New Dyna-Glo vertical offset smoker

[Robtivabin]

So I got the regular body model of this smoker for Christmas/ birthday (same day). Did a lot of browsing on different smokers and was drawn to this one every time. So when it finally was delivered I pieced it together fired it up to season it. The excitement got to me as is does most of us. The next day I smoked an 8# pork shoulder, 4 dozen wings and 3# of almonds. All done with mesquite. It all turned out fantastic for my first go at smoking. Took roughly 8 hours total because of the shoulder. Now with this being said I did notice some leaks. Mainly around the smoking chamber door top right corner and some smaller ones here and there around the door. The door thermometer also seemed to have a leak around it. Firebox it self was fine no issues there. 2 weeks ago smoked 2 whole chickens and noticed the same leaks. Didn't really have any impact on the cooking itself but still taking note to it. Then last week I find this forum.....man should I have looked for this prior to assembly! Reading through this whole post on different mods and applications done to improve this exact smoker is great. Good to see lot of helpful hint tips tricks and out right assistance from "seasoned" vets, pun intended.
Now with all this said I brought in my smoker from outside, gave it a good bath, and took her apart. I bought one high heat silicone sealant from local hardware store and carefully applied some to smoker box where fire box meets. Once put back together put a liberal amount around the seam to close it up good and tight. As for sealing the smoking chamber, I didn't go with silicone. I went with rope style fireproof sealer, used commonly for fireplaces and pellet stoves and some bbq grills. As I close both doors I noticed a more tighter seal between door and chamber then before obviously there's more there, but I did take notice that before I put the seal on the door the handle had ALOT of play, telling me it was sealed properly before. Could be a warped door could be anything. Firebox as was never an issue but I sealed that too and now that is real good and tightly sealed. Took the stack off the top, caulked around the top with that, did the handles and the thermometer. Now it just has to sit and cure for 12 hours then I can toss in some charcoal and see what I got for leaks.
Now a few questions I have for your folks.
- anyone else use that rope style sealant and how does it work for you
- as for charcoal I read a lot about putting unlit in a circle with a void in middle then dumping lit from the chimney in the middle and let it go from there. Where should I place my wood, and as for chunks of wood I'm doing store bought chunks there's roughly 1inch thick and vary in size.
- baffles... I do notice that I got fire from fire box into smoking box so I handed a pan of water on bottom shelf and closest to vents to help try to stop my food from getting scorched, should water pan be fine or should I get sheet metal for a baffle.

Any help and positive feed back would be appreciated.

 

[AustinPynes]

Have the Wide Body. Thanks to this forum went through and sealed up leaks around FB to Smoke Box and nomad around FB door. Smoke box already had good seal on mine. I also added a baffle that is screwed in just above the opening between boxes and goes 2/3 the way across slanting down.
I spent yesterday seasoning and testing temps. Tested gauge that came with smoker in boiling water it was close...maybe 5 degrees low. Bought a second one and installed it. I also bought a wireless probe so I could keep track in the house.

I have the slightest amount of leak around the FB door still but very little.

My problem. I cannot get this above 210. I had made minions and after the first couple burns took them out thinking they were blocking flow.

I tried half a box of charcoal and a couple pieces of wood and then I tried full box of charcoal..used lump charcoal..Bayou brand.


I don’t think it is leaks. Outside temp in AUSTIN was warm yesterday.
So it must be airflow right? Or lump brand? I have a couple of others to try next.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

 

[wimpy69]

Got a level view pic of your baffle install?

 

[AustinPynes]

Here is the pic

 

[AustinPynes]

Looking at it myself I see now the top hole is blocked....

 

[AustinPynes]

Reworked the baffle to be straight out and was able to get into the 300s...now comes the learning

 

[wimpy69]

Glad to see you got it. Stay above invert plane of top hole and you'll be fine. You can also drill some vent hole in the plate to balance out hot spots.

What i've learned from modding mine was once i got it sealed up tight and had my plate in it wanted more air to move heat thru cc to exhaust. Trimmed ash pan which sits in front of bottom of air inlets and blocks acouple sq"'s from under grate flow. I also added upper air inlets to help push air thru without affecting coals (read Dave Omak's -postings on upper air inlets, thanks dave) and opened up my exhaust to 3.5". Check out post #311 in this thread. Example, 60*ambient @235* I can average +/-5hrs full basket w/minion plate. Lower air open 10-15%, upper air 25-50%. With the bigger exhaust I can easily bring temps up fast by closing upper inlets and have all air go to grate. Really works well.

