Landmann Kentucky offset smoker

[Icefever]

Hi Matty....It's a steap learning curve dude......try this vid, it helped me at the start...

Ice.

[Matty814]

16 hours ago, Icefever said:

Hi Matty....It's a steap learning curve dude......try this vid, it helped me at the start...

Ice.

Cheers Ice, where did you get your tuning plates?

[Icefever]

I haven't got any yet mate...but I did learn about how the heat travels..but I tend to use the ProQ more now..but my SIL works at a farm machinery place, so who knows???

 

Ice.

Edited June 1, 2021 by Icefever

[Ken™️]

 

On 5/31/2021 at 4:03 PM, Matty814 said:

How do you guys control this when cooking? Has anyone used baffles to try and even the range? Also not sure how much charcoal I should be using to start as I currently have wood chips but think I'm going to move on to logs and just use charcoal for the bed.

Hi Matty, and welcome to the joy of the Landmann Kentucky.

It’s not a particularly good barbecue, in my experience, but perhaps because of that it is a great device to learn on...

It is leaky, so you have to learn how to control airflow (and probably invest in some  gasket tape).

It has a large temperature drop-off in the main chamber, so you have to learn about heat zones.

But it is also a jack of all trades, meaning you can learn how to grill, smoke, and low and slow with a single rig.

I used to be able to hit 225F pretty consistently about a third of the way into the main chamber when smoking from the offset. The rig does burn through a lot of fuel (like any direct flow offset), but if you make sure the briquettes have enough oxygen, hitting 250 or even 275 in at least a third of the main chamber should be doable.

Although I will say that 375 is not on the cards with the charcoal bed in the firebox. You would need to have the charcoal in the main chamber and banked to the end nearest the firebox to hit that sort of temp, and at that point it can become partly radiative (or direct) heat rather than convective.

Seal up the gaps, have a play around with some cheaper/more forgiving cuts, and get to know your rig. You’ll be churning out great food in no time. The best Côte de Boeuf, paella, and ribs I’ve ever done in my life were on the Kentucky. 

Edited June 2, 2021 by Ken™️

[Matty814]

On 6/2/2021 at 6:21 PM, Ken™️ said:

 

Hi Matty, and welcome to the joy of the Landmann Kentucky.

It’s not a particularly good barbecue, in my experience, but perhaps because of that it is a great device to learn on...

It is leaky, so you have to learn how to control airflow (and probably invest in some  gasket tape).

It has a large temperature drop-off in the main chamber, so you have to learn about heat zones.

But it is also a jack of all trades, meaning you can learn how to grill, smoke, and low and slow with a single rig.

I used to be able to hit 225F pretty consistently about a third of the way into the main chamber when smoking from the offset. The rig does burn through a lot of fuel (like any direct flow offset), but if you make sure the briquettes have enough oxygen, hitting 250 or even 275 in at least a third of the main chamber should be doable.

Although I will say that 375 is not on the cards with the charcoal bed in the firebox. You would need to have the charcoal in the main chamber and banked to the end nearest the firebox to hit that sort of temp, and at that point it can become partly radiative (or direct) heat rather than convective.

Seal up the gaps, have a play around with some cheaper/more forgiving cuts, and get to know your rig. You’ll be churning out great food in no time. The best Côte de Boeuf, paella, and ribs I’ve ever done in my life were on the Kentucky. 

Hi Ken thanks for the response.

 

I have done the modifications suggested such use fire rope around the doors and lids (sill need to do the side of the main chamber) and I have silicon-ed all the over seams so like you say I think it is just a case of trial and error.

I was going to get a Boston butt and do some pulled pork as I heard its quite hard to mess up (although I'll probably manage it!) but need some good weather to align itself with when I have 6-8 hours of time to dedicate.

I think I will struggle with knowing when to add more logs/charcoal to the firebox but I guess that is all part of the learning curve!

[Jesta]

Hey folks new to the forum and new to the landmann, I have the taurus Kentucky smoker, I had a cheap Lidl offset that got damaged when we moved house so moved up in the world with this new one. Lmao  and after seeing comments here I purchased the following to keep in the smoke ... GINOYA BBQ Smoker Gasket, 17 Feet High Heat Grill Seal with Adhesive 1/2 inch Wide 1/8 inch Thick (Black) -  https://amzn.eu/d/f0pybxb

Can someone please tell me that this is correct and will do the job I want, the BBQ getting its first use this Friday so would be great knowing I got the stuff that will do the job. 

Jesta

 

 

[Icefever]

Welcome to the forum Jesta....you're spot on mate,  tape up any joints on the smoker, I've had one for about 5 years or so. It does the job, in fact I had my running on Sat for a big BBQ for family/friends set it at 150/170c and never moved...all the best for this Fri.

 

Ice.

