Stuarty84

On 8/15/2019 at 2:27 PM, Pete said:

AG$ and Stuarty84.

 

How are you getting on with this smoker?

I've also purchased one and have installed door seals, a chimney extension in the chamber and a digital thermometer.

On the first try the smoker worked a dream, using lump charcoal it stayed at 180'c which was just right.

However on the next three BBQ's I've struggled to get it above 130'c even with a roaring fire box. It does not seem to want to draw the heat into the main chamber.

I've tried various combinations with the door vent and the chimney vent. I've even turned it around to see if the wind was effecting it. 

Have you found a setting that works?

Cheers

Pete

 

Hi Pete,

I've only done one cook on mine so far and the temps held well throughout. It was only a couple of half chickens I did so obviously they weren't on for a long time. What I did notice is how quickly the fuel burns compared to my drum smoker. I was able to get 12 hours @ 250f from one basket in my drum, but i only got about 3.5 hours using the offset on this particular cook. In saying that, I did use lump wood not briquettes. 

I did a couple of test runs when I first got the smoker and the temperature difference from one side of the cooking chamber to the other was a crazy 65ft. I wasnt happy with that at all, so I've been working on evening that temp out.  For the chicken cook I used home made deflector plates (2 x £1 oven trays from Asda wrapped in foil). They did make a difference, there was only a 20f difference from one side to the other. Obviously the hotter side was the firebox side. But still I wanted more...

So I got a mate to make me a proper heat deflector with plates out of 5mm steel. Very happy with how it all turned out. For the first time ever the hotter side was the chimney side! But once the new heat deflector got hot, the temp levels evened out pretty much completely and stayed that way. See photos below. 

Haven't had a chance to cook on it since getting this but I'll make a post on here once I do!

58 minutes ago, Icefever said:

@Stuarty84 have you seen the video where the guy use small cakes to test the temp across the smoker??

This is not the one I was on about but it shows the same trick.....he starts at around 2.16...well worth it.

Yeah I have seen a few videos of people doing that, it's a great idea. 

I don't think we can get 'biscuits in a can' here in the UK so I've came up with the idea of using croissants. You ever see the croissants that come in a tin? They're actually gorgeous with a bit of butter and jam, but you twist the tin and it busts open exactly the same as in the video you posted, revealing enough raw pre-cut dough to make 6 croissants, all I need to do is roll them into shape. They're only 2 quid a tin or something like that. 

Will be nice to have a visual reference as well as what the temp gauges are telling me.

3 hours ago, Icefever said:

Neat....so what's your first cook going to be???

I'm not sure yet. Tonight's test run is all about temps. I'm doing a dry run with my probes in different positions to see what's what. Also going to try a couple of different ideas for a heat deflectors. I want to get my cooking as even as possible the whole way across.

Just finished doing another wee mod to the smoker. I installed a probe port on the side. 

Ready for a proper test run tomorrow night now. Looking forward to it!

On 6/8/2019 at 2:53 PM, Sluggy said:

I’m currently using one called Anysharp  suction sticks to the table. Best one I’ve used so far, cheap too.

Prolly not the best if you have fancy shmancy expensive knives, but for general purpose they are spot on.

 

I also use this one. I'm amazed by it, it is really good. Doesn't matter if you use cheap knives or expensive knives. This thing will sharpen it.

I got it in Asda for I think 8 quid. 

I seem to be the only NI member 😂

9 hours ago, AG$ said:

Thanks for the replies and advice 

@Stuarty84 thanks for the pictures- looks great! Appreciate if you could give some feedback once you have tried it out!

May I ask where you got yours from?

Also, what is the purpose of the charcoal basket? Does it just make it easier to clean up the ash?

No problem mate. The charcoal basket keeps the fuel more concentrated and makes it easier to maintain. They're very helpful. In fact, I would say they're a necessity! If you don't have a mate who can weld one for you, there's plenty of tutorials online of how to make 'no weld' versions. Check out the video on Youtube by 'Cooking with Ry'. Super simple!

4 hours ago, Icefever said:

That's a tank you have there @Stuarty84 🤣  that's the sort of thickness you need in a smoker, holds the heat. This is the problem with the cheaper makes...but you still had to use fire tape.

A tank indeed! You wouldn't believe how difficult it is to lift from the firebox side. The weight is serious!

I don't know if I actually needed the fire seal tape, I never tested the smoker without it. But there's definitely no leaks now. I just wanted to be sure because the only place I want air getting in is through the vent on the firebox door and the only place I want smoke escaping is from the chimney, and that is the case! 

See your other thread, I posted in there

I've got this smoker and it's an absolute BEAST! I only received it last monday so haven't got doing any cooks on it yet, but I have seasoned it.  I can confirm that the metal is impressively thick. 3.5mm I measured it at. This thing packs some weight! You can tell the quality of the steel just by the weight of the doors when you lift them up.

I have done a few mods to it so far - I used high temp silicone to seal where the firebox joins the side of the cooking chamber, I put smoke seal strip around the cooking chamber door and the firebox door. Due to the weight of this smoker it was very difficult to manoeuver using the handle that's on the firebox, also I didn't like the fact that you have to lift it by the firebox, so I changed the wheels over to the firebox side and now use the side table as a handle to move it around. This has made a huge difference because the weight of the firebox actually works in your favour this way and I can now move it around easily. 

There are a serious amount of grates that come with this! It's pretty much a 3 in 1. You can use it as a smoker, you can use the firebox as a small bbq, or use the main cooking chamber as a large bbq. All the grates are there to do these things.

The thermometer that comes with it is poor,  but aren't they all. I use digital thermometers anyway and I'm going to drill a hole in the side to fit a steel gland to put my probes through. 

I've attached a few photos of mine, these were taken before I switched the wheels to the firebox side. I got a mate to make me the heavy duty charcoal basket.