 

[AustinPynes]

Glad to see you got it. Stay above invert plane of top hole and you'll be fine. You can also drill some vent hole in the plate to balance out hot spots. View attachment 353448 View attachment 353449 What i've learned from modding mine was once i got it sealed up tight and had my plate in it wanted more air to move heat thru cc to exhaust. Trimmed ash pan which sits in front of bottom of air inlets and blocks acouple sq"'s from under grate flow. I also added upper air inlets to help push air thru with affecting coals (read Dave Omak's -postings on upper air inlets, thanks dave) and opened up my exhaust to 3.5". Check out post #311 in this thread. Example, 60*ambient @235* I can average +/-5hrs full basket w/minion plate. Lower air open 10-15%, upper air 25-50%. With the bigger exhaust I can easily bring temps up fast by closing upper inlets and have all air go to grate. Really works well.

I was reading your post and felt like I have been here before...finally realized it was when I was modifying my Harley road king when I was riding...fly an airplane now...ruined me for riding...anyway..the point is we opened up the air cleaner, opened up the fuel injectors and opened up the exhaust....funny how same dynamics ...nature...physics work.

I did finally recognize I had a flow problem in the smoker. Just couldn’t figure out why. Would be nice to replace the exhaust stock chimney with something bigger and more adjustable.....and of course the intake...will take a look at the ash pan and see about trimming her back....course the only thing left to do now is build a new firebox. Then I will need a new smoke box....and before you know it I have a new smoker...just kidding...think I will stick to the intake and exhaust. From a Harley perspective we would call it a Stage II upgrade.

Thanks for the advice and I will look up Dave O.s posts. Thanks also for making me take a pic of my baffle....was a duh moment for me. Want to drill holes too...just need to go get the right bits that can cut the metal.

 

[wimpy69]

Step bits with plenty of lube, lower rpm drill motor works the best. If I get a chance i'll get a pic of how I did the ash drawer, when it stops pouring rain--correct analogy, jetting your Dyna Glo, sounds impressive.lol

 

[Midwest coast]

Just got mine put together last night. I used silicone everywhere where I thought it would be needed and used a lava lock gasket for both doors. I plan on seasoning it tomorrow and trying my first cook with it on Sunday. I'm going to do a couple racks of ribs and some chicken any tips on how I should burn my charcoal?

 

[SmokyRick]

Hey all! I've decided to sign up and join in on the conversation. A few weeks ago, I finally purchased a reasonable grill (a Weber 22.5 inch) after a long time of not having a grill (or place to grill) and got back into bbq'ing. Mainly thanks to a friend of mine, who love to bbq as well, and kind of reminded me that "hey, I like doing this too!"

All that said, I felt bad for my nice little Weber after multiple weekends of acting as a smoker, and never grilling (and the mess that was accumulating on the lid), so started looking at inexpensive smokers, and came across a good deal on the standard dyna-glo. While waiting for it to arrive and many UPS shenanigans I found this forum. I was pretty happy to see others using and talking about this model, since I hadn't heard much about it before.

I got it put together last night, and honestly, I gotta say thanks to all of you in this forum. I wouldn't have thought about some of the things like sealing it up and some of the basic issues that y'all have come across. Because of those tips (and I believe someone even mentioned using a flashlight to help find holes BEFORE even lighting it up) I feel pretty good about the results of the assembly and sealing. I'm looking forward to seasoning it tonight, after waiting for the silicon to cure.

I'm definitely looking forward to sharing pics of the results with y'all, but most importantly I wanted to say thanks for all the tips and advice you've been sharing in here.

Unrelated to the Dyna-glo: Tri-Tip and Pulled Pork, smoked for 12 hours on Charcoal and Applewood (about 50/50) with my Weber.

 

[AustinPynes]

Follow up to earlier posts. Just smoked some Italian sausage and ribs......outstanding cook for this newbie. Will use less smoke next time but very good. Thanks everyone on this forum for all the information.

 

[wimpy69]

Good to here and looks great. More you use it the, more you'll get it dialed in.

 

[SmokyRick]

Wow, what a weekend. I finally had the opportunity to cook with this little guy over two days.

I have to say, I'm kind of up in the air about how I feel about this smoker. I think if anything, I'll start with the good news, which is basically that the food I cooked up came out well and cooked to temp based on time (12-13 hours).

So now the negative.

