Old Country BBQ Pits Pecos Owners Thread

[FL-Outlander]

New Pecos owner here! I seasoned it on Saturday and smoked a Boston Butt on Sunday. Pulled pork was awesome but I definitely ran into temp control issues. This thread has taught me a TON. Thank you all so much for sharing your experiences. I added gaskets to both lids and have a charcoal pan in the cook chamber as a convection plate. My Pecos came with two charcoal pans for some reason, one on top of the other. Didn't realize it until I got home. Will play with placement of the convection plate to see if I can get it dialed in better. Looking forward to more cooks on this thing!

 

[astrohip]

I definitely ran into temp control issues.

Not to diss anyone enjoying their Old Country, but after half a dozen cooks, I gave up. I never did get the temp control I was looking for (and needed). I tried everything, read everything, followed many tips from this thread. Nothing worked.

Sold it and bought a Camp Fire pellet grill. Best decision I ever made. Half a dozen cooks later, I look like a genius. Pork butts, ribs, chicken... all come out like a dream.

Again, I know most of you are cooking masterpieces on your OC. My hat's off to you.

just my .02

 

[FL-Outlander]

Dang, astro, I hate to hear that. Glad you found the right smoker for you, though. Smoke on!

 

[pbclown]

After doing a dozen cooks or more as well as just doing dry runs so to speak, split size is the biggest issue, 7-10 inch long, about as round as a silver dolled, maybe a bit bigger. Add a split once your temp drops by about 5 degrees and just monitor it.

 

[Smokin Okie]

I think it would depend much on the temp control one is looking for.

On my WSM's, I was happy with anything within a 25* range of my target. On my OC Brazos, I might range 50*, but generally can stay within 25*.

At end of cook, I can't really tell ya what temp I cooked at, exactly. I'm happy with the Brazos.

 

[AmazonDon703]

Does anyone cook with only wood? Also, are you all getting good smoke rings and smoke flavor? I've owned a Pecos for about a month now. Brisket and ribs turned out great, although I feel my chicken lacked smoke flavor but my wife and kids say it's just me. Possible I've been exposed to too much smoke? . I use mesquite and oak (north Texas). Anyone else ever experienced this?

I haven't had any issues at all with temp control. Super easy to maintain. Only time I'll run into problems is if my bed of coals (wood) isn't big enough. Hasn't really happened with this pit though. Probably going to have to seal up the cooking chamber and firebox. But other than that, I think I got a pretty good deal. Manager at the local Academy knocked 15% off for a little rust.

 

[texasjason]

I’ve not noticed any lack of smoke flavor with mine and I too cook with all wood. I have from time to time noticed a little less smoke flavor if I’ve been tending to it for several hours however when I eat the leftovers the next day it’s super smokey. I think it’s just being outside with it all day you just get used to it.

 

[Kevin Haynes]

Just fired up my Pecos yesterday for the 2nd time and first time doing a test run with temps using an Inkbird 4 probe bluetooth therm. A couple of things...
I do have tuning plates(5 total)
I do have the gasket all the way around the lid but on the bottom right side closest to the firebox I noticed about an 1/8 inch gap where the lid doesn't meet. Any thouguhf on how to close that? And also would it be THAT big of a deal?
I had a probe about 4 inches from the smoke stack and a probe right above the baffle that comes off the firebox. I only ran it 2.5 hours before I could get steady temps. (But still not close to matching). I was anywhere from 20-40 degrees off from one another.(obviously way cooler on the stack side and hotter closest to the firebox). Messed with the tuning plates a little and decided I think I need to slide one and butt it up against the baffle and the next couple REALLY close off that one. May just get rid of the last 2. Another thing is at about 2.5 hours it looked like my coal bed was gone and temps started slowly going down although the split was still good and lit. Does this mean lite up some more coals in the chimney and dump them down in there?...and I have messed with the firebox door and little slide open part along with the chimney flu. I just can't get how to heat it up when it's getting low and backing down on temp if it starts to run away. Will be doing a other dry run and play with temps again. Any pointers or suggestions or tips? I am new so anything helps. I have a pecos and use oak splits on top of a coal bed that was started in the coal chimney.

 

[daveomak]

Move the plates toward the FB, closing the gaps, that will help move the heat to the other end of the CC... Experiment until you get the results you want..
You can build a bigger fire, and close down the air supply also...

