Oklahoma Joe's Canyon Smoker

[Brainbeer]

A while back I asked for opinions of an offset smoker. Although I was cautioned against getting the Oklahoma Joe's Canyon smoker. I went ahead and tried it out. All the reviews from family tell me it's the best food I've ever smoked. So I am for sure stuck on offset smokers. I've slowly made some alterations. This morning I added aluminum duct to the exhaust stack, I've put in fire bricks in both the firebox and the cooker. I've sealed up the doors with gasket, made a baffle out of a grill that was in the firebox, have a thermometer at grill level to monitor real temps. I think that's about it. So far it's still a learning curve for me. Doing a test smoke this morning to see if my alterations are helping or hurting since I have a brisket point to cook tomorrow. Any suggestions or advice on what I've already done or need to do different?

 

[Brainbeer]

Ok, doing my test smoke and this is just weird. Before all my mods I had massive temp swings and it would run really hot then cold, now the temperature is fairly steady but I'm having a hard time getting it up to temp. Shouldn't it run hot if anything, not colder?

 

[Heart of Dixie]

Make sure that the fire bricks in the cook chamber are not blocking any air flow from the fire box. I have 2, 20 year old plus offsets and you just have to sit and try different things. I do changes / adjustments while cooking a pork butt because you can't really hurt it and the pit will respond totally different when there is meat in it. Are you burning charcoal or sticks? Take time and have fun setting it up. It can get irritating but it's just part of running an offset. To me, the results are worth it.