 

Edited July 18, 2022 by Icefever

[Jesta]

54 minutes ago, Icefever said:

Welcome to the forum Jesta....you're spot on mate,  tape up any joints on the smoker, I've had one for about 5 years or so. It does the job, in fact I had my running on Sat for a big BBQ for family/friends set it at 150/170c and never moved...all the best for this Fri.

 

Ice.

 

That's what I'm hoping for this Friday good weather and great food hahaha 

 

Cheers for the fast reply.

 

Jesta

[panicproject]

Hi all,

New here. Am gonna resurrect an old thread.

I've had a Landmann Kentucky for about 4 years. Tried using it once has a smoker. Struggled to get it going.
Since then it has been used purely for grilling. It's seen a lot of action.
Gave its a good clean this morning.

Now, I want to really get into smoking meat. Is it worth using this?
I have read about the problems and mods being needed as well. Am I just best off buying a PROQ or something similar and just keeping this for grilling?

I have bits missing as well. Top of the chimney has gone, inside shelves, including the rubbers etc.

Thoughts?

[AdamG]

Looks alot better than what I started out with👍

Mine was an 'el cheapo' smoker that I struggled with, outside temp needed to be 13C minimum to have any hope of getting 225f in the cooking chamber. I used to lean  house brick on the lid handle to create a bit more of a seal. I retired it to the tip 3 years ago but I was not aware of any mods at the time. I would have gone that route first otherwise.

Some members have alot of knowledge on these mods so hopefully some may respond with some tips😁

[hoogl]

On 9/24/2022 at 12:32 PM, panicproject said:

Could you use the top of a soup can etc, drill a hole in it and use as a temporary damper. I haven't used this type of BBQ but I usually use the top vent to help regulate temp especially as we come into colder weather. 

What about adding some high heat felt to get a better seal around the cook chamber and firebox? 

[Matty814]

On 9/24/2022 at 12:32 PM, panicproject said:

Hi all,

New here. Am gonna resurrect an old thread.

I've had a Landmann Kentucky for about 4 years. Tried using it once has a smoker. Struggled to get it going.
Since then it has been used purely for grilling. It's seen a lot of action.
Gave its a good clean this morning.

Now, I want to really get into smoking meat. Is it worth using this?
I have read about the problems and mods being needed as well. Am I just best off buying a PROQ or something similar and just keeping this for grilling?

I have bits missing as well. Top of the chimney has gone, inside shelves, including the rubbers etc.

Thoughts?

I done a few smokes on it, just pork ribs so nothing too advanced, but I found due to its rather cheap construction and how thin the metal is, the temperature is quite erattic and it is hard to keep a stable temperature. In the end I ditched it and got a Masterbuilt gravity fed which feels like cheating! I now just used the landmann for grilling.

Now this is just my personal expierience and I'm alos not an expierienced 'smoker' so to speak, so others may dissagree.

[Ken™️]

Would recommend spending £10 on a roll of gasket tape if nothing else…

[JulesMCC]

After over a year of having the Landmann Kentucky / Taurus smoker BBQ (basically the same thing as far as I can tell), and after some glorious weather here in the UK the last few weeks, we took it out and gave it a go with a small beef joint and a 1kg gammon.

We seasoned the meats with some herbs and spices then smoked them with some oak chips.  Overshot the temperature a bit accordinging to the dodgy temperature gauge on the BBQ body (at rest it was reading 50C in the shade) but we had a meat thermometer set to buzz at the right temperature so were not affected unduly.  Well, the gammon was so big that it was undercooked in the centre and dry on the outside and had to be finished it off in the pressure cooker for 30mins to cook it thoroughly and add some much needed moisture to it.  The beef was fine.  Well, better than fine!

OMG!  The most flavoursome meats we have both ever had!  Simply astounding.  So good that
1) Bought a new temperature gauge for the BBQ body to avoid having to use something so obviously wrong on the outside.
2) the next day we popped to the supermarket and bought a bigger beef roasting joint and did that too.  This time I used a more appropriate amount of charcol and the reading from the new temperature gauge on the BBQ body.  BBQ temp stayed within suggested smoking temp and the beef came out beautifully medium rare in the centre.  The smaller pointy end was well done but still delicious and tender.
3) Ordered and just received a 4 probe meat thermometer with Bluetooth to be able to monitor several different meats all at once.

I am late convert but a total one now.  Chicken and ribs are definitely on the menu!

Also going to add some gasket tape and possibly a blanket in future to keep it available in the colder months.

Edited July 3, 2023 by JulesMCC

[JulesMCC]

FYI these are the items I recently added to the smoker BBQ
Inkbird IBT-4XC Waterproof Bluetooth BBQ Thermometer
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07TXZ4T77
and
GALAFIRE 80MM Large Dial Face 300°C BBQ Grill Thermometer
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07SSXHRHZ
 

Will review in due course.

