Offset Smoker Upgrade

[ReelFaster]

Bought an OK Joe years back, I love it, it's really served me well and still in very good condition. It was my gateway to smoking, I love the lifestyle of a stick burner and the fuel is free for me since I have an abundance of good smoking firewood for my wood stove

I've made some excellent BBQ on it. Two weeks ago I tried a new method for a pork shoulder and my wife and I and are guests have never had anything like it. I've been making pulled pork for years on it, it's a family favorite and I am asked to make it for each family function. However what I did two weeks ago was in another league. I am looking to repeat it and dial it in so I can repeat consistently. Friday I give it another go!

In my continued quest for greater BBQ I am looking to upgrade my offset to something with thicker steel to aid with temp fluctuations. I know the golden standard is 1/4" and I just measured my OK Joes and I was shocked it was only 1/16" thick, I thought it was at least 1/8". Just thinking if I can work with keeping a solid temp range on the OK Joe, create good BBQ how much easier it would be and consistent on something twice or three times as thick.

As always $$ is an issue, those thicker metal smokers are costly. Old Country Brazos is a pretty solid option for the money. Wondering if anyone has any recommendations? I've looked at lone star grillz, workhorse pits, a few others but with shipping your looking at 3K easy. There are some fabricators on FB and CL but not sure of the quality or history but sure would save shipping $. Shipping is roughly $500 for some of those smokers mentioned. Thanks in advance!

 

[Smokin Okie]

The Old Country Brazos is the logical next step. There's plenty of people on the Old Country Facebook Group who've modded the smoker to improve it.

But the best value I've seen is Big Phil's Blue Smoke smoker , which is gonna be in the $2,000 ball park. You won't have to do anything to this smoker.

https://bluesmokesmokers.com/

 

[Displaced Texan]

I'll put in my usual plug for Craig Bell near Tulsa and Bell Fab. Thick steel, well made, not any pricier than an Old Country, well, maybe a couple hundred bucks, and he will basically build it to your specs with suggestions along the way.

 

[ReelFaster]

The Old Country Brazos is the logical next step. There's plenty of people on the Old Country Facebook Group who've modded the smoker to improve it.

But the best value I've seen is Big Phil's Blue Smoke smoker , which is gonna be in the $2,000 ball park. You won't have to do anything to this smoker.

https://bluesmokesmokers.com/

Fantastic info, thank you so much!

I just recently learned about the blue smoke smoker, I actually loved the look of it and thought was fantastic deal. Thanks again!

 

[Smokin Okie]

I owned a Brazos. Its capable of some good barbecue as long as ya don't try to crank up the air flow.

The design is contradictory, in that it has a relatively large baffle on the exchange between the firebox and the cook chamber. This baffle forces air down and restricts air flow into the chamber. Its purpose is to keep radiant or direct heat out of the chamber.

At the same time, the stack is set to exhaust at grate level.

So ya have a baffle pushing air down and then an exhaust that's pulling air under the meats and out.

If the air flow is cut way down by using the damper on the firebox door, it works OK. Air passes under the baffle and immediately rises to the top of the cook chamber and then its pulled across the meats by the exhaust at grate level. Open it up any at all and air shoots into the chamber and under the meats, and ya get bottom burn on the meats.

What many have done is cut the baffle out. Downside is ya lose 1/3 of the cooking grate on the firebox end. Upside is the air flow is greatly improved.

 

[ReelFaster]

I owned a Brazos. Its capable of some good barbecue as long as ya don't try to crank up the air flow.

The design is contradictory, in that it has a relatively large baffle on the exchange between the firebox and the cook chamber. This baffle forces air down and restricts air flow into the chamber. Its purpose is to keep radiant or direct heat out of the chamber.

At the same time, the stack is set to exhaust at grate level.

So ya have a baffle pushing air down and then an exhaust that's pulling air under the meats and out.

If the air flow is cut way down by using the damper on the firebox door, it works OK. Air passes under the baffle and immediately rises to the top of the cook chamber and then its pulled across the meats by the exhaust at grate level. Open it up any at all and air shoots into the chamber and under the meats, and ya get bottom burn on the meats.

