Maiden cook on my stickburner - gotchas?

[WarrenWood]

Hello, everybody!

On Saturday I'll be doing the first cook on the OK Joe Longhorn Reverse I bought last November (family issues then winter weather delayed me.) I was able to get a good, local source of white oak firewood and I bought a decent moisture meter to check the seasoning. Moisture on the splits as of today is between 15-18%, measured on all exposed sides.

This is my first time cooking on a stick burner, so I'm looking for any advice on changes to my techniques. Going to do a couple of 8.5 lb pork shoulders (they tend to be forgiving), maybe a rack of BB ribs to snack on. On my WSM, I would cook a pork shoulder like this:

• KBB charcoal, three fist-sized chunks of Fruitawood peach. The charcoal is in a ring, the Fruitawood burns sequentially through the first 4 hours.
• About 5 hours into the cook, when the IT is stalling, I move the pork shoulder into a deep roast aluminum pan. I add a splash of apple juice and wrap over with aluminum foil. My objective is to avoid oversmoking, and of course shorten the stall.
• Remove from heat when the IT is 200 degrees. Wrap the pan in a beach towel and put it in a cooler for a two hour rest.
• Serve. Bask in the "oohs" and "ahhs" from my diners.

Thinking about Saturday, here are my plans:

• Use charcoal to start up the smoker and get a coal bed going. Add a single oak split and target the temp for 250-275.
• Add the pork.
• Continue adding a single split about every hour or so (during the seasoning burn-in last year I got a feel for the burn time.) I have good bluetooth thermometers, but even with the WSM I've always hovered near the smoker. (Can you tell I'm an engineer?)
• Follow the same pattern: when the meat stalls, wrap it. At this point, I can finish with the OK Joe or move the pork to the oven inside.

So my concerns with the OK Joe are mostly about the difference between the Georgia peach chunks (at 10% moisture) and the white oak at the higher moisture. I know oak smoke will be a little less sweet, but in going to the OK Joe, do I need to worry about oversmoking? Or is the wood fire somehow milder? Is there a significant difference between charcoal/wood chunks and a fully wood fire?

Thanks everybody!

 

[mike243]

If your chunks are store bought the flavor will be a bit less due to being kiln dried, you can cook with straight wood and as long as the airflow is high and the wood not green over smoke wont be a problem. everybody's taste for smoke id different but if all the stars aline it should work out well.

 

[Newglide]

Like mike243 said you can use straight wood and airflow is the key, I typically use charcoal to get a bed of coals then add my splits. I like to let the temp get hotter than my target when starting then let it come down to temp before adding my meat. Airflow is the key. Use fire size and the damper on the firebox to control the airflow to control the temp don't use the damper on the chimney, you want to slow the airflow coming in to control heat not going out. Don't feak out over temp swings you'll get them. If it goes crazy high you can open the cook chamber for a few to let some heat out. Shoulder will take some time so you'll have plenty of time to learn how your smoker works. Remember to send plenty of pics along the way.

 

[JLeonard]

Good advice above....Now Im in for the cook post and lots of pics!
Jim

 

[WarrenWood]

Thanks everybody, my big fear is oversmoking. We'll see what happens... I'm cooking two pork shoulders, I might vary the smoke time between them.

I'll post photos during/after the cook.

 

[G8trwood]

Burn clean and you won’t over smoke. Fire not smolder. As said above, good bed of coals to light the sticks, then straight wood. I put foil on my grate as the ash will fall through and you lose the bed to light the next sticks. Ymmv on that one. It will probably take less wood than you think to maintain temp. The hot bed of coals helps the light the sticks immediately so that you don’t get dirty start up smoke. Have your next stick in line prewarming on the firebox. Keep the stack damper wide open.

Good luck!

 

[1MoreFord]

When you measure the wood moisture be sure to split a piece of wood and check it on the newly split surface. Otherwise you will be taking a false reading.

Also, be sure to pre-heat your sticks on top of the firebox prior to adding to the fire. Add your first sticks to the coal bed by sticking the knife edge into the coals for ease of lighting them. Don't lay sticks flat on each other. It will smother your fire. Lay them crosswise on top of each other instead.

 

[WarrenWood]

And the cook is on! I started with the charcoal bed. The bottom layer is half a chimney of KBB to provide a good ash bed. Then I lit a 3/4 chimney of Royal Oak lump to start. The KBB/RO technique is one I use on the WSMs as a quick way of getting the smoker going. When the charcoal bed was going along well I added a single split of oak, then the pork shoulders.

 

[JLeonard]

Great looking start! Here for the finish!
Jim

 

[WarrenWood]

At this point, we're two hours in. I've added a rack of BB ribs (my lunch! )

One problem I noticed was that the firebox air vent was slightly loose and kept opening up, making the fire hotter. I had hoped the heat would make the metal expand and tighten, but it didn't happen. After an hour I gave up and tightened the nut. But you have to image this: I'm wearing two thick silicone gloves, trying to handle a 6" crescent wrench and small screwdriver while not burning myself! But it worked.

Besides my Scottie-like improv, here a few points I've noticed:

• The smoker is making fantastic thin blue smoke!
• There is about a 25 degree temp difference across the cooking grate (firebox end is hotter.) Nothing I can't deal with.

 

[WarrenWood]

Almost lunch time. The BB ribs were smoked for two hours, the wrapped with butter/apple juice for an hour. Now the ribs are out of the wrap and almost ready. Another hour and it will be time to wrap the butts.

 

[bigfurmn]

Looks good to me!

 

[WarrenWood]

Lunchtime. Ribs are done. They look good, and are tender, but maybe could have used a few more minutes. Tasting the ribs, I can understand what @Grtrwood and 1MoreFord were saying about the smoke. It's a different type of smoke than using my WSM. Maybe the word "mellow" is a good description.

The pork shoulders have been wrapped and transferred to my kitchen oven for finishing.

 

[bauchjw]

Awesome first run!

 

[JLeonard]

Looks darn good!
Jim

 

[sandyut]

Ill take half a rack please! Looks great!

 

[JckDanls 07]

Ill take half a rack please! Looks great!

And I'll take the other half... Awesome looking cook you got going there ..

 

[bigfurmn]

Um… yes please. I’ll take the whole thing.