Offset Smoker Mods

[fudduk]

Hi all,

On my first smoking attempt, I couldn't get my smoker up to temperature and I could see a lot of smoke leaking out.  I've done some reading around about possible mods to make to my smoker and I'm a little daunted.  I don't claim to be great with my hands and don't want to damage my smoker:

It seems to be quite simple to use tape to seal it but does anyone have a recommendation for a specific tape for me to buy?  I can't find any with reviews.

Also, for someone who isn't too confident with their hands, which are the easiest mods to do?  I've found things about baffles, chimney extensions and charcoal baskets.

Any advice on this would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[jockaneezer]

What model of smoker do you have ? Putting a search in here for that might bring up some ideas ? If you're not wanting to damage your smoker in any way, try rolling up tinfoil and jamming it into the places where the smoke's coming from and make sure you have a decent, accurate thermometer, ones supplied with bbq's tend to be way off the mark, you can pick up cheap infrared ones from ebay and lidl had some in up here last week for under a tenner if you can't afford to run to something like a twin probe Maverick.

 

[wade]

Hi Fudduk and welcome to the group

As Jockaneezer says, what model of smoker do you have? That will help us be a little more specific with our advice.

Firstly, with most shop bought smokers you do not really need to make mods like flue extensions and you should not need to make any major structural modifications.

If you have a smoker with a side or top door (offset smoker or bullet smoker) then it is advisable to make the door seals more airtight. The same goes for the firebox lid on an offset. To do this you can buy some self adhesive stove rope. I use Vitcas 10mm rope which you can buy directly from Vitcas here - or there are other sites too

STOVE THERMAL TAPE BLACK-10MM (SELF ADHESIVE)

To fit this simply cut to the lengths of each edge of the door with scissors, peel back the tape and press in place. You will need to ensure that the surface where it is going to stick are clean and grease free.

If there is no fire basket or grid in tn the fire chamber then it is worth adding one to allow a good flow of air through the fire and to allow the ash to drop through. This does not have to be elaborate. If you have an old BBQ grate or a cake cooling wire rack that you can cut down and raise above the fire chamber floor then that is fine. To raise it either bend the sides of the wire racks down at the edges or rest the rack on a couple of small bricks.

As recommended above you should also look at getting a dual probe digital thermometer as any built in thermometer is likely to be inaccurate. A good inexpensive one to begin with would be an Inkbird IBT-2X at ~£24

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Inkbird-Bluetooth-Thermometer

I hope this helps.

Wade

 

[fudduk]

Hi Jockaneezer and Wade.  

Thanks for much for taking the time to reply.

Stupid though it sounds, the smoker was a gift so I'm not sure what model it is.  I'll be able to find out though when my dad gets back from his holiday.

Typically, I decided just to go for it last night and ordered some bits and bobs before I got your replies, so I've got some tape for sealing, much like you described and also some aluminium flashing to extend the chimney.  It cost very little so it's not the end of the world if I don't use that.

The basket doesn't sound too tricky so I'll give that a go and I'll get myself the thermometer that you recommended Wade.  

Thanks again gents.  I really appreciate it,

Iain

 

[molove]

 
As recommended above you should also look at getting a dual probe digital thermometer as any built in thermometer is likely to be inaccurate. A good inexpensive one to begin with would be an Inkbird IBT-2X at ~£24

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Inkbird-Bluetooth-Thermometer

I found that whilst the Inkbird is a good thermometer, the range of the bluetooth is terrible, not much more than about 5-7 metres, so I couldn't monitor my temperatures from inside the house, which meant the Inkbird was no use to me at all. I also found it ate through batteries very quickly.

If having a wireless thermometer with a decent range is important to you, I would recommend the Therpin thermometer. It doesn't have a smartphone app so you don't get the nice graphs but the range is amazing, I could monitor my smoker at the far end of the garden from my bedroom on the opposite side of the house with no dropouts at all.

Also it has rechargeable batteries which seem to last ages, and are charged using a phone charger. It has upper and lower alarms for both probes, the only annoying thing that I found about it was that the alarm temperatures can only be set upwards so if you overshoot or you need to set a lower temperature for the alarm you have to cycle all the way round past 300ºC to start at 0 again.

Here's a link


Piers

 

[wade]

Personally I use a combination of Maverick ET-732/3 and the TGhermodata Smoke but the cost of these is usually quite scary for someone just starting out. There are now several ranges of low cost thermometers that are coming to market that are more affordable. The Inkbird is one of these and can be used perfectly well as a stand alone thermometer but I agree, for remote monitoring the Bluetooth is limiting. The Therpin is another one that looks good and is below the £30 mark. I have not used one but from the information online and from Piers recommendation it certainly looks like a good one to consider.