What many have done is cut the baffle out. Downside is ya lose 1/3 of the cooking grate on the firebox end. Upside is the air flow is greatly improved.

Great info and thank you. I have seen a few folks on youtube cut the baffle out to improve air flow. I would not want to buy and have to cut away metal I just paid for, not to mention I am sure it's a little bit of a pita to cut out cleanly.

I have a BBQ dealer in my 2-3hr driving range that sells the Brazos and would save me a ton of $$ on shipping. So I was leaning that direction but having 2nd thoughts.

 

[Smokin Okie]

When I owned my Brazos, no one was cutting the baffle out nor extending the stack. I had isolated it as the reason for the burnt bottoms of my meats but did not have the guts to start heavily modifying the smoker. I was gonna let someone else be the guinea pig. I just ran it enough air flow to burn a clean fire.

And I also did not think it would be advisable to remove the baffle without also modifying the stack. Extending the stack and improving the pull through the smoker had the same effect as opening the firebox door, as long as that baffle was in place.

I was talking to a welder about building a collector and a new stack. And cutting out the baffle is not hard, there's four welds and can be done with an angle grinder. But about that time my name came up on Franklin's list, I sold the Brazos, and bought Franklin #157.

 

[ReelFaster]

When I owned my Brazos, no one was cutting the baffle out nor extending the stack. I had isolated it as the reason for the burnt bottoms of my meats but did not have the guts to start heavily modifying the smoker. I was gonna let someone else be the guinea pig. I just ran it enough air flow to burn a clean fire.

And I also did not think it would be advisable to remove the baffle without also modifying the stack. Extending the stack and improving the pull through the smoker had the same effect as opening the firebox door, as long as that baffle was in place.

I was talking to a welder about building a collector and a new stack. And cutting out the baffle is not hard, there's four welds and can be done with an angle grinder. But about that time my name came up on Franklin's list, I sold the Brazos, and bought Franklin #157.

Congrats on the Franklin, that was on my list as well, beautiful smoker.

Speaking of collector, what exactly does that do? I've seen some units have that, looks cool but never looked into exactly what it does. Thanks again!

 

[chp]

Just to clarify, do you want to stick to new or are you keeping an eye out for used options?

 

[ReelFaster]

Just to clarify, do you want to stick to new or are you keeping an eye out for used options?

I would definitely look at a used option for sure. Especially someone who gave up on using a stick burner and wanted something easier but had a quality smoker. I've looked on CL and FB for my area but not much there.

 

[chp]

I would definitely look at a used option for sure. Especially someone who gave up on using a stick burner and wanted something easier but had a quality smoker. I've looked on CL and FB for my area but not much there.

It seems like the folks switching to the ease of a pellet smoker would provide you some good options. I wish you the best of luck finding one. I know I love the time it takes to run a stick burner, but I understand the folks that want to switch away from them.

 

[Smokin Okie]

Congrats on the Franklin, that was on my list as well, beautiful smoker.

Speaking of collector, what exactly does that do? I've seen some units have that, looks cool but never looked into exactly what it does. Thanks again!

As the name implies, it collects air. It makes it easier for the stack to pull air out of the cook chamber.

It also pulls air out from all across the cooking grate.

On offsets without a collector, those corners on the stack end do funny things. On some, there's a hot spot on the back corner next to the stack end. Think of a dam across a river. Then there's floodgates open in the middle, the corners where the dam meets the bank will have flotsam accumulate, there's not as much water movement there.

And Franklin combines the collector with a concave ellipsoid end cap. Air likes curves. That's the reason the Weber Kettle has great convection. Franklin wants to pull air out fast.

 

[ReelFaster]

It seems like the folks switching to the ease of a pellet smoker would provide you some good options. I wish you the best of luck finding one. I know I love the time it takes to run a stick burner, but I understand the folks that want to switch away from them.

Thank you and same here I understand the ease of a pellet smoker and you get great results from what I hear. I just love running a stick, much like I love running my wood stove. Perhaps I am just a pyromaniac and need something to burn in the summer months.

 

[Smokin Okie]

I found the thread I started on this forum, when I was debating modifying the Brazos , two years ago

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/a-major-brazos-modification-need-your-opinion.306795/