Old Country Wrangler- Owners Thread

[roswell630]

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• toad359
• Jan 24, 2016

Was bold enough to try a new method on the Wrangker yesterday. I've only done about 6 cooks on the Wrangler so new makes me nervous!

Started with a 13 lb brisket. Marinated in Dr. pepper overnight. That's new!
Smokes at 250 without my wood/charcoal basket. That's new.t
Used only oak splits to cook. That new, usually mix lump and splits.
Wrapped at 165 with butcher paper rather than foil. That's new.

Fire was easier to manage than I expected.
Got a nicer bark with paper.
The end product was great. Forgot to make a pic of the sliced meat but it was moist, tender and pulled apart just like Franklins!

That looks great Toad!  It is hard to beat a good brisket. 



How long did it take you to smoke it at 250*?  Did it stall, or go on through? 



Also, have fun with those beef ribs.  I think you'll be surprised how easy they are, for how great they turn out.



This is what I did last weekend, a rack of beef chuck ribs, a rack of beef plate ribs, and then spatchcocked turkey breast for the ladies who were watching their figures and didn't want to eat beef.  LOL! 

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• mickhlr
• Jan 20, 2016

That looks real nice. Haven't taken a stab at the brisket yet. I always see some with just the flat and held off. Guess I should just get those and not keep my hopes up for the whole thing.

Sent from my LG-H901 using Tapatalk

 

[roswell630]

Hey all, I'm interested in what you have to try and stretch out your fuel. I had an expanded steel box on my old smoker and it worked ok but it all burned at onced. I've played around with the minion method and tried to do the maze look and all but it wasn't so easy with our Firefox. At least for me anyways. I tried this for my last smoke and I have to say, it kept temps and lasted at least twice as long instead of just throwing lump/wood in every hour or so. What have you all come up with, if at all? I am happy with how long it keeps temps, just trying to strech things out as long as possible, as lump gets expensinve. ;)

-Don

 

[roswell630]

And disregard the slopyness. It was a rough draft to see if the flow worked.

-Don

 

[toad359]

It was a 7 1/2 hour cook. No stall. Wrapped with butcher paper at 165-170 and it sailed on thru! That meat looks great! Thanks

 

[mickhlr]

It was a 7 1/2 hour cook. No stall. Wrapped with butcher paper at 165-170 and it sailed on thru! That meat looks great! Thanks

Good deal...yeah, it actually shocked me the first time mine didn't stall.  Now, even though I plan for it, I'd be shocked if it did. 

I don't really understand what you're trying to do to your firebox though.  What is all that?  Looks like you maybe split it into two halves and have a ton of lump charcoal in there, with a few little chunks of wood.  I always thought if someone wants to do all that, you might as well use a Weber Smokey Mountain.  And, I have nothing against a WSM, as I have smoked some meat with one, and they are dang good smokers.  I also have a Weber 26" charcoal grill, and use it for everything except smoking meat...even though I did play with it a little when I first got it, just to prove that I actually could smoke meat on it if I wanted to.  And, the WSM is built to hold temp the exact same way you are trying to do on the Wrangler. 

The only time I use charcoal at all, is about a 3/4 chimney starter, just to get me started.  Then, start off by adding one or two splits of wood on top of it.  Then, I let it get to burning pretty good, then close up doors, except the firebox door and smoke stack...and I leave them wide open.  And, I used to cut my firewood splits down to halves and sometimes thirds to use in the Wrangler.  Then, one day, I couldn't get to my saw and chunked in a whole firewood split.  It was so easy to manage the fire that way, and that's all l've used ever since.  Sure, you have to keep a pretty good eye on the temp, and I play with the wood a lot with a fireplace poker, and then just add a split once every hour.  I don't mind a bit, and have found that tending the fire is just part of it, and I enjoy doing it.

In the pic below I was using smaller hickory splits that were only 12"-14" long.  And, it was staying right at 250* at the grate, according to that Maverick.  The fire below was about 3/4 charcoal starter, and two of these hickory splits.  After originally climbing up to 280*, it had just leveled out to around 250* (looks like 248* actually) and I was ready to throw on some beef ribs.