It's sealed up pretty darn tight (as I mentioned, I checked out what people had been saying about this smoker and the mods). There's a couple of tiny leaks at the Cooking chamber handle and thermometer, but small enough to be pretty negligible. If the thermometers are to be believed (using the thermometer that came with the unit, tested by sticking the probe side in boiling water (using chopsticks to hold it over), it's accurate, and my weber i-grill as ambient)... Fully stoked firebox, never really consistently got above 200 most of the time. Halfway through the cook, I was inspecting the fire and noticing that opening the door causes ignition (even with fully open vents), and noticed the ash-tray is definitely blocking airflow. Pulling that out, I started to see a bit more heat coming in to the chamber and hitting a somewhat steady 218-220 (measured via i-grill on lowest rack, ambient), but still not really where I want to be. Cracking the firebox door slightly did help to bring in a bit more air in and get that temp up, but obviously not a viable solution long term.

Some of this is still a bit questionable regarding my methods, as I noticed slightly better temps as my water tray became less full, and acting more as a baffle than an insulator, but without and while empty (during seasoning) I had seen temps range from 230 to almost 300 in different areas of the box, so as you can probably imagine it was reasonable to assume a baffle was/is needed, and waterpan is semi questionable (perhaps I need to use a smaller water pan just for moisture).

If anything, the one thing I want to kind of let people know as a review about this unit, is that if you're looking for a cheap smoker to try your hand with, I don't think this is the one. Time and material cost alone, this unit probably cost more than something in the 250-300$ range, once I'm able to get it consistently working as intended. As an apartment dweller, for me, I don't have the tools or space to cut metal reasonably or hardcore mod this little guy to really dial it in (like cutting the bottom of the firebox to move the ash tray, which I need to do now) or cut larger holes to get more air into the firebox.

I think if you're just starting out, a Weber Grill is probably a good bet (because I have to assume you have one or another grill already), but if you want to step up your game and quantity of items you're cooking give this one a pass. I don't think it's bad or horrible, it just takes a lot more than expected to get results (even when you're prepared by reading others' experiences).

Pics!

The first two are from my first experimental run with a roughly 6.5lbs pork butt. Only registered around 160 before I pulled it off the grill ( it was late and I'd had enough for the day), but still fully cooked and pretty delicious. Smoked with Spent bourbon barrel (oak i'm sure) and cherry, with charcoal briquettes.

The second two photos are from Sunday, around 10lbs and 8lbs butts (this is about halfway through cooking, no photos of the finished larger one... yet). The second photo is of the smaller one, fairly fresh out of the smoker, with the bone pulled right out, no fuss. Good and huge smoke ring, moist and shredded up really well. Cooked with lump charcoal, and a 70/30 mix of Bourbon barrel chunks and cherrywood. Lump charcoal is definitely better in this smoker.

A good reason why I'm so mixed about this smoker. The result was good, but the inconsistency of it's function is hard to swallow, and I could have had the same results on my weber kettle grill with less fuel (I went through 4 bags this weekend just for these results. That seems really excessive. Maybe someone can enlighten me if that was their experience with this as well over a 12-14 hour period.

Cheers guys!

 

[Midwest coast]

Ive used mine twice now. First time did four racks of ribs and some chicken thighs. Temperature held pretty well where I wanted it but had problems getting it back up to Temp after my first round of charcoal burnt out. Second cook I did 2 chickens halfed. This time my temperature rose higher than what I wanted and I had problems getting it back down. On both Cooks I did notice the Flames coming into the cooking Chamber from the Firebox so I can see why a baffle would be needed. Any tips on getting a more consistent cook would be appreciated?thanks

 

[SmokyRick]

Ive used mine twice now. First time did four racks of ribs and some chicken thighs. Temperature held pretty well where I wanted it but had problems getting it back up to Temp after my first round of charcoal burnt out. Second cook I did 2 chickens halfed. This time my temperature rose higher than what I wanted and I had problems getting it back down. On both Cooks I did notice the Flames coming into the cooking Chamber from the Firebox so I can see why a baffle would be needed. Any tips on getting a more consistent cook would be appreciated?thanks

Hey, glad to know I'm not the only one having issues. Funny enough, something occurred to me as I was sitting at my desk about to order foil pans.

"It's the airflow stupid!" (which I had already sussed out), but it came as a "eureka" moment as my drip pans/water pans) are about the same size as my racks. Yes, there is airflow around them, but in the standard version of this smoker, definitely not enough.

So honestly, the reason why i'm replying to/quoting the poster above me, is because I can imagine that our issues are very related.

