What did i get my hands on?

[HalfSmoked]

ejbd Sorry some how I missed the posting on your accident hope all is well.

Warren

 

[Evert]

Thank you all....im fine!

And here's the endresult of the rebuild....just need to add one more thermometer....ordered 2 but only received one. And i am going to paint the new wheels all black....
This weekend i hooe to get the sealant so i can seal and then season....and then.....finally....i might also check out our local butcher for some fresh ribs.....cant wait hahaha

 

[Evert]

Pretty good improvement compared to hoemi bought it....almost to pretty to get dirty....

 

[WaterRat]

Nice restoration job! Looks (probably better than) brand new! One thing, don't trust those thermometers, they're notoriously inaccurate, get a digital oven thermometer with a probe you can leave inside the smoker or in the meat, a cheap one under $20 will get you by and there there are also some made for smokers that have both a smoker temp probe and a meat probe in one unit. Happy smoking!

 

[Evert]

Ok thanks for that tip....i figured something like that but I think it does look nice.... so b yes I may add a digital one while cooking.

One other thing and that's sealing! I see pros and cons for all options using silicone or using felt or fiber tape.....

I just can't.find a definate answer.....

What do you guys say about this with my particular smoker? Silicone or tape. Now that it is still clean and "brandnew" I want to seal it before seasoning it.

Your.input is very much appreciated !

 

[chopsaw]

That looks fantastic . Great job .

 

[radio]

Ok thanks for that tip....i figured something like that but I think it does look nice.... so b yes I may add a digital one while cooking.

One other thing and that's sealing! I see pros and cons for all options using silicone or using felt or fiber tape.....

I just can't.find a definate answer.....

What do you guys say about this with my particular smoker? Silicone or tape. Now that it is still clean and "brandnew" I want to seal it before seasoning it.

Your.input is very much appreciated !

Great job on the restoration!
I vote for Silicone as it squishes down and forms a great gasket. I bought some fiber rope to seal my OK Joes, but it was not "squishable" enough so that when I closed the lid, the rope along the back side held the lid open just enough it didn't allow the lid to close tightly at the front. I ripped it off and went with Silicone

 

[JckDanls 07]

what a great job of restoration... I wish I would have seen this before you painted the firebox... let me suggest you do this so you can repaint after fixing... on the door with the intake vent you might want to add a 1" flat bar around the inside of the door jamb... this will give you an area to put your sealant on... You may have to add some kind of filler to hold it away from the door about an 1/8" to leave room for sealer... I'm sure there has to be a pretty good size gap all the way around the door... If you have already done this and It can't be seen in the pictures.. disregard... but it does look great though...

 

[jbellard]

RTV silicon sealant is the way to go in my opinion. It will mold to your smokers edge and make a good seal. Just be sure to get enough on there and use plastic wrap to put between the door when you close it to let it dry

 

[Evert]

I did apply glasfiber tape but I am going to remove that again. I see way to many fibers coming from it and I don't want them to end up in my food. So now I ordered a tube of red HT silicone to make a nice seal. I did not choose that as a first option because i really dont like the colour of it on my Nice and shiny black smoker ;) Other than that I hope I can create a proper seal as the construction of the FoodChamber lid does not leave a lot of room to apply the silicone.

Then another question: the Firefox door with the air intake has a 1-2mm gap all around that door. Some of you suggested to apply something to the inside of the firebox to create a sort of flange on which I can then apply a gasket as well. My question is: is it going to make a real difference in controlling temp when I make that mod? I mean I did one testburn now and when I close the air intake for more than 3/4 the wood will stop burning. Ofcourse the coals keep smoldering. Or should I just stay away from burning sticks and stick to charcoal only and will I then benefit from closing the gap around the side door? I mean I can weld in some strips of metal (I'd have to do some repainting then) but if it's of no real use I can spend my time and money on other things too ;)

I hope you can still follow all my questions and I'm looking forward to hear from you.