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• mickhlr
• Jan 26, 2016

 

[toad359]

Ha! That picture that followed your last post was sandwiched in between our post! It's not my response.
I have used a charcoal basket in the past but am going more and more to just wood. Out here in the Angelo, we don't have much oak. I'm using mostly mesquite since that's what we have available. I'm doing the same as far as cutting them down to 1/2. One of these days I'll go 100 miles east and pick up 1/2 load of oak. We do have pecan and I use that for pork and poultry.

Am going to try that fb door opened methods tomorrow. Will pm results!

Hey thanks for your responding.

See ya.. Hope this helps others that are reading it!

 

[mickhlr]

Ha! That picture that followed your last post was sandwiched in between our post! It's not my response.
I have used a charcoal basket in the past but am going more and more to just wood. Out here in the Angelo, we don't have much oak. I'm using mostly mesquite since that's what we have available. I'm doing the same as far as cutting them down to 1/2. One of these days I'll go 100 miles east and pick up 1/2 load of oak. We do have pecan and I use that for pork and poultry.

Am going to try that fb door opened methods tomorrow. Will pm results!

Hey thanks for your responding.

See ya.. Hope this helps others that are reading it!

LOL!!  I gotcha!  I'm sorry...now, I see that was roswell630.  So, Don, what are you trying to do there?  Down here in east Texas, using that much lump charcoal would cost me a lot more than using firewood.  And, I'm thinking those slow burning wood chunks on top of it would leave a lot of dirty white smoke? 

Nothing wrong with mesquite, Toad.  I believe in using what's native to your area.  I know down in south central Texas, they use mainly post oak, because that's what is the most plentiful.  I use a lot of post oak up here as well.  But, we also have a lot of red oak and hickory.  And, of the 3 of those, my favorite is actually the red oak.  I have 3 wood racks...each 1/3 cord...one has post oak, one has red oak, and one has hickory, at all times.  I have also used quite a bit of mesquite, and it works well with brisket, or any beef, really.  And, like you, I've used some pecan for poultry...but have found it to be a little too mild for my taste.

The only problem I've run into with leaving the firebox door open is the direction the wind is blowing.  And, I got that idea from Aaron Franklin.  We get all his shows on PBS, and his normal backyard smoker is an Old Country Pecos.  He said to always leave the door open for good air flow.  I couldn't understand that, as I've always tried to use the damper to "attempt" to regulate the heat of the fire...and I just thought it would run even hotter if I left that firebox door open.  However, I've found he is correct, and now I regulate the temp with the amount of wood I'm burning, and nothing else.  My Wrangler seems to run hotter if I cut off the air flow. 

 

[roswell630]

Hey guys, I haven't found a place that has a good variety of larger sticks to burn do I use the lump with some chunks on top, thinking the chunks would heat up enough to get a good smoke out of them, but yes, I do get a bit of white smoke in there. I've used mesquite and hickory and it was a little Smokey for my liking. May have just been due to the white smoke as you mentioned. Having said that, how do you not get the white smoke when you add more wood to the fire when you need to top it off? Wouldn't you get the white smoke for a bit until the logs heat up? Are you preheating them on top of the Firefox or something?

-Don

 

[mickhlr]

Hey guys, I haven't found a place that has a good variety of larger sticks to burn do I use the lump with some chunks on top, thinking the chunks would heat up enough to get a good smoke out of them, but yes, I do get a bit of white smoke in there. I've used mesquite and hickory and it was a little Smokey for my liking. May have just been due to the white smoke as you mentioned. Having said that, how do you not get the white smoke when you add more wood to the fire when you need to top it off? Wouldn't you get the white smoke for a bit until the logs heat up? Are you preheating them on top of the Firefox or something?

-Don

Hey Don.  I don't pre-heat mine, as some people do by setting them on top of the firebox, like in my pic above.  Basically, I just keep a good air flow going by not closing my firebox door, and when I add a split, I just leave the top firebox door open for about 5 minutes, until it gets to burning good, then I have no white smoke.

