Well after almost 60 years of cooking various things, mostly successfully (we won't discuss the lime chicken my daughters still kid me about) I smoked my first two pieces of meat. I did a small roast beef and a side of pork ribs at the same time. It took me about 4 hours before the roast beef hit the proper temp and about 6 before I was satisfied with the pork ribs.
I used a modified Oklahoma Joe Longhorn Charcoal/Gas Smoker and Grill. I added high temp seal on all the lids, a pipe in the vent to move the air flow around the grill, made a 12 by basket to hold charcoal, installed panels to make a partitioned basket, added two rails inside the smoke chamber, put in several 1/2 inch thick plates in the smoke chamber, bought myself good thermometer, seasoned the unit according to the standards of this forum, ran 3 test runs over several days to adjust everything and then fired up the charcoal, covered my roast and ribs with Van's Pig Shop Rub and put the meat in after the smoker hit 240.
Every time I checked the coals or the meat the temp was back up to 240 within 3 minutes, no oily or after taste due to proper cleaning and seasoning per forum suggestions and I never had to add charcoal due the the burn rate in the partitions in the charcoal basket.
My wife, neighbor and both daughters said they were the most tender and the best tasting ribs they ever had, no sauce needed and the roast beef melted in my mouth. And best of all no one got a stomach ache.
I would like to thank all of the people that have put articles and tidbits of wisdom in various places around this site and other places that I mined for information. I would not have been able to successfully modify this unit nor properly cook the ribs and roast without the advice and suggestions in this forum.
Thank You
OkieGentleman
I used a modified Oklahoma Joe Longhorn Charcoal/Gas Smoker and Grill. I added high temp seal on all the lids, a pipe in the vent to move the air flow around the grill, made a 12 by basket to hold charcoal, installed panels to make a partitioned basket, added two rails inside the smoke chamber, put in several 1/2 inch thick plates in the smoke chamber, bought myself good thermometer, seasoned the unit according to the standards of this forum, ran 3 test runs over several days to adjust everything and then fired up the charcoal, covered my roast and ribs with Van's Pig Shop Rub and put the meat in after the smoker hit 240.
Every time I checked the coals or the meat the temp was back up to 240 within 3 minutes, no oily or after taste due to proper cleaning and seasoning per forum suggestions and I never had to add charcoal due the the burn rate in the partitions in the charcoal basket.
My wife, neighbor and both daughters said they were the most tender and the best tasting ribs they ever had, no sauce needed and the roast beef melted in my mouth. And best of all no one got a stomach ache.
I would like to thank all of the people that have put articles and tidbits of wisdom in various places around this site and other places that I mined for information. I would not have been able to successfully modify this unit nor properly cook the ribs and roast without the advice and suggestions in this forum.
Thank You
OkieGentleman
