New - Oklahoma Joe's Highland Smoker

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Fastback - Cool topic and great details and pics! I just picked-up my OK Joe's Highland from Wally World yesterday and am getting my list together for mods. That tuning/convection plate is the bomb dude! Did your friend ever get back to you with a price for something like that? I would definitely be interested in getting one to Tejas. If he isn't interested, then a couple of questions: How thick is the metal he used? How exactly do you use it to fine tune the process? Slide it to tune the dispersal or just leave it in place?

As to sealing the thing, I have the 1/2" by 1/8" gasket material on my list. What about the red sealant that you used for the joins and seams? What particular product is that, and I assume that its high heat rated? I already picked-up a 2nd thermometer for the available fitting on the top, so I now have left and right gauges, but still up top. Do you feel that the additional gauges at surface level add that much to the process for an average smokeaholic?

I'm really looking forward to using mine and trying out some of my old recipes on the new platform. I do all of the usual pork, beef, chicken and turkey and also do a couple of more esoteric items like smoked fresh-caught fish and smoked chicken livers for a smoky paté and some smoked veggies. My Son also makes some homemade venison and pork sausage that I want to smoke.

Please keep adding tips and tricks, they are much appreciated.

Bill Mac in Tejas

aka "burlesonbill"
 
So I was thinking about putting some sheet metal in the bottom of my smoker to distribute the heat. Any suggestions on the type of metal you guys are using?
 
 
Fastback - Cool topic and great details and pics! I just picked-up my OK Joe's Highland from Wally World yesterday and am getting my list together for mods. That tuning/convection plate is the bomb dude! Did your friend ever get back to you with a price for something like that? I would definitely be interested in getting one to Tejas. If he isn't interested, then a couple of questions: How thick is the metal he used? How exactly do you use it to fine tune the process? Slide it to tune the dispersal or just leave it in place?

As to sealing the thing, I have the 1/2" by 1/8" gasket material on my list. What about the red sealant that you used for the joins and seams? What particular product is that, and I assume that its high heat rated? I already picked-up a 2nd thermometer for the available fitting on the top, so I now have left and right gauges, but still up top. Do you feel that the additional gauges at surface level add that much to the process for an average smokeaholic?

I'm really looking forward to using mine and trying out some of my old recipes on the new platform. I do all of the usual pork, beef, chicken and turkey and also do a couple of more esoteric items like smoked fresh-caught fish and smoked chicken livers for a smoky paté and some smoked veggies. My Son also makes some homemade venison and pork sausage that I want to smoke.

Please keep adding tips and tricks, they are much appreciated.

Bill Mac in Tejas

aka "burlesonbill"
My friend that build me the heat plate is no longer working at the same place, so no access to materials and tools... The sheet he built me is a little thicker than 1/8 inch aluminum. Stainless would have been nice but this one is working out just fine. My plate has a bend in it nearest the firebox and it sits flush against the right side of the cooking chamber - there is no gap on the right side and all heat is forced under the plate and down the cooking chamber as it enters from the firebox.

It's not perfect, but a 10F degree differential between either side for me is very manageable.

The red sealant I used was high-heat Permatex. I disassembled the entire cooker and gooped it on every joint where heat & smoke could escape. It's holding up better than the lava lock gasket material I purchased for the firebox and cook chamber lids. Looks like I'll be buying something similar and different to replace those seals this year.

The top thermometers are nice to have, but consistently run 20F hotter than the gages I placed at food/grate level - which is the air temp I mostly use when setting the dampers. If I ever add a shelf to my unit the top therms will hold more value when cooking.

I've found this unit turns out a great meal, time after time. I have a few others for grilling and cooking, but for the serious smoke and long cooks this is my favorite.
 
I have a question, about sealing the firebox on the OKJ Highlander. I first tried the felt gasket but it was burning out in spots during my initial run. The temps held good but smoke was escaping out of some spots on the cover. I scraped off the felt and put a bead of hi-temp silicone gasket sealer around it. But the lid doesn't fit tight against the silicone. What's the right way to apply the gasket material to get an even seal?