For example, in the pic below, the long split to the left was already burning, but I was having problems keeping the temp up to 275* while smoking a brisket.  So, I had added the large split on the right, to help get the temp up, and it had been burning for about 5 minutes, so I was getting ready to close the door.  I think during this time, my grate temp dropped to about 240*, but it was still good.  After a couple of minutes, the temp had climbed back up to 270*-280*, right where I wanted it.

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• mickhlr
• Dec 30, 2015

 

[toad359]

Did another split only cook today. Used a little lump to get things going, added two splits and the temps settled at about 240, door opened. Just added a split( about 8 inches x 3 or 4 inches ) about every 30-45 minutes. Things were pretty sable, gettin the hang!

Smokes 1/2 rack of spares mainly to play with fire and they turned out great. Did the 3 2 1 method and they were very good!

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• toad359
• Jan 27, 2016

 

[roswell630]

Hey, Thanks Mick.  Sorry I missed this.  I'll be trying your method soon. Found a supplier for wood here in Charlotte.

- Don

 

[tejasroy]

roswell630,

To cut down on the cost of wood, I simply purchase 1/4, 1/2 or a full cord of aged oak firewood, and I use a manual log splitter to get the right size sticks for the smoker.  To avoid white smoke, I build a small side fire from which I can shovel coals, and only use sticks without bark in the firebox.

Everyone following this thread may be interested in the fact that Academy seems to have discontinued the Wrangler!  They now offer only the Pecos and Brazos offsets.  Really disappointing (particularly since I got my best friend all fired up to get a Wrangler last week)...

± Roy

 

[toad359]

I was lucky. I got mine in December. They still have several at my academy. I love mine.

 

[joe black]

For the size, thickness and price, I would have canned the Pecos and kept the Wrangler.

I do start my fire with a good basket of lump. It allows for a good bed of hot coals. Them, I switch over to all splits that are pre-heated. Being pre-heated, when they go in, they ignite immediately and the TBS never changes and the temp never dips. That's my $0.02.

 

[gunrunner23]

Nope they still have them. They just tend to do that every year on their website. I have read that in the past where they take it off their site around this time of year. I picked up a new one a few weeks ago. I had been watching their stock since Christmas and they had one left that looked awful. So I waited and they got 10 pecos in and 2 wranglers. So I got one that had some paint scratched off and got them to take 10% off. They should be back on their site soon when stocks are built up.

 

[ironhorseromo]

I just picked up a Wrangler this past weekend. I really debated over this or the Pecos. I went ahead and dropped the extra cash. So far I really like it! The wealth of info on this thread has been great! I'm new at smoking things. I'm looking forward to the challenge!

 

[toad359]

IN addition, go to utube and search "wrangler smoker." You'll find a lot of good ideas!

Smoke On!

 

[roswell630]

Thanks Roy, Great idea.  I'm going to try both methods and see  how it turns out.

 

[donarkie]

I bought one (Old Country Wrangler) 2 months back. I was looking for a smaller backyard type offset true stick burner for my deck.

I was using my 8ft trailer reverse flow but it was a walk from the house where I house it. 300 yards from the house next to one of my shops. I still use this pit for church events and guest at my farm.

Mod's to mine , 1st was removing them crappy metal wheels. I replaced them with (4) 10 inch mag style hard rubber tires (all 4 corners), next was to remove that drop shelf, very flimsy. I replaced it with a stainless steel shelf that drops and I have to say it's quite sturdy and stout. Mounted (2) Tel Tru Thermometers; 1 at upper cooking rack height, the other lower cooking rack height. Next was a tuning plate, made from 3\16" thick steel with (2) 7" adjustable vents. I have to say it leveled out and made my cooking chamber lower rack height uniform in temperature. Lastly, I use 1\4" thick by 3\4" wide wood stove door insulation on the cooking chamber lid. It leaked some, but thing major.

This winter I will remove the factory paint off the exterior by media blasting and re-paint with an ambient cure ceramic coating, most likely 2 tone colors like my large pit that is good up to 1,200 degrees w\o discoloring.

 

[bear50]

I just got my new wrangler smoker delivered from Academy last night.  I am looking forward to seasoning the smoker this week and trying out my first smoke this weekend.  So glad there is a forum for this!!