Old Country Wrangler- Owners Thread

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You cut the baffle completely out? Exactly what model OC smoker do you have?

Never mind I read back and see you have a Wrangler you took the baffle out of.
I will admit, I haven't been cray-cray about the baffle. I'll have to think on it a bit...
I love it. I can finally get it (and maintain) hot enough temps to cook good chicken. You gotta be careful though because the temps will definitely soar on you if you use too big of splits or the wrong kind of charcoal. You’ve also got to be patient and let the temp come down when you first put your coal and splits on. I think I’m gonna Start using a half chimney of coals to get started Instead of a full. Just too dang hot!
 
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I love it. I can finally get it (and maintain) hot enough temps to cook good chicken. You gotta be careful though because the temps will definitely soar on you if you use too big of splits or the wrong kind of charcoal. You’ve also got to be patient and let the temp come down when you first put your coal and splits on. I think I’m gonna Start using a half chimney of coals to get started Instead of a full. Just too dang hot!
After you cut out the baffle did you extend the smokestack?
 
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Thanks D&Q, I'm leaning towards taking the baffle out.

As well as I looked the smoker over before I bought it, I never noticed the baffle till I got it home. I figured they must know something I don't - but I still don't know what it is that they know with respect to the baffle?

If removing it means I can work with a smaller fire, I am down wit dat.

Just checked and it looks like one or two welds are going to be hard to get at with a grinder - probably have to use a Dremel and a pack of cut-off/grinding wheels. I'll keep y'all posted.

Thanks again!
 
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Do you have a photo of your install - how/where is the fan attached to the firebox?
I don't have a photo with me. I removed the door and replaced it with a solid door and drilled a hole through the solid door and installed an adaptor.

I used this adapter from BBQGuru (same place I purchase my digicue and pit viper fan
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Thanks D&Q, I'm leaning towards taking the baffle out.

As well as I looked the smoker over before I bought it, I never noticed the baffle till I got it home. I figured they must know something I don't - but I still don't know what it is that they know with respect to the baffle?

If removing it means I can work with a smaller fire, I am down wit dat.

Just checked and it looks like one or two welds are going to be hard to get at with a grinder - probably have to use a Dremel and a pack of cut-off/grinding wheels. I'll keep y'all posted.

Thanks again!
You can bend it until it breaks at the welds once you grind them down a little bit. And you can DEFINITELY use a smaller fire lol. You won’t have a choice once you remove the baffle.
 
I sent an email to the folks that manufacture our smokers - I want to hear their argument for the baffle before I decide to remove it. If I hear back from them I will let y'all know.
 
Curiously, according to this site http://www.feldoncentral.com/bbqcalculator.html that calculates smoker dimensions, my OC Wrangler has a firebox that is 180% of their recommended size for a firebox based on the length and diameter of the cook chamber, and the chimney pipe is quite a bit longer than their recommendation of 10.75" length (mine is 23" long at the center line including the elbow)...

They also recommend that the area of the opening between the fire box and cook chamber be 40.83 square inches - my OC Wrangler has an opening area of 32.24 square inches - 78.9%.

Lastly, the firebox intake is almost spot-on with their recommendation with the firebox door closed and the 9" diameter damper fully open - 15.31 square inches.

So, according to them, the firebox is too large, the chimney is too long, and the firebox to cook chamber opening is too small...

I have no clue how accurate or useful the recommended calculations are, but its interesting.
 
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Curiously, according to this site http://www.feldoncentral.com/bbqcalculator.html that calculates smoker dimensions, my OC Wrangler has a firebox that is 180% of their recommended size for a firebox based on the length and diameter of the cook chamber, and the chimney pipe is quite a bit longer than their recommendation of 10.75" length (mine is 23" long at the center line including the elbow)...

They also recommend that the area of the opening between the fire box and cook chamber be 40.83 square inches - my OC Wrangler has an opening area of 32.24 square inches - 78.9%.

Lastly, the firebox intake is almost spot-on with their recommendation with the firebox door closed and the 9" diameter damper fully open - 15.31 square inches.

So, according to them, the firebox is too large, the chimney is too long, and the firebox to cook chamber opening is too small...

