New Member to SMF- Upstate NY

[NYMikeD]

Good evening SMF’rs y’all have a good thing going here and the wealth of solid information is priceless.
I have been smoking meats for 3 yrs now and am just starting to really get it dialed in. I also expanded into sausage making recently. And have smoked Kielbasa and Breakfast sausage under my belt at this point.
Looking forward to expanding my knowledge base and learning from you seasoned “vets” out there.
1st pic is my first attempt at fresh Polish Kielbasa
2nd pic is them in the Oklahoma Joe smoker... Luv that thing!

 

[BradBQ]

Hello NYmikeD,
Just joined myself.
That smoked kielbasa looks awesome!
I hear you about the love for the Oklahoma joes smoker.
Good luck!
Brad

 

[NYMikeD]

Yeah, I wish the smok g chamber was large enough to actually hang rope sausage. I am contemplating a mod to be able to do so.... we’ll see what the future brings.

 

[ljch1210]

Haaah!

 

[SmokinAl]

Welcome aboard!
Glad to have you join in on the fun!
Al

 

[DanMcG]

Welcome from CNY

 

[HalfSmoked]

Welcome as you stated a wealth of info on here.

Warren

 

[LanceR]

Welcome from Stokes County, NC. We retired from our Cayuga County farm last year.

 

[gmc2003]

Welcome to the site, glad you decided to join.

Chris

 

[NYMikeD]

All, thank you for the warm welcome (no pun intended) I do have a quick question for y’all....
So I am using an OKJ smoker, Highlander I believe. First smoker, nvr played with the craft prior to owning this. I did do my homework while it was on order and also got some mods on order also. So I installed the 2nd thermometer, the baffle/tuning plates, gasket material for both doors (which raises a second ? But we’ll get to that later) and installed the downward elbow to the stack inside the smoke chamber/box.
Now I see a lot of chatter about folks wanting to extend the overall stack length on the exterior, why? And what effect would a taller stack have on the draft?

Secondly, I can’t seem to get the gasket material to want to stay in place on the firebox door for more than a couple cooks. Has anyone figure this out or maybe I am going at it all wrong? I did clean it to bare metal first and cleaned it of all greases/oils prior to installation of gaskets.

Sorry to make this long winded but really trying to dial this in now that I have family “on the hook” with my smoking prowness.

Thanx