Edited July 3, 2023 by JulesMCC

[Ken™️]

A lot of people swear by the Inkbird. For the price, it seems to be the best wired thermoprobe set going.  

Personally, I bought the Meater+ a few years ago and am very happy with it (the app is particularly good), but I might have given the Inkbird greater consideration if I had my time again.

Edited July 3, 2023 by Ken™️
Not a quote!

[Wade]

2 hours ago, JulesMCC said:

OMG!  The most flavoursome meats we have both ever had!  Simply astounding.  So good that
1) Bought a new temperature gauge for the BBQ body to avoid having to use something so obviously wrong on the outside.
2) the next day we popped to the supermarket and bought a bigger beef roasting joint and did that too.  This time I used a more appropriate amount of charcol and the reading from the new temperature gauge on the BBQ body.  BBQ temp stayed within suggested smoking temp and the beef came out beautifully medium rare in the centre.  The smaller pointy end was well done but still delicious and tender.
3) Ordered and just received a 4 probe meat thermometer with Bluetooth to be able to monitor several different meats all at once.

I am late convert but a total one now.  Chicken and ribs are definitely on the menu!

Also going to add some gasket tape and possibly a blanket in future to keep it available in the colder months.

The temperature gages on the outside of almost all BBQs are notoriously inaccurate. I tested a range of them when I was helping a company redesign its bullet smoker products. Even the Weber thermometers have an indication of the actual temperaure at best. 

The Inkbird products are great value and do the job. Whichever multi-probe thermometer you have you cannot go too far wrong. When you cook remember to trust the thermometer... When someone asks how long something will take to cook just say "as long as it takes for it to get up to xx Dec C/F"). Dont forget that the thermometer is not just for use in the BBQ/Smoker - it is great to use in your kitchen oven too. Not all ovens are the same and you will be surprised how big the temperature cycle is in some ovens. It will also take the guysswork out of when the chicken/turkey is cooked. As soon as it reaches ~80C it is done. Any longer and you are just drying it out.

[AdamG]

My electric oven in the house cycles  +30C and -30C (yes thats Celcius!)🤔

[Wade]

Before we recently replaced our oven we checked with Which to see which had the most consistent temperature. It was surprising how variable many of them were.

[AdamG]

7 minutes ago, Wade said:

Before we recently replaced our oven we checked with Which to see which had the most consistent temperature. It was surprising how variable many of them were.

When i first started bbqing, I had a pulled pork smoking and ran out of charcoal about 10f shy of my target temp...so I finished it in the oven but also transferred the meat and grill probe to the oven aswell...thats how I found out about the temp fluctuations😲🤔

Edited July 3, 2023 by AdamG

[JulesMCC]

On 7/3/2023 at 3:33 PM, Ken™️ said:

A lot of people swear by the Inkbird. For the price, it seems to be the best wired thermoprobe set going.  

Personally, I bought the Meater+ a few years ago and am very happy with it (the app is particularly good), but I might have given the Inkbird greater consideration if I had my time again.

have given the Inkbird greater consideration if I had my time again.

Gracias tío!

Oh!  good to know.  I am reassured.  We had another wired thermometer but as it was for indoor use it wasn't waterproof and a light shower of rain ruined the screen so that you couldn't make out the numbers.  Chose the inkbird weatherproof one to avoid the problem.

[JulesMCC]

Here is a screenshot from the Inkbird thermometer on my Android phone.

Set the desired temp and level of doneness (if applicable, which for chicken it isn't) or set by duration of cooking.  Even get an alarm if you are out of Bluetooth range for a while, and a graph of each probe's temperature reading over time.

Nice bit of kit.

[JulesMCC]

A few minutes after this video, the temperature overshot the ideal range by a huge amount (woodchips caught fire) and went into the GRILLING zone.  I used a small water spray to quell the fire.

Evidently I need far less charcoal / fewer briquettes to get a good smoke, and smoking temperature, going than I thought.  I was still thinking in grilling and BBQ terms when I prepped the charcoal.  Had to remove about half the briquettes to get the temperature back down.

 

Smokes well though.  FYI I am using hickory.

 

[JulesMCC]

The Inkbird IBT-4XC Waterproof Bluetooth BBQ Thermometer  temperature graphs are a nice touch but they reset if you alter a setting on the device.  Hence why I only have a short record of the temperatures.  I changed the alarm interval for the DISCONNECTION notification and 'boom!', two hours of temp readings disappeared.

 

Update : the temperature graphs also reset after the app restarts (i.e. the process was killed by the OS).

Edited July 8, 2023 by JulesMCC
missed the item name.

[Ken™️]

That’s annoying. Not trying to get you to change your mind on the purchase, particularly as the Meater+ is so much more expensive (one probe is £100, give or take), but the Meater app syncs via cloud as well as Wifi and Bluetooth, there is an Apple Watch version of the app, and you can even highlight favourite cooks (and add notes to them):