 

[Smokin Okie]

The only way you're going to learn, is to dive in and do some cooks, the more cooks , the more ya learn.

On these forums, you will get a lot of different answers and in the end, ya could be right back where ya started.

So that said, I see two things you're doing that I don't do. First, I would halve that split. That's larger than I burn. And I disagree with Daveomak, you got plenty of fire.

I would also move the fire to one side of the FB . On the other side, I would keep a spit warming, so its ready to burst in flame and soon as I need to move it to the fire.

If you go find a pic of Aaron Franklin's new backyard smoker he's building, or Google up Mill Scale Model 94, and look at where they're placing their their temp gauge. Its on the far end away from the FB, at grate level, near the stack. AF says that's the hottest part of the smoker. And that's cuz he cooks with the door open. Neither one of those smokers has a vent in the door, they use the door itself to control air flow. And they don't use air flow to control temp, they use the size of the split.

You can move high temps from end to end by using the door. Open the door all the way and the air flow will move temps to the stack end. Close the door and just use the damper, and the FB end will heat up.

So point being, its not that important to get your temps even from side to side, its just important to know where your hot spots are at, so you place and move the meat. Its more important to get clean smoke and that comes from good air flow.

I began cooking with an Old Country Brazos one year ago this month, so I'm no long term hand at this. I've got about 10 cooks under my belt. I just bought tuning plates and have done one cook with them, so I'm still learning where to place those.

The problem I found with using the door to control air flow, is my meats were getting bottom burned. The air flow was so strong, it was moving direct radiant heat from the FB over into the cook chamber. I was getting great air flow but meats that were burnt on one side and not done in the middle.

Using the tuning plates and rotating meats, solved that problem on my last cook. But I'm still experimenting on their placement.

But again, this is just my limited experience on a similar smoker and you will have to learn by doing. Some of it can be short cutted, but its still just a matter of doing cooks and not getting discouraged.

 

[Kevin Haynes]

The only way you're going to learn, is to dive in and do some cooks, the more cooks , the more ya learn.

On these forums, you will get a lot of different answers and in the end, ya could be right back where ya started.

So that said, I see two things you're doing that I don't do. First, I would halve that split. That's larger than I burn. And I disagree with Daveomak, you got plenty of fire.

I would also move the fire to one side of the FB . On the other side, I would keep a spit warming, so its ready to burst in flame and soon as I need to move it to the fire.

If you go find a pic of Aaron Franklin's new backyard smoker he's building, or Google up Mill Scale Model 94, and look at where they're placing their their temp gauge. Its on the far end away from the FB, at grate level, near the stack. AF says that's the hottest part of the smoker. And that's cuz he cooks with the door open. Neither one of those smokers has a vent in the door, they use the door itself to control air flow. And they don't use air flow to control temp, they use the size of the split.

You can move high temps from end to end by using the door. Open the door all the way and the air flow will move temps to the stack end. Close the door and just use the damper, and the FB end will heat up.

So point being, its not that important to get your temps even from side to side, its just important to know where your hot spots are at, so you place and move the meat. Its more important to get clean smoke and that comes from good air flow.

I began cooking with an Old Country Brazos one year ago this month, so I'm no long term hand at this. I've got about 10 cooks under my belt. I just bought tuning plates and have done one cook with them, so I'm still learning where to place those.

The problem I found with using the door to control air flow, is my meats were getting bottom burned. The air flow was so strong, it was moving direct radiant heat from the FB over into the cook chamber. I was getting great air flow but meats that were burnt on one side and not done in the middle.

Using the tuning plates and rotating meats, solved that problem on my last cook. But I'm still experimenting on their placement.

But again, this is just my limited experience on a similar smoker and you will have to learn by doing. Some of it can be short cutted, but its still just a matter of doing cooks and not getting discouraged.

Yeah I had no issue with the clean fire. Smoke looked really good coming out of the stack. I just cantc understand when folks say they have a serious issue with the chimney side being hotter than the FB side of the their cooking chamber. So should I give it a try with those splits just cut in half? Leave both pieces in the FB but just have one off to the side trying to keep it off the coals and fire until it's ready to roll on? I feel that if I can get the temps from side to side down to within 10 degrees of each other, I will be happy to go.

