New - Oklahoma Joe's Highland Smoker

[ammaturesmoker]

I have been told by the people at bbq smoker mods .com to NOT redirect the exhaust lower with elbows if you are using a tuning plate. 

 

[ozsmoker]

using the multiple 4 x 16 steel sheets and spacing them like you want them.  Lot less work and probably less money

did the sheet come in that size or did you have to trim off 2 inches from an 18in sheet?

i'm using some cookie sheets for now and will be adding a water pan right near the baffle (bent cookie sheet)

 

[thood]

did the sheet come in that size or did you have to trim off 2 inches from an 18in sheet?

i'm using some cookie sheets for now and will be adding a water pan right near the baffle (bent cookie sheet)

It's been a couple of years now but I'm pretty sure they came in that length.

 

[thood]

I have been told by the people at bbq smoker mods .com to NOT redirect the exhaust lower with elbows if you are using a tuning plate. 

I think this is probably right. I wasnt really confident this was a good idea but I went along with the crowd and put one in. It actually takes up some cooking space if your doing a couple more f briskets or butts.

 

[ozsmoker]

It's been a couple of years now but I'm pretty sure they came in that length.

Did you buy from home depot or lowes? None of my stores seem to have that size unfortunately

 

[ozsmoker]

had a hard time keeping temps up... i averaged about 200 on some beef ribs, so after 3 hours i moved them to the oven and foiled for another 5 hours.. they came out great but it looks like i have some studying to do on fire management

i used about 7lbs of charcoal and then added some more along with oak wood chunks (small ones,specifically for smoking)

i know this is a stick burner so i will look into logs of wood and also check out methods with briquettes

 

[sauced]

I start off with charcoal then add splits of wood as needed. If temp drops too low, I will add some more lit charcoal, but adding the wood usually works. Temps range from 225 -260 or so. BTW.....I did not put in an extender for the exhaust and I did add the convection plate from bbq mods.

 

[thood]

Did you buy from home depot or lowes? None of my stores seem to have that size unfortunately

Pretty sure it was Home Depot

 
had a hard time keeping temps up... i averaged about 200 on some beef ribs, so after 3 hours i moved them to the oven and foiled for another 5 hours.. they came out great but it looks like i have some studying to do on fire management

i used about 7lbs of charcoal and then added some more along with oak wood chunks (small ones,specifically for smoking)

i know this is a stick burner so i will look into logs of wood and also check out methods with briquettes

I saw that Sauced has responded and I do very similar to what he described.  I use a mix of charcoal and wood.  The charcoal seems to last longer and keep the heat more even.  I do use the split wood sticks (about 12" long) rather than chunks.  But for me the key is the blower that I attach to the air intake.  I can just turn up the fan a bit and get the temp to whatever I want it to be.  The trick seems to be getting the temp up to where you want it and then you can back off and it will stay there for a long time.  But sometimes getting that temp up to 235-250 at the grate can be a little tough.  Could be just the design of the Longhorn, lot of open cooking area for that size of fire box.  With this method I can usually go 10-12 hours by just adding some charcoal or wood every 3-4 hours. 

I'm not sure where you live, but if there is an Academy Sports, they stock and sell this B&B Charcoal stuff.  Otherwise you can look at their website and buy direct from them.  This stuff is GREAT!  These logs last a long time compared to briquettes or lump.

http://www.bbcharcoalproducts.com/product-page/competition-char-logs-30-lbs

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• thood
• Mar 3, 2017

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• thood
• Mar 3, 2017

 

[ozsmoker]

I wish we had academy sports in Las Vegas, those logs look like they work well

I took out my baffle and tuning plate that I made out of cookie sheets and I could easily get temps to 280 and control them easier...

I also have the dryer elbow vent mod, so I'm just going to stick with that on my next cook, no plates

I smoked a pork roast at 200-210 for 3 hrs and then finished it in an oven for another 3 at 275. It came out perfect, which was a welcome surprise since I thought I completely screwed it up

So far 2 experiments with 2 excellent results.

I'm learning a lot and I get to eat delicious food. No complaints here

 

[comer4tide]

I use a full chimney of lit briquets in to start things off and add a split or 2 of hickory typically (i use hickory for almost all my meats and cooks) and usually run temps wide open well over 300 if I want to cook hot and fast or damp back can keep it anywhere from 230-260 across the pit. The only mod I did on my highland was a cookie sheet over the firebox opening just to deflect heat down and around, no tuning plates or exhaust lowered, I actually didnt even seal the gaps up around the lid or firebox or exhaust. I have always found that those things need to breathe to run 

 

[ozsmoker]

i posted a thread on my first brisket cook in the highland, no pics however.... didn't go too well... going to try again some other day

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/259910/prime-brisket-attempt-on-ok-joe-highland-offset

 

[ammaturesmoker]

I wish we had academy sports in Las Vegas, those logs look like they work well

I took out my baffle and tuning plate that I made out of cookie sheets and I could easily get temps to 280 and control them easier...