Btw I tried recording the "maiden burn" but I have to do some editing first Before I'll post it ;)

 

[radio]

The red silicone will blacken soon enough on it's own, or after it cures give it a shot of the black high temp paint.
As long as you can manage the heat without sealing the firebox door, you are ok with a gap. It just makes it a bit trickier to adjust the damper, especially in breezy weather. It will take several cooks to learn where the smoker wants to run with the least amount of fuss in fire management, but as a rule, most stick burners like to run hotter than electric or gas smokers. This is not as huge of a deal as it seems. Mine like to run at about 280° give or take a few degrees and the food comes out just fine. I'm an impatient feller anyway, so the hour or two shaved off a brisket cook suits me just fine and I can't tell any difference in flavor or texture from one that was cooked at 225°
If you burn charcoal only, you are missing some of the great wood smoke flavor.
Can't wait to see some food in that beast!

 

[Bearcarver]

That is an Outstanding job, ejdb!!!:)
Glad to see you're back in action & doing Beautiful work!
Can't wait to see what you produce in that Brand New looking Beast!!
Like.

Bear

 

[JckDanls 07]

no need to seal the door if your desired temps are obtainable ... The biggest reason to seal is if you close the intake vent all the way and temps keep rising... But your stating that's not the case... so then for now I wouldn't worry about it unless the temps are not sustainable ...

 

[Evert]

Hi Guys!
I have been playing around with some testburns. Started with a chimney of hot coals and added some wood chuncks to see if i can get temp and amount of smoke under control. It is quite tricky i must admit. To keep the wood burning slowly without producing a lot of smoke is hard....i cant seem to get it there yet. ....either to many flames and temp or too much smoke because of the smoldering. Should i idealy have hardly any smoke or is a steady amount of light smoke fine? I can only get that when the wood is completely burned down to coals......matter of practice makes perfect I guess......

The next testrun I will go for coals only to see if that's easier to control. I do realise my smoker is not a high end superthick steel smoker but more a Cheap Offset Smoker (COS). However mine is made of much thicker steel than most affordable entry level smokers that are available overhere. It's about 2.5mm thick.

Anyway.....i did find out how to pretty much even out the temp in the CookingChamber by playing with the number of heatplates i use and i have found out that this is my ideal setup:

This way there is about 8 degrees (Celsius difference which is pretty good i think. One heatplate more or less gives me a much more uneven temp.

But let's get down to real business....as I know a couple of you guys have been urging me to finally put some meat on that thing ;) so I guess I should stop trying to waste more time to get everything perfect but just head for my local butcher and start cooking!!!

So i promiss you that my next picture will include meat ......stay tuned ;)

 

[Evert]

The local butcher didnt have fresh ribs available so i picked up a pre rubbed one from the local supermarket....not great quality but good enough for testing.... especially since I promised myself not to look in the cooking chamber for the next 5 hours or so and just focus on the firemanagement...... which is getting better every hour! I've had it stable at 300 f for the last 2 hours .... trying to get it down now

 

[Evert]

And after 5 untouched hours it came out like this:

Way to dark in my opinion.... however underneath the dark crust the meat looked really good. ... fell of the bone just like that. But way to salty.... the Smokey touch was nice. ... so all in all....i think this is promising .....

 

[Evert]

and I ended this day of playing with my oven with. ......Pizza! Mán that came out beautiful.... the taste was sooooo good....i used my basic never fail dough recipe and did my 2 boys eat like they hadn't been eating for the last 2 weeks ;)

Garlic bread:

And plain margarita Pizza:

 

[Bearcarver]

The Pizza & the Ribs look pretty darn good from here!!:)
Nice Job!
Like.

Bear

 

[chopsaw]

I agree , every thing looks good . I'd like to own that smoker .

 

[radio]

glad you got to cook some food on it and learn how it like to run. The ribs and pizza look mighty tasty!