Also another question, how important is it to seal the exhaust tube? At that point the heat and smoke has already made its way through the chamber. Other than the looks what does it matter if some of the smoke and heat escapes though the joint instead of out the end?

Thanks to everyone on this forum for sharing their ideas. It made things easy to follow to modify mr smoker.

Tony
 
I have a question, about sealing the firebox on the OKJ Highlander. I first tried the felt gasket but it was burning out in spots during my initial run. The temps held good but smoke was escaping out of some spots on the cover. I scraped off the felt and put a bead of hi-temp silicone gasket sealer around it. But the lid doesn't fit tight against the silicone. What's the right way to apply the gasket material to get an even seal?


Also another question, how important is it to seal the exhaust tube? At that point the heat and smoke has already made its way through the chamber. Other than the looks what does it matter if some of the smoke and heat escapes though the joint instead of out the end?


Thanks to everyone on this forum for sharing their ideas. It made things easy to follow to modify mr smoker.


Tony

For applying silicone sealant to a door there's a few methods I read about. One is to tape one side then apply vaseline (though I think any cooking oil or grease or lard would work just as well) and clean the other side. Apply the silicone to the clean side then close the door. Let the silicone cure before you open it back up. Once cured, open the door and remove the tape, you should now be able to close the door and it should seal tight. If you use vaseline, you'll probably want to clean that off the silicone now.
I see what you're saying about the exhaust tube leaking, it should really have very little effect. My thought though is that the better you seal the entire unit up the better you can control temperature.
 
Thanks for the input. That actually sounds like it might work. Although I did my first long smoke last weekend using the copper silicone on the firebox and it still burned out. I've ordered some insulation rope for a woodstove and I'm going to try that.
 
In regards to charcoal basket there is a great thread on here called the 20/20 basket. And it fits my Oklahoma joe perfect. Only thing was that I used a grinder with metal cutting blade to cut my expanded metal rather than tin snips shown on the step by step illustration.
 
Thanks for the input. That actually sounds like it might work. Although I did my first long smoke last weekend using the copper silicone on the firebox and it still burned out. I've ordered some insulation rope for a woodstove and I'm going to try that.
The insulation fire rope works great. I just bought some from Amazon last weekend with the high temperature cement adhesive. NO MORE LEAKS,!!!
 
I BOUGHT THE COPPER HIGH TEMP SILICONE BUT HAVE YET TO USE IT, WAITING FOR A FRIEND TO MAKE MY CONVECTION/DIFFUSER PLATE. ARE YOU SAYING THE COPPER SILICONE DOESN'T WORK??? if SO I WILL TAKE IT BACK  AND GET THE ROPE.

COYOTE'Q'
 
Yeah even the copper silicone RTV didn't work for me. I think it said it was good for 700*F but the firebox gets hotter than that. And the RTV just kind of melted and peeled. More bad news, the 1/2" fireplace rope was way too big around. The lid on the box wouldn't shut with that rope around it. Another FAIL! Now I'm back to the original felt material. It worked fairly well except in a couple of hot spots, which I think I've figured out by tapping and shaping the metal around the opening of the door.

Still looking for some input from those guys who have figured this out. Send some pics! (After the cookin).
 
Did you make a diffuser plate and basket? Do you know the dimensions you used? 

The basket can be made pretty easy from expanded steel. Look for a big 24"x24" cut of it at your local home depot or lowes. Mine came with cardboard around it showing pictures of it being used as a BBQ grate and a screen door protector. I think I found it in the section where they sell all the other steel rods and plates, but it was pretty well hidden. I measured out 12"x12" in the center then cut the corners and folded up the sides, luckily I made one side closer to 11" because 12" wide would not fit through the fire box door. I also cut 1 ring off the top all the way around thinking I wanted it lower so I could still fit the cooking grate into the fire box. So mine is 12"x11" and about 5" tall. Once I placed it I realized how low it sits and wanted to try to lift it. After thinking about several other more complicated ways I realized by turning the included bottom grate 90* the basket sits exactly where I want it.
I made a diffuser this weekend out of a 12"x18" plate steel. Thin stuff from home depot. I cut about 2" from the 18" side and it fits very nicely about 3" below the grilling surface. It did NOT help my heat difference from side to side side though. I was getting around 100* difference from left to right. Back to the drawing board for me.