 

[texasjason]

Yeah I had no issue with the clean fire. Smoke looked really good coming out of the stack. I just cantc understand when folks say they have a serious issue with the chimney side being hotter than the FB side of the their cooking chamber. So should I give it a try with those splits just cut in half? Leave both pieces in the FB but just have one off to the side trying to keep it off the coals and fire until it's ready to roll on? I feel that if I can get the temps from side to side down to within 10 degrees of each other, I will be happy to go.

I might suggest getting a couple cans of biscuits, place them all around your smoker and cook them and see what they look like after 30 minutes or so. If one side is burnt then you’ll know where your hot spot(s) are. You can then do some more tinkering with the tuning plates, door, etc. to try and get it where you like it. Or at least know which area runs hotter and that you’ll need to rotate meat from time to time.
And I’m one of those that has temps hotter at the stack side since I use the door wide open mostly (and the design if the cooker). Seems to run better for me that way but I know I have to move meat around occasionally. I can get temps more even by closing the door more but do get more white smoke that way so I leave it open mostly.

 

[Kevin Haynes]

I might suggest getting a couple cans of biscuits, place them all around your smoker and cook them and see what they look like after 30 minutes or so. If one side is burnt then you’ll know where your hot spot(s) are. You can then do some more tinkering with the tuning plates, door, etc. to try and get it where you like it. Or at least know which area runs hotter and that you’ll need to rotate meat from time to time.
And I’m one of those that has temps hotter at the stack side since I use the door wide open mostly (and the design if the cooker). Seems to run better for me that way but I know I have to move meat around occasionally. I can get temps more even by closing the door more but do get more white smoke that way so I leave it open mostly.

See I was hoping to heat up the stack side by opening the door wide open but all it does for me is shoot up over 300 on the box side. I need to go up on the stack side and dont know how haha

 

[Smokin Okie]

Self deleted

 

[texasjason]

See I was hoping to heat up the stack side by opening the door wide open but all it does for me is shoot up over 300 on the box side. I need to go up on the stack side and dont know how haha

Do you have your damper on the smoke stack wide open?
Also, I’d try just a couple of tuning plates by the firebox side and take out the others and see if that helps maybe.

 

[Smokin Okie]

Yeah I had no issue with the clean fire. Smoke looked really good coming out of the stack. I just cantc understand when folks say they have a serious issue with the chimney side being hotter than the FB side of the their cooking chamber. So should I give it a try with those splits just cut in half? Leave both pieces in the FB but just have one off to the side trying to keep it off the coals and fire until it's ready to roll on? I feel that if I can get the temps from side to side down to within 10 degrees
of each other, I will be happy to go.

For some reason, I'm havin trouble replying, but here is how I build my fire, pretty much. Once I get a good coal bed, I add small splits, smaller than he does in the vid, I like splits about 8" in length and as round as a beer can. And I keep one warming inside the FB. Also, I can't cut the air flow down as low as he does in the vid, or I'll get white smoke. And oh yeah, I never close the stack cap, its wide open , all the time.

 

[Kevin Haynes]

Do you have your damper on the smoke stack wide open?
Also, I’d try just a couple of tuning plates by the firebox side and take out the others and see if that helps maybe.

I was all over the place with the stack lid...you would recommend running it wide open or just asking if I had it open?...

 

[texasjason]

I was all over the place with the stack lid...you would recommend running it wide open or just asking if I had it open?...

I’d try your stack open all the way, that should give you better air flow and I think warmer temps at the stack. At least that how mine seems to work.

 

[Smokin Okie]

I was all over the place with the stack lid...you would recommend running it wide open or just asking if I had it open?...

I only close the stack cap when I'm not smokin. If I got the smoker goin, the stack cap is wide open. That's why you're not moving the higher temps to the stack end when the FB door is wide open.

I had all five tuning plates in my Brazos last smoke, and if the door was wide open, the stack end got hotter. Most of the time, my FB door was about 2" open.

 

[pbclown]

I have had my Pacos for almost a year now. After doing countless cooks and even more "dry" runs, I have found what is the sweet spot for me. First and foremost, keep your stack wide open all the time. Closing it does two things, first, it reduces air movement through the smoker, second, and a side effect of the first reason, smoke just sits in the cook chamber and becomes stale. Second, use splits cut down to 8-10 inches to keep temps down. Third, I use a little bit bigger splits to allow for two to burn at the same time, about four inches across. Forth, control airflow through door/door damper. Biggest piece of advice I can give you is just use your smoker. The more you use it the better you will be at it. It takes time, patience, a good thermometer and wood.