Even if we aren't particularly using the same size drip pans (or perhaps no drip pan), if you're using the narrow version of this, consider exactly where and how you're placing your meat inside this thing. A butterflied whole chicken is going to disrupt airflow and act as a baffle restricting airflow quite a bit. Perhaps that is the main downfall to the standard model. Even though it boasts a reasonable size cooking area, the reality is that it's not all practically usable, without a blower. There's just not enough room around the sides to get the airflow/draft through the cook box. I was planning on taking a rest this weekend, but maybe I'll take a small stab at it with some chicken and reconsider how food is laid out in this little guy.

If my suspicions are correct, then ribs would probably smother this thing if laid out on the racks, meaning hooks should probably be installed from the top to hang some cuts vertically.

I'd love to hear what others think of this philosophy.

Cheers guys and gals!

 

[Gwanger]

Hello, I just purchased a Dnya Glo offset smoker a few weeks ago and love it. I have used it twice so far with plans to use this weekend. The only issue I have had it maitaining my temp. Any suggestions? I have adjusted my ventsd but haven't found a sweet spot yet. Overall I have been super happy. good luck

Fire I also own the bigger dyna-glo offset vertical, I noticed in the pics that your dyna -glo comes with a charcoal basket have you tried the minion method in you charcoal basket? I am already planning to fix some air gaps that I found when assembling the smoker. Mine did not come with a charcoal basket so I had to buy one with minion bars for $97. I am going to use rtv sealant and gasket tape when it gets warm enough for sealant to cure. If after sealing gaps and trying minion bars I am going for broke and try the Flame Boss 300 automatic temp controller.I hope I can get things figured out before having to buy the Flame Boss, it costs more than the smoker did, ouch!!!

 

[endonesia]

Hey, glad to know I'm not the only one having issues. Funny enough, something occurred to me as I was sitting at my desk about to order foil pans.

"It's the airflow stupid!" (which I had already sussed out), but it came as a "eureka" moment as my drip pans/water pans) are about the same size as my racks. Yes, there is airflow around them, but in the standard version of this smoker, definitely not enough.

So honestly, the reason why i'm replying to/quoting the poster above me, is because I can imagine that our issues are very related.

Even if we aren't particularly using the same size drip pans (or perhaps no drip pan), if you're using the narrow version of this, consider exactly where and how you're placing your meat inside this thing. A butterflied whole chicken is going to disrupt airflow and act as a baffle restricting airflow quite a bit. Perhaps that is the main downfall to the standard model. Even though it boasts a reasonable size cooking area, the reality is that it's not all practically usable, without a blower. There's just not enough room around the sides to get the airflow/draft through the cook box. I was planning on taking a rest this weekend, but maybe I'll take a small stab at it with some chicken and reconsider how food is laid out in this little guy.

If my suspicions are correct, then ribs would probably smother this thing if laid out on the racks, meaning hooks should probably be installed from the top to hang some cuts vertically.

I'd love to hear what others think of this philosophy.

Cheers guys and gals![/

This is the only picture I have, but, when doing ribs in the small offset, I hang them from the top rack. Also, I don't use a drip pan so to speak. I have the bottom of my smoker covered in foil, and I place a tin pan (I'd say 1/2 the size of a cooking rack) on the rack just above the FB to CC opening. I can maintain temps of 225-250 for 6-8 without refueling. The only mods I have done are sealing between the FB and CC, after market thermometer (factory one got stuck one night after I opened up the gates to burn off the rest of the fuel). I haven't even lava rocked the doors yet. Usually when I smoke large amounts of food, I place the larger items up top and work my way to the lower racks with smaller items. This time of year (I live in Iowa) its cold, so starting in the late fall and most of the winter (depending on temps) I only cold smoke. I get all my cheese done for the year and any nuts, fish, salt and whiskey I may want/need throughout the year.

 

[Midwest coast]

Did my third cook today and the temperature held better at a consistent 225 to 230. I put my water pan on the bottom rack instead of the floor to also work as a battle. I also tried a different way of lighting my charcoal. Instead of putting my light coals in the middle like a volcano I put them all in one of the corners about 12. I didn't have any temperature spikes and it stayed at a consistent 225 to 230.

 

[Gwanger]

Did my third cook today and the temperature held better at a consistent 225 to 230. I put my water pan on the bottom rack instead of the floor to also work as a battle. I also tried a different way of lighting my charcoal. Instead of putting my light coals in the middle like a volcano I put them all in one of the corners about 12. I didn't have any temperature spikes and it stayed at a consistent 225 to 230.

I am glad to hear you had better temp control today, there is more than one way to burn charcoal using the minion method and a charcoal basket glad to hear you had better luck today without cutting up your fire box, as mentioned earlier. Don't panic you will figure it all out.