In regards to charcoal basket there is a great thread on here called the 20/20 basket. And it fits my Oklahoma joe perfect. Only thing was that I used a grinder with metal cutting blade to cut my expanded metal rather than tin snips shown on the step by step illustration.

I read about using snips, but I too used a grinder with a cut off wheel.

Yeah even the copper silicone RTV didn't work for me. I think it said it was good for 700*F but the firebox gets hotter than that. And the RTV just kind of melted and peeled. More bad news, the 1/2" fireplace rope was way too big around. The lid on the box wouldn't shut with that rope around it. Another FAIL! Now I'm back to the original felt material. It worked fairly well except in a couple of hot spots, which I think I've figured out by tapping and shaping the metal around the opening of the door.


Still looking for some input from those guys who have figured this out. Send some pics! (After the cookin).

Is it only the door RTV that failed? Do you have RTV between the FB and CC? Did it fail also? Also, did you seal between top and bottom halves of your FB? How is that RTV holding up?
I have not sealed up either door yet, but I used orange RTV in the other locations and I have no leaks in any of those locations.

Here are some pictures of my basket and the box I made to bring the exhaust down to the grill:

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The exhaust box looks a lot nicer now, I washed it, scrubbed out the rust, coated it in oil and baked the oil in (same way one would season a cast iron pan).
 
I have a friend building me a diffuser plate and a basket, valleypoboy you say your diffuser plate didn't work! Did you make one with graduated holes that get larger away from the firebox? And did you cover up the top of the hole between the Firebox and cooking chamber to make the heat inlet smaller and force it down under the diffuser plate. Has anyone else used the copper high temp RTV and had problems like THOOD, I bought that kind but haven't used it yet, wondering if I should use the red/orange high temp, it says good to 600 degrees and the Copper is rated for 700 degrees so something doesn't make sense.
 
Yes I did use the copper RTV between the two halves of the firebox and the connection to the smoke chamber. No problems there. But sealing the cover door seems to be the problem. Neither of the hi temp RTV's held up at all on the door. I don't have a probe that goes higher than 600*F but I'm sure that the heat under that cover lid is much higher than 700*F. I wanted to try the woodstove rope but the 1/2" was way too thick to let the door close and seal. So I'm back to the felt for now. But I have ordered some 1/4" graphite rope and that's my next fix. I'll let you know how that comes out.

Regarding the diffuser plate, I took a different route from a video I saw on YouTube. Instead of a single plate with holes, I used 4 sheets of 5" wide x 15" long that you can simply space out the air gaps by placement of each of the sheets. Smaller gaps toward the firebox gradually widening toward the chimney. I also closed up almost 50% of the opening from the firebox to the smoke chamber with an adjustable "flapper" so I can control the amount of heat going into the smoke chamber. This system works well. I have 4 thermostats upper and grate level front and back and I can balance the total heat in the cook area within 10*F front to back. I'll try and post some pics later.
 
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This is the fire sealant I used for my Oklahoma joe and this has worked great! As for door seals on pit and smoke chamber I did have the self adhesive felt but it has deteriorated over time so I have replaced it with the fire rope you discussed. And ran into the problem of door not wanting to shut tight. I went to Amazon and ordered some latches and retrofitted them on fire pit and smoker. And so far I have done two smokes and my seal is TIGHT, not even a peek of smoke. Only where I'm getting leeks is from a tiny hole I had drilled to run my IQ 110 pit master and Maverick wires through. But that's ok. I will send picture of the smoker latches installed.
 

As you can see had to do modification to smoke box by putting a piece of angle on side to mount the latches. As for diffuser plates. I used ceramic tile and cut it in 5" pieces and spread them out through the length of chamber. It takes awhile for these to heat up. But once they get warm they they tend to hold heat well. Great for long smokes!
 
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