New from Omaha

[ov10fac]

Hi, I am new to this forum, and relatively new to offset smoking. I smoked Salmon many years ago in Little Chief Electric and it was pretty good. I got my offset a few years back, but never really used it until last year when I smoked some trout and a turkey. They turned out OK but I had a lot of issues with temperature control. I'll say right up front that my smoker is not top shelf, in fact not even sure its bottom shelf but I was able to smoke a couple turkey breasts for Thanksgiving that everyone seemed to enjoy. But what I have found is that I have a lot to learn about smoking. I hope I can find some answers and recipes here.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Welcome to SMF from Colorado.
Post up a thread about your smoker with some pictures, you will get lots of help.

 

[DieselTech]

Welcome from Kansas! Bunch of great people here. Enjoy!

 

[JLinza]

Welcome, from Colorado. Get a rack of ribs every time they go on sale and fire up that offset, that's how I learned. Helped me learn the fire and how my offset cooks. You learn and you get to eat your mistakes.

 

[normanaj]

Hello from RI.

 

[mr_whipple]

Welcome from Virginia. You landed in a great spot for answers among other things. I can't help with an offset, but let's see what's cookin'!

 

[Brokenhandle]

Welcome from Iowa! Glad you joined us!

Ryan

 

[DougE]

Welcome from Kentucky!

Knowing exactly what smoker you have will go a long way to getting you more detailed help using it.

 

[Winterrider]

Welcome from ND

 

[schlotz]

Welcome to SMF from Indiana. You've landed in the right place. Ask away, many here will be glad to help.

 

[ov10fac]

Hello from RI.

I see you were AF. Me too for 22 years. Thanks for welcome.

 

[ov10fac]

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome. I look forward to learning about smoking. My smoker is a Brinkman offset about 3 or 4 years old. I'm not too happy with it, I have a terrible time trying to control the temperature. Huge swing from over 300 to under 200 in very short time. It seems trying to maintain 225 is more difficult than maintaining about 250 or so. I just need to learn how to control the temp, but to be honest I am considering an Oklahoma Joe Highland. I've read good reviews and many say its an ideal beginner smoker! I really don't want to spend a lot of money and then find I lost interest in smoking.

 

[Brokenhandle]

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome. I look forward to learning about smoking. My smoker is a Brinkman offset about 3 or 4 years old. I'm not too happy with it, I have a terrible time trying to control the temperature. Huge swing from over 300 to under 200 in very short time. It seems trying to maintain 225 is more difficult than maintaining about 250 or so. I just need to learn how to control the temp, but to be honest I am considering an Oklahoma Joe Highland. I've read good reviews and many say its an ideal beginner smoker! I really don't want to spend a lot of money and then find I lost interest in smoking.

Let your smoker run where it wants to...and adjust from there. You'll get along way better. Your big swings may come from you making too many adjustments trying to hit 225.

Maybe JLeonard or seenred can chime in... somewhere on here is a couple of good threads on using stick burners but I can't remember for sure.

Ryan

 

[DougE]

Let your smoker run where it wants to...and adjust from there. You'll get along way better. Your big swings may come from you making too many adjustments trying to hit 225.

I agree with Ryan.
1) There is no real reason to run at 225° other than someone, somewhere said so. 2) Chasing temps in order to conform with said 225° is a fool's errand that will have you constantly adjusting vents and ends up with the temp swings you speak of. Been there, done that, got the tee-shirt, as they say.

You mentioned the OKJ Highland ....... I have one and it likes to settle in at around 275°, so rather than fight with it, I let it run there.

 

[Fueling Around]

Welcome.

I have a Big Chief and smoked a lot of meat.
The element burned out a couple years ago. Been using it as a cold smoker

The original Brinkmann offset weren't bad.
Quality went way down after Baxter Brinkmann sold the company and name. New company introduced a Weber Smoky Mountain clone that quickly earned the internet moniker El Cheapo Brinkmann (ECB). The offset got even more El Cheapo in quality.
The last of them (bankrupt around the 2015 mark) were even worse quality. In your own words "in fact not even sure its bottom shelf" is a pretty accurate description.

I bought one to use as a charcoal grill being it had the grate in the main cook chamber. I didn't care it leaked everywhere, but it looked cool.
Decided to give the offset cooking a try. I spent a lot of time (fortunately not money) trying to keep it going. Bought a pellet grill (pooper) and kicked the Brinkmann to the curb.

Oklahoma Joe is another line and name that got sold a number of years ago. Quality is OK, but I've lost the romance with an offset to give one a try.

 

[seenred]

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome. I look forward to learning about smoking. My smoker is a Brinkman offset about 3 or 4 years old. I'm not too happy with it, I have a terrible time trying to control the temperature. Huge swing from over 300 to under 200 in very short time. It seems trying to maintain 225 is more difficult than maintaining about 250 or so. I just need to learn how to control the temp, but to be honest I am considering an Oklahoma Joe Highland. I've read good reviews and many say its an ideal beginner smoker! I really don't want to spend a lot of money and then find I lost interest in smoking.

Let your smoker run where it wants to...and adjust from there. You'll get along way better. Your big swings may come from you making too many adjustments trying to hit 225.

Maybe JLeonard or seenred can chime in... somewhere on here is a couple of good threads on using stick burners but I can't remember for sure.

Ryan

First off, welcome aboard, ov10fac!

Ryan and all the guys are giving good advice - can't add much. Just that you'll find it hard to ever achieve constant temps on that cheap Brinkman offset. A big key to temperature control in any smoker is controlling air flow...and that's not realistic in those cheap rigs that leak air at every seam. Your idea of stepping up in quality to something like a OKJ Highland would make things easier on you. They're not perfect either...but are much higher quality than that Brinkman... and a good alternative to spending thousands on a pit from one of the premium pit builders.

Happy Smoking!
Red

 

[ov10fac]

Thank you all and I appreciate all the good information. I think I am going to try something a little easier for Christmas. I am going to try Cold Smoking some cheese and take a swing at Fatty's. We normally have the family over for Christmas Eve and those should be perfect.
Thanks again to all!!

 

[millerbuilds]

Welcome to SMF from North Texas! Post up your cooks and let us know what you need help with. Everyone here is proud to help each other out.

- Jason

 

[JLeonard]

All good advice above. Do your best to seal the seams to reduce air leaks. Don’t chase 225 degrees because someone said it was the temp to cook at. Let yours settle in where it will. Work getting clean smoke whatever the temp. Learn what size split yours likes. With TATANKA, I get a good bed of coals going with briquettes and a good sized split and then add in coke can sized splits when the temps start to creep down. Usually about every hour or so. most of what you’re gonna be smoking can be done anywhere from 225-300 degrees. And remember your gonna have temp swings, it’s not like cooking in an oven.

Jim

 

[ov10fac]

I thought your comment about using an oven interesting. I'm one of those people who burn hotdogs while boiling them. So this whole concept is all brand new to me so I have spent a lot of time on Google and after a friend of mine turned me on to this site here. So thanks and thanks for the advice on "not chasing temp". That's exactly what I was doing. I cleaned the smoker yesterday and found the firebox door is badly warped allowing air in from the bottom. I have some work to do there but not while the temp is 20 degrees. I want to do some smoking this winter if I can, but not with the door as bad as it is. I may just replace it with something more durable. I have to look around for ideas.