Moved up to an offset smoker

[meatallica]

I did 23 lbs of pulled pork for my son's graduation party over the weekend. Unfortunately, Friday/Saturday morning my UDS decided to take a crap on me. I finished in the oven to temp. Everybody at the party said the pork was fantastic. Got me to thinking, it's time I upgrade. Now, by upgrade, I mean a smoker from one of the box stores. Got a good deal on a OKJoe that I inspected lids and did seal

the FB. I don't have big money to spend on smoker. Like SmokinAl says "It ain't the pit, it's the pitmaster". Here's proof. Very pleased with my Memorial Day smoke. I did buy a tuning plate to help with temp and fuel consumption after this smoke. Any help or comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys and gals

 

[bluewhisper]

You'll have fun with it. Offsets are versatile but they want attention.

 

[gmc2003]

That smoke on the OKJ looks great, beautiful bark. Just curious on how a UDS craps out.

Chris

 

[Geebs]

Very nice, looks like it turned out great!

 

[RiversideSm0ker]

You will do just fine with your OKJ. What are you using to fuel that bad boy?

George

 

[dcecil]

That turned out awesome, nothing wrong with an OKjoe at all, great cook. What therms are you going to be using to monitor the cooking chamber.

 

[meatallica]

gmc2003 - for some reason usually reliable uds temp dropped to 140° after about 6 hrs. I had 2- 12lb on it. Don't know if it got extinguished by drippings, maybe??? I moved em inside to oven. UDS recovered hrs later when I checked on it, valves open, it was over 300°
RiversideSm0ker - I used RO briquettes with oak chunks.
dcecil - I use ThermPro tp-20

 

[RiversideSm0ker]

That's good charcoal and oak is a clean wood. It's nice without any overpowering flavor. I stand by my favorite though. Pecan is king for me. That nutty flavor is totally addictive.

George

 

[meatallica]

Love pecan too. Have to get it shipped in to Delaware. Little pricey, but def worth it

 

[hebs]

I'm confused. OP says he cooked 23lbs of pulled pork but I feel like I'm looking at 2 pics of a brisket. lol...

Anyways, nice work, it looks good!

 

[meatallica]

The pork was Fri night into Sat. I bought offset Sunday, smoked brisket Memorial Day (Monday)

 

[hebs]

Ah... cool! Do you prefer using the briquettes over lump charcoal for a specific reason?

 

[SmokinAl]

I don't know how you can improve on that!
That is one of the best looking briskets I've seen!
Great work!
Al

 

[meatallica]

Thanks Al!!
hebs - just from what I've learned on this forum and through the process, briquettes are consistent on burn and temp. I use lump when I pull out the Weber kettle for grilling. I'm a Royal Oak guy (just my preference)

 

[hebs]

Ah... ok.
I'm sure I could find the answer if I scrounge around the forums some more, but how big of a burn rate difference do you see between the briquettes and lump? Are you having to refuel multiple times for say... a 20hr cook? If so, how many? Thanks! (I also use RO lump)

 

[meatallica]

Yeah, I'm a novice smoker.. your best bet is to scrounge around for that answer

 

[hebs]

Cool. I've only been smoking for 6 years now, but I use a BGE, so I don't really have much of an issue w/ temp control, (except for the occasional increase because of the wood chips/chunks I'm smoking with get a lil too hot too quick in spots. Even then it stays within a 10 degree window) so I was just curious what others were experiencing with different all metal setups. Is the heat loss a noticable issue and by how much... that kind of thing. More just curiosity questions.

Thanks!

 

[papajoe92561]

Cool. I've only been smoking for 6 years now, but I use a BGE, so I don't really have much of an issue w/ temp control, (except for the occasional increase because of the wood chips/chunks I'm smoking with get a lil too hot too quick in spots. Even then it stays within a 10 degree window) so I was just curious what others were experiencing with different all metal setups. Is the heat loss a noticable issue and by how much... that kind of thing. More just curiosity questions.

Thanks!

i have the same question?

 

[RiversideSm0ker]

A steel offset smoker is a hungry beast that needs to be fed regularly. Usually about once an hour. If you feed it well then it will reciprocate ten fold.

George

 

[meatallica]

+1 on the hungry beast.. I switched to all wood since this post. Ate charcoal at an amazing rate- got expensive! Now I cut some oak or cherry, add a split every hour or so