Sealing intake vents on bullet smoker

[Pawel]

So I assembled my new smoker, Barbecook Oskar M. Looks solid, but.. When fitting all air vents (3 intake, 1 out at the top lid), they are build of 2 plates. First one is lining to the body of smoker, second rotate over it to adjust the vents. The first one does not fit tight to the body, as looks like pressed fitting place at body is still a bit round. What would you recommend to seal it? The simpliest solution I was thinking of is just a hi temp silicone. Or just give it a go and see how it behave? I'd say that gaps are bad..

[hoogl]

I'm a fan of letting the carbon/gunk seal the smoker. Others swear by sealing it up from the start. Each is fine. A picture of the gap will give us a better idea of whats needed. Depending on a few factors such as the new metal inside being bright and shiny the smoker may run hotter in the first few cooks. I never sealed my WSM and have been using it a couple years including two Christmas cooks just outside Glasgow haven't felt the need too. I do have my bullet smoker in a wee Shed which helps minimise the wind fluctuations.

You may be able to bend the vent to fit closer as well. It's worth throwing it on for a test run and see how it behaves.  

[Pawel]

Got my first try today. 

Starting the briquettes in chimney give a lot of smoke, I wonder how to minimise that? It is atvthe first stage of starting it up. Got full (up to.max line) chimney with brisket, and rest as a minion method in smoker (used in total around 4kg of briquette). After around 40-50min, i put the water in and had to close the bottom vents. Barely managed to get tmep just under 150C ( cloudy day with breeze, 15C outside). During cooking minimum temo I managed to obtain was about 120-130C. 

Have been using mapple chips soaked in water, added from time to time. Used BigK briquette from Range. 

You mentioned that first few runs may the temperature be a bit high. I am thinking about sealing bottom vents to have more control over the oxygen intake.

Also can you advise what to do to reduce the smoke going out to the minimum? Don't want that much smkke around the house.. I found that when all briquette was lite, and wood burnt out, temp was fine and no smoke of the smoker.

I am thinking about 3 things to improve it

1. As mentioned, sealed with high temp silicone bottom vents

2. Use bigger wood chunks ( one I got are the small chips)

3. Any other less smoking coal/briquette?

Seen smokeless briquettes at the shop, not sure if any use of them in the smoker, looks loke it's for indoor stove..

[Wade]

On 5/30/2020 at 11:42 PM, Pawel said:

So I assembled my new smoker, Barbecook Oskar M. Looks solid, but.. When fitting all air vents (3 intake, 1 out at the top lid), they are build of 2 plates. First one is lining to the body of smoker, second rotate over it to adjust the vents. The first one does not fit tight to the body, as looks like pressed fitting place at body is still a bit round. What would you recommend to seal it? The simpliest solution I was thinking of is just a hi temp silicone. Or just give it a go and see how it behave? I'd say that gaps are bad..

High temperature silicone works well

[Wade]

15 hours ago, Pawel said:

Got my first try today. 

Starting the briquettes in chimney give a lot of smoke, I wonder how to minimise that?

All briquettes will give off some smoke when they are first lit. As a rule of thumb, the better quality the briquette the less smoke they will produce. Some coconut briquettes can also give off a lot of smoke.

15 hours ago, Pawel said:

Got my first try today. 

Starting the briquettes in chimney give a lot of smoke, I wonder how to minimise that? It is atvthe first stage of starting it up. Got full (up to.max line) chimney with brisket, and rest as a minion method in smoker (used in total around 4kg of briquette). After around 40-50min, i put the water in and had to close the bottom vents. Barely managed to get temp just under 150C ( cloudy day with breeze, 15C outside). During cooking minimum temp I managed to obtain was about 120-130C. 

You mentioned that first few runs may the temperature be a bit high. I am thinking about sealing bottom vents to have more control over the oxygen intake.

Also can you advise what to do to reduce the smoke going out to the minimum? Don't want that much smoke around the house.. I found that when all briquette was lite, and wood burnt out, temp was fine and no smoke of the smoker.

It is quite normal to have the bottom air vents almost completely closed to maintain low smoking temperatures of 110-120 C. It is also easier to increase the temperature than it is to bring it back down. It is important to keep a close watch on the temperature at the beginning. As it begins to rise and reaches about 2/3 of target temperature then gradually start to close the vents. If you have the vents almost closed and it continues to rise then you have either started off with too many lit briquettes or (most likely) the air vents are not sufficiently sealing.

15 hours ago, Pawel said:

You mentioned that first few runs may the temperature be a bit high. I am thinking about sealing bottom vents to have more control over the oxygen intake.

Also can you advise what to do to reduce the smoke going out to the minimum? Don't want that much smoke around the house.. I found that when all briquette was lite, and wood burnt out, temp was fine and no smoke of the smoker.

I am thinking about 3 things to improve it

1. As mentioned, sealed with high temp silicone bottom vents

2. Use bigger wood chunks ( one I got are the small chips)

3. Any other less smoking coal/briquette?

Seen smokeless briquettes at the shop, not sure if any use of them in the smoker, looks like it's for indoor stove..

If the BigK briquettes are producing too much smoke then try either Weber briquettes or Heat Beads. Either of these should produce less smoke.

When smoking meat you will always get some smoke however you are aiming for a thin blue smoke that is almost invisible. Larger chunks of wood will help - though even these will cause some smoke when they are first added. Do not soak your chips or chunks. You are just wasting energy from the coals waiting for the water to evaporate before they start to burn and produce the smoke that you want.

Don't use the smokeless fuel unless it specifically says it is for BBQs. Yes they are usually only for stoves/fires.

[Adi dassler]

The smoke will be your fuel.I bought 5 bags of the big k briquettes from the range and ended up giving them away, they were rubbish. Loads of bitter smoke,didnt burn very long and gave the food a chemical taste. I use big k ach15 and I also use the apple wood briquettes which I find really good. 

[Pawel]

I did a smoked trout last week, managed to get heat beds in range. Learned, I did a snake method, with little lite briquettes for a start. Got a thermo pro thermometer, keep the temp around 80, but it  kept going up to 100C slowly. 

Now I know, I need to make sure salt in brine is fully dissolved (fish wasn't salty enough) and dry it for a while better (too much water in it). Next time will be better 😊