New 'round these parts... a little flustered.

[Kringle9]

Hi everyone, I'm really excited to see this forum and share some ideas and gain some knowledge. I recently purchased a smoke hollow propane, charcoal, off set smoker combo. I'm having a blast with the charcoal grilling. Burgers, steaks, chicken, salmon...

But recently I tried giving the off set smoker a shot and I'm not gonna sugar coat it. Its not going well and I'm a little frustrated. Today for my first attempt, i put a 5 lbs. Chicken on and I was having a very hard time keeping the temperature around 200-225. I was all over the place. Here is an overt view of what I did.
- I filled up my chimney to the normal level
- I poured in the charcoals into the off set and added a hickory log.
After about 90 mins I added another log and for the most part everything was going well. I was in the 200-225 range.
Sometimes the logs were on fire and other times they were glowing, but they were generating good heat and smoke.

After the second log the coals were almost gone. So I put more in the chimney. I waited about 20 mins and put my glowing coals in the offset. I put the log on top, and it never really got started. It slowly burned, but never caught fire. It did not produce enough heat. Now my chamber was around 175. I messed with it, but the wood just kind of blackened without catching fire.
Frustrated I added a second log. With all of the vents opened, the chamber remained around 175.
At this point it was over 5 hours later and my chicken was at 135.
I ended up putting the chicken in the oven and finished baking it.... oddly enough, I went back to see how the 2 logs were doing. The chamber was over 400!!!

I know there is lots of info on fire management, but any obvious mistakes that I made would be greatly appreciated.

Btw, the chicken was super smokey. My wife LOVED it. But I found it to be a little strong.
Thanks!

 

[kruizer]

Welcome to SMF from Minnesota.

 

[Winterrider]

Hang in there. Some of the charcoal guys will be along soon.

 

[thirdeye]

Welcome aboard.

It's hard to understand right now, but less is more better.

 

[FishAndBeer]

Welcome from Wisconsin.. Sorry no advice to give on the offset but In my kettle it was the more I used it the more I learned what to do for certain temps... A learning experience for certain

 

[TNJAKE]

Might prop your firebox door open to catch wood on fire and raise temp. Make sure vents are open

 

[Nshamy]

From that top view, the log seems pretty large for the size of the fire box. Because of that size log, it would take longer to caught fire. Like TNJKAE suggested, opening the vents and fire box door would accelerate the time it takes to catch fire. Again, because of the size, once it caught fire the heat produced would shoot temps quite high.

 

[Fueling Around]

A chicken shouldn't take 5 hours

First is how did you prepare the chicken for smoking?
I am a spatchcock fan. Adds surface area for smoke and heat. Breast and thigh finish out the same time. Greatly reduces the cook time, too.
Not familiar with a smoke hollow combo unit.
When I had an offset, I start with a lit chimney but add another half load of unlit. As the burn progresses, I add more coal. Don't wait for the first coals to burn down and add a lit chimney.
My personal thought is you used way too much hickory. My wife prefers a lighter smoke so fruit wood is used on poultry. A couple of chunks of wood up front and then charcoal to complete the cook.

 

[noboundaries]

DANG, that's a big split. There's physics involved here. Think of a big split as a massive heat sponge that pulls heat from the coals to reach an ignition temp. The greater the mass, the more heat that's needed.

Once the fire is started, it becomes a balancing act to maintain chamber temp with available heat while also using that heat to ignite additional fuel. Small splits burn up faster, but don't cool your fire as much when added. You shouldn't need to add addional hot charcoal to an offset if your wood splits are the right size.

 

[chef jimmyj]

This info may be of some help. Welcome and spend some time experimenting with the amount of charcoal and stick size. Apple wood is more mild than Hickory and very tasty on Chicken. Search, Offset Smoker Mods, for ideas on improving your smoker...JJ

Stickburning101

Describe 'Stickburning101' : Being a stickburner takes a little more attention and perserverance.A basic knowledge of how YOUR Smoker works is premier to a successful Smoke. Learn where in the Firebox the wood recieves the best...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

 

[Inkbirdbbq]

Welcome to the Forums!

 

[JC in GB]

Welcome from Wisconsin. I agree with other posters here. That wood is far too large for that size firebox. Try lighting your charcoal and then toss some wood chunks on the lit charcoal as needed. That should give you smoke and some wood coals.

With some practice you will be producing party Q in no time.

JC

 

[uncle eddie]

Welcome to SMF - like said above, there is some good help on this forum. I am sure you will get it figured out.

 

[sawhorseray]

Let YouTube be your friend. There's a ton of videos on heat control for a offset smoker, watch a few and see what works for you. I run my SQ36 with the door open anywhere from a crack to a couple of inches most of the time. It takes a little time to learn heat control on a offset, be patient, once you get it dialed in a offset produces the best Q around, and you'll take pride and satisfaction knowing you were a large part of the cook. RAY

 

[Kringle9]

Hi everyone,
Thank you for all of the warm welcome and pointers.

Based off of your advice, I'm going to try again with a whole new strategy.

Thanks everyone for your responses.