASSIC OFFSET!

[T_Bone]

Hello,

I'm Tom, from Denver and brand new to smoking. I just bought this puppy a couple of weeks ago on Craigslist but it's kicking my ass! Main problem: I cannot get my temps to a good smoking temp (usually peaks around 200 before falling). I've been at it for three days trying different fire builds but I honestly don't know what to do. I was able to get my temps to around 250 but with massive fire that was producing way too much white smoke. I've attached some pics.

I set up four thermometers throughout the smoker just to watch the temps. I'm using a chimney starter and Red Oak wood. It's 65 degrees and no wind today. The current setup in the pics currently have a constant temp of 190 degrees. There doesn't appear to be much leaking and I have all the dampers open. I've tried raising the grates from the bottom of the firebox as well opening the firebox door and some other tips I've read online. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Newbie Tom

 

[Kevin DeShazo]

Firsr welcome aboard from SC.

Im not expert at stick burners but maybe more charcoal, a only a few small chunks of wood. Maybe choking your fire out with the bigger pieces of wood. Im sure someone on here will correct anything I may have mistated.

 

[oldsmokerdude]

Welcome to the forum, Tom! First off, don't get too frustrated, there is a learning curve to be sure. Now just a couple thoughts (and these are just my thoughts, others will certainly chime in with additional information.)

• Your charcoal fire looks pretty small for the size smoker you are using. As you've noticed, the target cooking temp determines the size of the fire or heat source (higher temp = more charcoal)
• If you getting lots of white smoke, your combustion is "incomplete". You need more air. I notice one of you images shows the logs sitting on the bottom of the fire box. Personally, I would always use a grate under the fuel to ensure more air gets in thee.
• Personally, I use a charcoal fire as it seems easier to control, and use smaller chunks of wood just for flavoring.
• I would build a slightly fire than necessary as it takes some energy to get the smoker up to temp. Once you get up to temp you can close down the input a bit to lower the temp to your target cook temp.

Keep us posted and again...don't give up!!

 

[GaryHibbert]

Hi Tom. Welcome to the Forum.
Its been quite a few years since I used a stick burner (electric now). As said, you don't have much charcoal in the fire box--I'd add a bunch more. Also, you have your wood along side the charcoal. That means you're only heating up the side of the split right next to the fire. That's great for producing smoke, but not for producing much heat. You'll want to get the wood burning a lot better than that if you plan to use the wood as your main source of heat. If charcoal is to be the main source of heat, then you need to build a bigger charcoal fire.
When I used a stick burner, I wasn't using any charcoal. So I would get my wood fire burning just like lighting a campfire--starting with small sticks and building from there. I'd get a good fire burning to heat the cook chamber up to temp, and then let the fire die down enough to keep a steady temp.
That's about all I can recommend. Like I said, I've been cooking with an electric smoker for the last 5 or 6 years.
Just keep working at it until you get the results you want. You,ll never regret the time spent learning your smoker.
Gary

 

[ozzz]

Make sure you are using dry wood it should be seasoned for a year. I would use smaller splits to get a good coal base going. You will need to tend to the fire a lot to keep it burning nice with no white smoke.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Welcome Tom, from western Colorado. I would use lump charcoal in that cooker not wood. This will work far better and easier. You could add a few small chunks of wood with the lump if you like, but lump is where you will find success or brickets such as Kingsford, I’m not a fan of that though.

 

[RichGTS]

Welcome Tom - these guys will get you squared away - congrats on the new addiction

 

[SmokyMose]

Welcome from Indiana!
Are you wanting to cook with charcoal or wood?
If you want to use charcoal you need more. If you want to use wood, just get a batch of charcoal going
red hot and put your splits right on top of the coals to get them burning then add as needed.
You need a grate under whatever you're burning to give it air to burn....

 

[T_Bone]

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys! I will start again tomorrow with some of the suggestions I've read on here. I would love to learn to cook with wood as the main source of heat. I currently have a ton of Red Oak in my garage, so I figured I'd start there. I will update after tomorrow's attempt. Thanks again!

 

[SmokinEdge]

As an observer, if you are going to burn wood, place the wood with the air flow. It looks like your are 90* out of faze with split placements. By placing splits, the way your picture shows, you are blocking the air flow.

 

[kruizer]

Welcome to SMF from Minnesota.