The long awaited day has come.

[unclejim]

 

[s2k9k]

Congratulations! Sounds like a nice smoker!

I see this is your first post here, when you get a minute would you do us a favor and go to Roll Call and introduce yourself so we can get to know you and give you a proper welcome, also would you add your location to your profile, we like knowing where you are when we talk to you, Thanks!

 

[unclejim]

Say it aint so! My dealer just told me the shipper who was supposed to pick it up last Wednesday is just now reporting he is broken down out east somewhere and "may"be back on the road Wednesday?

 

[unclejim]

who is coming west through PA and can pick up my 1000 lb smoker for me?

 

[dewetha]

congratulation!

 

[unclejim]

Well we have a new smoker on our patio. 2 nights burning in for seasoning and playing with the dampers to learn how she works. This is a big difference over using a small unit. You cannot control the fire as much as on smaller units. While my unit has an insulated firebox, the doors leaked more air than I want. Also the ash pan below the firebox. I added Fireproof gasketing tape around the doors so I will control airflow more completely.

 Also found the unit to be running hotter than the built in thermometer showed. Need to add an electronic monitor. I do not think I will need a guru on this big boy though the more I play with it. It takes airflow to change the temp. Not playing with the fire. It holds temp great and recovers fast. Just keep fuel in there. Preheating with my flame dragon also a good idea to ramp up faster.

Much more wood is called for here as I cannot keep smoldering wood chunks from being incinerated very quickly in this baby. I see I will becoming more of a stick burner and not mostly charcoal as in my smaller smoker. 1st cook here was 8 slabs of ribs and 4 pork butts. a medium load in the TS120P. I over cooked the ribs as the temp was higher than it read. Still learnin and havin fun along the way. Don't be hungry!

bbq1.jpg

• unclejim
• Aug 29, 2012

 

[ribwizzard]

lets see some more pics

 

[nybbq]

I too had looked around for a BBQ smoker and bought a TS250. Meadow Creek makes a great smoker and the quality is very good. The temps hold very well and don’t burn much wood at all on a 6-7 hr cook doing ribs. The stainless steel racks are great and clean up easy.

 

[unclejim]

OK. Here are a few more pics. I ran it last night with gaskets on the firebox door and ash pan drawer. It no longer looks quite this pristine of course. I have much more control over air flow now and could automate it if I find it is needed alter on. Either way it cooks great. the radiant heat of the heavy tank adds to the effectiveness of the cook it seems. Temp is going to be coming down a bit for me. Looking at putting a small bead of high temp gasket on the pit door as well it may gunk up eventually, but the bead will keep heat in now and increase draw from the fire box when there are no leaks in the tank. Been through this before on a smaller one. And with the long warm up time, it matters. I will update after I get this dialed in to the Q machine it was born to be.

smoker5.jpg

• unclejim
• Aug 30, 2012

smoker6.jpg

• unclejim
• Aug 30, 2012

smoker7.jpg

• unclejim
• Aug 30, 2012

smoker8.jpg

• unclejim
• Aug 30, 2012

 

[ribwizzard]

looks good

 

[scarbelly]

Wow Jim that is a beauty for sure. Congrats on a great new smoker 

 

[whtplainssmoker]

Wow.  Looks great!  Contrats!.

 

[barneypoo69]

Looks wonderful. Either you have a large family or you were feeding the neighborhood...

Is the manufacture helping you with the "sealing" of the new smoker?

 

[unclejim]

Naw. The pit comes the way it comes. I have not seen many smokers that come with seals on the doors. Cabinet smokers yes. Tank and pit style ones, not so much. But controlling airflow and minimizing air leaks are important no matter the design.

Make no mistake, it is well made. But I live in snow country and BBQ all year round. There is always some tweaking you can do to a pit unless you lay out big money for a Jambo style insulated competition rig. Even then I bet I would tweak it here and there. Just a tinkerer at heart. I will be laying a wool blanket over it I bet when it is below zero out and windy. Just like with my old cheaper unit.

These bigger tanks need plenty of airflow to get em up to temp. If anything, I would have had 2 stacks installed looking back. Knowing what I know now. Open both to get her up to temp. Shut one stack then to hold it there and leave the firebox dampers open.
 

 

[barneypoo69]

I agree about doing mods etc. I couldn't live up there in the snow country. Did they offer one with two doors ? Thats one big door.....going to smoke a whole hog ?

 

[ribwizzard]

Im trying the high temp sealant for a gasket on my doors. Should see how it set up when I get home. I wanted to try the same kind of woven steel gasket you see on oven doors, but could not find it locally.

Anybody agree that ACE is the place you cant find anything you need.

 

[unclejim]

You can order them how you want. I had the firebox insulated. Made it much heavier and the box is actually smaller because of this. Something I did not think through completely. Still works but why I wanted to be able to better control the fire.
 

 

[doodle2]

Man thats a good looking rig!!!

 

[hoity toit]

O, hell yes..,,, thats a nice rig !!!