I also have the dryer elbow vent mod, so I'm just going to stick with that on my next cook, no plates

I smoked a pork roast at 200-210 for 3 hrs and then finished it in an oven for another 3 at 275. It came out perfect, which was a welcome surprise since I thought I completely screwed it up

So far 2 experiments with 2 excellent results.

I'm learning a lot and I get to eat delicious food. No complaints here

Unless your convection/tuning plate is of good quality with proper hole alignment, you will have issues....cookie sheets are not the way to go.

 

[ammaturesmoker]

 
I use a full chimney of lit briquets in to start things off and add a split or 2 of hickory typically (i use hickory for almost all my meats and cooks) and usually run temps wide open well over 300 if I want to cook hot and fast or damp back can keep it anywhere from 230-260 across the pit. The only mod I did on my highland was a cookie sheet over the firebox opening just to deflect heat down and around, no tuning plates or exhaust lowered, I actually didnt even seal the gaps up around the lid or firebox or exhaust. I have always found that those things need to breathe to run 

Do not do this if you have the orange 650 degree RTV in or around the firebox

 

[comer4tide]

 
Do not do this if you have the orange 650 degree RTV in or around the firebox

correct. i have no seals around the firebox so i can vent out excess heat. the hickory sticks im burning are also a little green still and it takes a hot fire to get them going

 

[ozsmoker]

 
Unless your convection/tuning plate is of good quality with proper hole alignment, you will have issues....cookie sheets are not the way to go.

i removed the cookie sheet, it did nothing for me.... without it, i was getting a 6-10 degree difference at the grate level end to end

the only reason i would buy a convection plate is for heat retention purposes. i would think that adding such a thick chunk of steel in the CC can only be beneficial.

my issue now is that i burn too much fuel. i am using charcoal and briquettes....i will switch over from using just charcoal and briquettes, to wood splits also.

 

[ozsmoker]

 
Do not do this if you have the orange 650 degree RTV in or around the firebox

do not do what exactly?

i sealed the firebox and would like to know specifics on what not to do as i'm not clear on what you are saying

 

[gr0uch0]

 
i removed the cookie sheet, it did nothing for me.... without it, i was getting a 6-10 degree difference at the grate level end to end

the only reason i would buy a convection plate is for heat retention purposes. i would think that adding such a thick chunk of steel in the CC can only be beneficial.

my issue now is that i burn too much fuel. i am using charcoal and briquettes....i will switch over from using just charcoal and briquettes, to wood splits also.

Thicker gauge CC would have cured that issue, oz....

 

[dugzy33]

Just got a new OKJoe's Highland Smoker.

Thought I should become a member here.

I have been using a brinkman smoke n pit.

Worked OK until I tried to do a brisket in the rain at 45 degrees!  

I first started smoking/grilling on a Weber kettle grill.

Had good success doing chicken, pork,ribs indirect.

I have probably a dozen briskets under my belt with the brinkman and also tried a few on a pellet smoker.

I am back to wanting to smoke on an offset as the pellet smoker is basically a convection oven imo.

So this is what I have smoker/grill wise now.

2 Weber kettle grills

1 smoke chef pellet smoker

1 Oklahoma Joe's highland offset smoker

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• dugzy33
• Mar 20, 2017

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• dugzy33
• Mar 20, 2017

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• dugzy33
• Mar 20, 2017

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• dugzy33
• Mar 20, 2017

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• dugzy33
• Mar 20, 2017

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• dugzy33
• Mar 21, 2017

 

[sauced]

Welcome dugzy33......looks like you followed the same path as me, lol. Lots of great information here and some really amazing, helpful people all willing to help!

I also have the Weber Kettle and added my Oklahoma Joe in the fall. I use the kettle for small smokes and the OKJ for larger ones. Sometimes I have had both going at the same time, the Mrs. thinks I'm crazy, until she is eating!!

 

[ammaturesmoker]

 
do not do what exactly?

i sealed the firebox and would like to know specifics on what not to do as i'm not clear on what you are saying

I used to have this smoker. I used the food safe RTV with the stuff in between the two clam shells on the firebox and between the firebox and the cook chamber. One day I was bringing it up to temp and poured in an entire chimney of briquettes which is something I had always done on my Weber's. I put in the chicken meat and I then smelled this chemical. Come to find out the RTV which I had set a few weeks higher was melting. I wanted the cook chamber @ 275. Well doing that required to go above the 650 for the food safe RTV for the temp in the firebox. I later found some RTV that could go higher in temp but could not find any that was food safe. So I paid to have it welded. There have been other that have had this happen as I found out I was not along on poisoning food with melting RTV. If you don't weld, use either a rope kits for stoves, or a new product I found at Autozone. I forget the name but it's a 1200 degree food safe metal filler. Stuff is great but messy.