Overnight Fire Maintenance

[yycyak]

Hi guys,

New to the forum. This last weekend my mother-in-law asked me to do a brisket for a family thing on her Pit Boss pellet smoker. Long story short, I did a bunch of research (including on this forum) and absolutely killed the brisket. Lots of positive comments, and very delicious. I'm now hooked, and happen to be the new owner of a used Horizon 20" offset smoker.

With that in mind, I have a question for the smarter members here. I'm pretty busy these days, so don't have a lot of time to continually maintain a wood fire, especially on an overnight low-and-slow brisket cook. I'd like the ability to "set-and-forget" the Horizon, kind of like you can do with a pellet grill. I'm thinking I have 2 options:

- Keep the offset as a wood burner, and use something like the DigiQ to keep the temps consistent. I would still need to keep topping the smoker up with wood/charcoal on and off, but wouldn't need to constantly tend (or at least I think that's how these things work);

- Add a propane burner to the firebox, and use a cast iron skillet filled with wood chips for the smoke. This would be an easy conversion as I already have the parts from an old turkey fryer, and additionally it has the convenience of being able to immediately start cooking/turn off a'la gas BBQ style;

Having said that, I don't have any experience with an offset smoker. I don't know what it takes in terms of "babysitting" the smoker fire to get consistent temps, (I do have a lot of experience in tending a wood stove for heating a cabin though, if that matters) so I don't know what the best option is, or if I even need to look at something like a DigiQ. I just know that if I'm being realistic, I'm really pressed for time on weekends/evenings, so spending waking up 5 times a night to maintain a fire, or spending 13 hours during the day watching a fire and doing not much else, will have the wife ready to divorce me in short order.

Any thoughts or comments on the easiest way to maintain a fire/temperatures overnight would be helpful.

 

[motolife313]

I don’t think u would be able to do it with wood maybe charcoal. Buy a prime brisket from Costco. They cook super quick. 1 hour per pound or less. More like 45-per lb at 250

 

[kurd2408]

I have a horizontal offset. For the first couple years I just did charcoal with wood chunks (but never chips). I had to check the temp and adjust the baffle once an hour. It was so time consuming and took all the fun out of it. It ruined a whole day off. I never did anything that smoked over night (a bummer as brisket is my favorite smoker food) and rarely did things over 5ish hours. I maybe did one pork butt a year and only like 4-5 total smokes. 2 years ago I bought a Flame Boss, same idea as DigiQ, and it was the smartest decision I ever made. If I lite a chimney of charcoal and use the minion method with wood chunks I can forget about it for around 5 hours at a time. Then I just have to add more charcoal and wood and then have another 5 hours free. I have the Wifi model with the phone app and and it"s awesome. I go to store while it smokes, work in my garage, and the best part. sleep for 5 hours at a time. The app has an alarm to wake you up if the temperature drops. It's all the amazing benefits of an offset (the tastiest and purest form of smoking meat) with almost the same convenience of a pellet. You gotta get a controller man.

 

[SmokinAl]

If you have an offset that burns just wood, then your stuck with feeding it every 45 minutes or so. I have a Lang & it has a DigiQ port on it, but it's a waste of time cause you still have to continuously feed it wood. Now if you want to burn charcoal, then you could use the minnion method & a DigiQ controller, but you won't get the same flavor as a wood fire.
Honestly if I'm going to do an all night cook, I use my WSM/Guru setup, but otherwise I get up early in the morning & run the Lang around 270-280 & can do a butt or brisket at about 1 hour per pound.
Al

 

[phathead69]

Al points it out. Wood has to be baby sat. I don't always see at a wasted day off tho. My favorite time of year is here. Midnight 1 am or so start fire and prep. Meat in smoker and like AL said feed it every 45 of so and nap in between . 12:30 or so nxt day college football on tv outside. Smoke meat, drink beer, snack then eat brisket that evening during the big game.
Now full disclosure month ago coworker gave me cheap elec brinkman. I did a pork butt on wood 5 hours till midnight then put in elec on 220. Nxt day 7am after getting fire going again finished in wood smoker. Turned out pretty good.

 

[RiversideSm0ker]

It's really about perspective on an offset. I love mine and I love the process involved with tending it. I don't consider it wasted time or an chore. That's probably the biggest thing in your approach. In my opinion, the Horizon is not a good choice for you. It's great that you were able to acquire such a fine used smoker. The quality construction will make tending it an easier task but if you want great results you will have to tend it. For your purposes a WSM type grill would be much more in line with what you are looking to accomplish. Perhaps you should take a step back and do a few short cooks of things like chicken or tri tip and then gain perspective on how much you really do enjoy that process. If that doesn't feel right and natural then you might be better off selling the Horizon and buying something like a WSM, pellet grill, or electric smoker. Those would allow for you to get the benefit of smoked food with the ease of setting it up then walking away until it is pretty much done. Just my two cents.

George

 

[banderson7474]

I recommend you getting a pool and a cooler of iced beer and enjoy your day as long as you have an offset stick burner while feeding it every 45-60 mins.

 

[Fig_n_Pig]

I have a horizontal offset. For the first couple years I just did charcoal with wood chunks (but never chips). I had to check the temp and adjust the baffle once an hour. It was so time consuming and took all the fun out of it. It ruined a whole day off. I never did anything that smoked over night (a bummer as brisket is my favorite smoker food) and rarely did things over 5ish hours. I maybe did one pork butt a year and only like 4-5 total smokes. 2 years ago I bought a Flame Boss, same idea as DigiQ, and it was the smartest decision I ever made. If I lite a chimney of charcoal and use the minion method with wood chunks I can forget about it for around 5 hours at a time. Then I just have to add more charcoal and wood and then have another 5 hours free. I have the Wifi model with the phone app and and it"s awesome. I go to store while it smokes, work in my garage, and the best part. sleep for 5 hours at a time. The app has an alarm to wake you up if the temperature drops. It's all the amazing benefits of an offset (the tastiest and purest form of smoking meat) with almost the same convenience of a pellet. You gotta get a controller man.

Agree with Kurd. I also have a Horizon. Done limited cooking/seasoning but it maintains temperature very well when using the charcoal basket. The manual recommended that seasoning be done at 250 and it was a breeze to do with charcoal/wood chips. Once up to temp, it easily held 250 for 4+ hours without a DigiQ or Flame Boss ETC by adding a couple of additional wood chucks from time to time.

 

[yycyak]

Thanks for everyone's comments here. It sounds like I just need to embrace the stick-burner lifestyle and accept that a offset will not ever be a fire-and-forget type thing. Having said that, it's great to hear from a few of you that have had some luck with 4-5 hour burns with minimal maintenance.

 

[Geos7812]

I recommend you getting a pool and a cooler of iced beer and enjoy your day as long as you have an offset stick burner while feeding it every 45-60 mins.

The tending is the most beautiful thing. When the wife asks, “are you drinking again.” It is very easy to say, “no sweetheart, I am BBQING.” And do it with a somewhat straight face.