I have no clue how accurate or useful the recommended calculations are, but its interesting.
I think the cook chamber wouldn’t stand a chance if the opening was as big as “suggested”. You could never get a clean fire with a tiny firebox (if burning wood exclusively), and your draw would suck without a stack as long as ours.
 
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Finally getting the smoker dialed in with the charcoal basket - I had the charcoal basket oriented lengthwise in the firebox but I rotated it perpendicular to the firebox and now that baby is drawing great! Nice, small, HOT fire, and great smoke! I am glad I bought the 12x10x6 basket and not a larger one. I've even had to close the firebox door now and use the firebox door damper to control the fire! Working just great - smoking a prime chuck roast right now! If this keeps up I can find no reason to cut that baffle outta there but we will see how the chuck roast turns out!
 
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Finally getting the smoker dialed in with the charcoal basket - I had the charcoal basket oriented lengthwise in the firebox but I rotated it perpendicular to the firebox and now that baby is drawing great! Nice, small, HOT fire, and great smoke! I am glad I bought the 12x10x6 basket and not a larger one. I've even had to close the firebox door now and use the firebox door damper to control the fire! Working just great - smoking a prime chuck roast right now! If this keeps up I can find no reason to cut that baffle outta there but we will see how the chuck roast turns out!
I cut my baffle out because it was burning the bottom of my meat on long cooks. Because it diverts heat under the meat instead of Up and over. Baffle never gave me temp issues, just connection issues.
 
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I cut my baffle out because it was burning the bottom of my meat on long cooks. Because it diverts heat under the meat instead of Up and over. Baffle never gave me temp issues, just connection issues.
Thank you D&Q! I will know better when the chuck roast I am smoking is finished today - If I experience a well-done bottom then the baffle is the next project!

I am experimenting and learning as I go but the basket made a huge improvement!
 
The Chuck Roast came out killer. No photos so y'all will just have to trust me but man that was good! Took much longer than I thought it would to reach 200-degrees - I thought that for sure because it was smaller than a brisket point it would finish faster but it stalled at 160-degrees and was not budging so I wrapped it with pink butcher paper and finished it. Excellent flavor and very tender and juicy. Superb substitute for brisket for two! I've always loved the taste of chuck - burgers or pot roasts - so this is a very pleasant result. Tastes just like excellent brisket!
 
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Thank you D&Q! I will know better when the chuck roast I am smoking is finished today - If I experience a well-done bottom then the baffle is the next project!

I am experimenting and learning as I go but the basket made a huge improvement!
D&Q do you have tuning plates? If so did you add them before or after you cut the baffle. I am guessing that the reason I have no issue with the baffle is because I use tuning plates to move the smoke and heat further down the cooking chamber.

Jason
 
The chuck roast was not well done on the bottom but I still have reservations about that baffle... I took my tuning plate out.

I wish I knew why OC added the baffle but they haven't replied to my email yet.

And I wish the h-e-double-ell the weather would cool off some so that tinkering with the smoker isn't such a challenge. It feels like its been 100+ every day since February...

I'm curious to see how the smoker runs in cooler weather if that ever happens. Right now it is sitting in direct sun for the second half of each day (125 on the thermometers just sitting there), but I have been able to maintain smoking temperature fairly easily.
 
D&Q do you have tuning plates? If so did you add them before or after you cut the baffle. I am guessing that the reason I have no issue with the baffle is because I use tuning plates to move the smoke and heat further down the cooking chamber.

Jason
I can't answer for Drum&Que Drum&Que but I am also on the fence with cutting out the baffle and go for a free flow in the cook chamber. I have a Pecos so a little different but almost the same, it has the baffle and I put in tuning plates to even out the temps. That worked it also magnified the issue of cooking from the bottom up. The smoke/heat gets pushed down by the baffle then held down by the tuning plates causing it to cook from the bottom up. It's not a big deal on shorter smokes but when you get into longer smokes you can char or burn the bottom. I have to flip and spin the meat on longer cooks.
Cutting the baffle and removing the tuning plates helps the heat and smoke flow much better.
There's a you tube video from Raleigh Smoke where he explains it very well.
 
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Newglide Newglide Great vid - the brisket looks perfect! Did you check out the guy's Stack Extension vid?

As soon as the weather cools off here in h-e-double-ell, I think I am going to be doing some smoker mods...
 
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