New user hello, and I blame all of you!

[otis857]

Bishop, Im not sure about the big block design, but on my Masterbuilt, I couldn't get it much below 225. I added a chimney on the back to improve the air flow. Temps come down to 200 pretty easy now. That helped allot and made for better Thin Blue Smoke too. I think air flow, or the lack thereof, is a big problem with the cheaper, mass market smokers

 

[housemusik]

[quote name="Otis857" url="/forum/thread/105070/new-user-hello-and-i-blame-all-of-you#post_617909"]
Bishop, Im not sure about the big block design, but on my Masterbuilt, I couldn't get it much below 225. I added a chimney on the back to improve the air flow. Temps come down to 200 pretty easy now. That helped allot and made for better Thin Blue Smoke too. I think air flow, or the lack thereof, is a big problem with the cheaper, mass market smokers
[/quote]
Hey Otis- I just got the XL and I have concerns about the chips burning (or lack of burning) and airflow. Do you think you can post your chimney mod?

 

[the bishop]

Squib: The flame has a little orange it on medium and high, not as clean and blue as yours. Also seems to be higher than your flame, too. That's with the tank open 1.5 turns. The higher temps were during the seasoning process, with a full water pan and a mixed load of hickory chunks and chips in the smoke box. The wood did char down like yours did. I smelled the smoke but didn't see much in the way of visible smoke so I was a little worried.

Sorry for the delay in answering - Had a busy 2 work days. 24 hour shift in the firehouse followed by 10 hours of construction.

 

[the bishop]

Otis, thanks for the tips. I'll keep them in mind. I'm considering some sort of capped off chimney for the top of the Big Block - The open vent on top will make smoking in rainy weather a pain.

 

[Fife]

Hey Bishop one of the best things I like is when I get home off shift I like to get in the smoke for the day. Stay  safe

 

[the bishop]

Ok, update on the smoker. I decided to see what it'd do with small load of meat in it.

I've got two racks of ribs and a small pork butt in there. Full pan of water, wood tray filled with 3 2x2x2 hickory chunks and surrounded by cherry chips, tray is roughly 1/2 full.

I've got the propane tank open 1 full turn, and the flame is nice and blue. I've had the smoker half way between low and medium for the last 2 hours and it's sitting rock steady on 225 degrees. I'm getting a smell of smoke (Man, I love the smell of cherry) with occasional wisps of light blue smoke from the vent on top for the last two hours.

This smoker rocks.

 

[the bishop]

Also - I've been mopping the pork once an hour with apple juice, and they have a nice rub on 'em. Forgot to mention that.

 

[sqwib]

Squib: The flame has a little orange it on medium and high, not as clean and blue as yours.

 

[the bishop]

Here's the first set of ribs out of my new big block. I'm very happy with the smoker, it was *very* temperature stable with a load of food in it.



This is what was left in the wood bin. It started turning to white ash and I saw a few embers once I was done eating and cleaned up the smoker.

 

[meateater]

Welcome to the SMF. Glad to have you here. Lots of good folks, great recipes and knowledge. Looking forward to your first qview.

 

[sqwib]

Here's the first set of ribs out of my new big block. I'm very happy with the smoker, it was *very* temperature stable with a load of food in it.

This is what was left in the wood bin. It started turning to white ash and I saw a few embers once I was done eating and cleaned up the smoker.

Dude you nailed it.

Make sure when you remove them carbon bits that you put them somewhere heat safe, they will burn like coals if they get air.

You can place them in a cookie tin and choke them and you now have lump charcoal.