Smokin' in southern NJ

[yazamitaz]

I don't remember if I ever posted in roll call but I figured today's a good day to do it.

My name is Dan and I live in Cherry Hill, NJ. I am a realtor by trade and I got into smoking meat from a friend of mine that was one of my home inspectors whom competed locally. I got a River Grille offset smoker from my wife as a Christmas present in 2016 and for the life of me I cannot walk away from this thing to grab a beer without the temp spiking or dropping off the charts. I have success with ribs but can't do a butt or a brisket since the temps wont stay consistent. I have read all 54 threads on the River Grille. This is one reason I hate surprise gifts. My friend told me to start on a WSM and I may buy one anyway :)

Here's to interacting with y'all as much as time allows. I will probably lurk more than post since I am such a beginner and don't have much to offer.

 

[ristau5741]

can you provide a list of issues? what are your heat source, smoking wood type, observations about the amount of smoke coming out of the smoker, examples of temp spiking, more details the better. Temps shouldn't decrease too rapidly, unless
there is some big air flow issue. How are you measuring temps? the build in themo's are notoriously unreliable. Smoking cow or pig shouldn't matter, it's still smoking meats, fire should be the same, unless there is something you specifically do with ribs vs. other meats. and if so what would that be?

e.g. I have temp spikes when burning wood in my offset, specifically when there is flame in the firebox. This is pretty much normal. I'll close the air intake. flame will smother out and temps will drop fairly steadily, then I open the air intake when temps get within my preferred temp range.

 

[gmc2003]

I'm not familiar with the River Grille, but butts are very forgiving. They can easily handle temp. spikes. Give it a shot. You may be surprised. Also you can never go wrong with a WSM. The hardest choice is which size do I want.

Crhis

 

[SmokinAl]

Welcome to SMF!
An offset has to be watched.
Although it sounds to me like your fooling with it too much.
Start your fire & see where the temp settles in at.
If it's too high shut the intakes a little & wait & see where that takes it.
If it's too low, open the intakes or add some wood to the fire.
Honestly any temp between 225 & 300 will smoke your food just fine.
Let the smoker find it's sweet spot & just feed it from there.
My Lang likes to run around 270-280, so I let it.
If I want to smoke something at 225, I just build a smaller fire in the beginning & add smaller pieces of wood as needed.
You want to keep a nice coal bed going no matter how big or small the fire is.
So the main thing is don't loose your coal bed.
Al

 

[bdskelly]

Thanks for posting Dan. Welcome!
Give yourself a range of temperature rather than focus one single number. Temps on an offset ride a bit of a roller coaster. Up and down. Its normal. Sure ...you want to watch it. But also relax and have fun. B

 

[yazamitaz]

WOW guys, thanks for all of the responses. I have come to the conclusion that, as SmokinAl has stated, the offset needs to be watched and the thought of an 18 hour smoke for brisket or big butts is kind of out of the realm of possibility.

Ristau, thanks for the questions and the willingness to help. I have for the most part used oak. I have a fireplace in my home and usually order around 1.5 cords every year. With the fireplace, fire pit, and the smoker, I tend to burn up a bit of wood. I usually start with a chimney of briquets or lump, get the firebox going and then add splits to get the cooking chamber up to 275. I have a ThermoWorks Dot that I use to measure the temp at the grate level.

After watching a few more thousand videos I think one of my issues was the size of my splits that I was burning. I think if I use more consistent sizes I can stop big temp spikes that way. As for the air flow it seems if my temps are at 270 and I close my vent ever so slightly after about 15 min the temp might be at 190.

I recently purchased a charcoal basket with separators to try the minion method and that couldn't get the temps over 220, so that was a wasted purchase.

I have viewed a lot of the mod threads and think I am going to get some Lavalock Nomex gasket and put that on the cooking chamber door. I see a LOT of smoke coming out of there during my cooks so I think that could be a problem.

My smoke is normally light and not white and cloudy, which makes me think I am at least getting that part right.

Thanks for all of the input guys. If you any recommendations on anything else I should do I am all ears.

 

[yazamitaz]

I'm not familiar with the River Grille, but butts are very forgiving. They can easily handle temp. spikes. Give it a shot. You may be surprised. Also you can never go wrong with a WSM. The hardest choice is which size do I want.

Crhis

Chris,

I was thinking of getting WSM 22in. Why go smaller ???

 

[gmc2003]

Yaz, I went with the 22" because I knew that at least twice a year I'd be cooking for family and friends. If your smoking for 1 or 2 then the 18 would be fine. Post purchase you will always regret not going bigger.

Chris

 

[yazamitaz]

Yaz, I went with the 22" because I knew that at least twice a year I'd be cooking for family and friends. If your smoking for 1 or 2 then the 18 would be fine. Post purchase you will always regret not going bigger.

Chris

I was thinking the same thing and it’s not much more. I just like the fact that you can set it and walk away and not have to worry about temp spikes

 

[gary s]

A little up and down is normal, we all have that using wood or charcoal
How long did you smoke your Brisket and Butt ?

Gary

 

[yazamitaz]

I haven't done a brisket yet, but I let a 6 pound butt go for 4 hours before wrapping it and the internal was only at 130. At that pace it would have close to twelve hours. I guess I just find it hard to want to babysit the smoker for that long.4-6 hours is ok. After reading what everyone has responded I think I just need to have a little more patience, learn my smoker, and have fun while doing it ;).

 

[dcecil]

Don’t give up on the brisket, your on the right track. Seal off the leaky smoke areas like you were saying. Get your fire temp where it is comfortable and likes to run at before you begin your cook. Your definitely right on the wood size. More consistency and size is a factor for sure and if all else fails keep your beer in an ice chest next to the grill and problem solved lol.

 

[yazamitaz]

The beer is ALWAYS nearby

 

[yazamitaz]

Hey guys,

Not sure if this is where I am supposed to drop this but I did some baby racks and a chicken yesterday in my smoker. I used Fire Black gasket sealer around the cooking chamber door and it worked better than I expected. As many of you said I got a nice coal base going and just let 'er run. She got up to about 280 with the stack wide open and the fire box door cracked a bit with the vent wide open. I put on the ribs and shut the door, leaving the vent wide open. The temps flexed from 230-250 with little to no fuss. I was pretty happy with that.

Around the third hour as I was just about to put in another split I noticed white smoke. My coal bed wasn't what I thought it was going to be. For whatever reason it "went away" and I was burning just the wood. I got it back to performing but not sure why I lost my coal bed. I started the fire with lump and two splits (like a pic Al has somewhere on a thread) but used wax cubes to start. Then I just fed her with oak and cherry with a few hickory chunks every two hours. She was burning right along and then a little stall. I guess this is something I just need to pay more attention to in the beginning and make sure I use more charcoal or lump to ensure a good base.

Didn't take pics this time but my kids said it was the best ribs I have ever done, so I was happy with that. I did the 3-2-1 method and finished the chicken in the over to crisp up the skin. It was smokey and juicy and I even made a gravy out of the drippings that my wife thought was awesome.

I appreciate all of your guidance and will post up some pics next time in a new thread so y'all can see what I am doing.

Thanks gang

 

[dcecil]

Glad to here about your success, keep working at it. Your on the right track. You will find that happy place for your smoker and it sounds like your close