Gettin a Woody(burner that is)

[lcruzen]

Been agonizing over this for months but I've decided to add an horizontal offset wood/charcoal burner to my repertoire. My GOSM is serving me very well but I feel I'm missing some smoking skills by using only propane for fuel and I have a lot of oak and cherry wood on hand to use up. This weekend I'm going to pick up a Char Griller offset at Lowe's and see what I can do with it. Been reading about all of the mods that I'll need to do to get it purring. I don't want to sink a lot of cash into an upscale brand until I know I'm skilled enough to justify it. All comments and advise are welcome. I'm sure that the GOSM will get plenty of use in the colder months or when time is an issue.

 

[capt dan]

glad to have another michigander doing it the hard way! You will notice a difference in taste! Be patient, learning is fun. Lots of great advice here!

I would offer this for consideration. I know alot of folks here have the chargrillers, I looked at them too, before I bought my Charbroil silver. They are pretty thin material, and when you open the lid, it really the whole top of the smoker, so alot of heat is gone everytime you check temps, spritz, turn meat, foil,ect.
It has some good feature too. But that one feature, made me not buy it. I liked the door design, just for keeping some heat in when checking on stuff. This is not meant as a bash in anyway, just an observation!

 

[richtee]

AlllRIGHT! Propane is cool, but you'll enjoy the wood/charcoal route more I think. It's not only more traditional, you are "closer to the smoke" or something like that...and all lovers of smoking foods want to be there!

Congrats!

 

[k5yac]

I've never done propane, but I've got to say that there is something about walking outside early in the morning and sparking up some sticks and coals. I do enjoy this hobby... hope your woody adds to your enjoyment.

 

[erain]

i started out using a smoke house which was just wood and made sausage and smoked fish only. when that became unavailable i started at home using boughten smoker, had little cheif,big cheif,then the GOSM which is my main smoker, i also now have a MES still in tha box. maybe my imagination but i still think that stuff from the all wood smoking had a better taste, was more work but i thiink worth it. one day i be back to all wood. good luck

 

[capt dan]

erain, it isn't your imagination!

 

[lcruzen]

Ended up getting a Char Broil Silver from Home Depot on Sat. Went to 2 different Lowe's and they had the Char Griller but apparently the fire box is sold separately and neither one had fire boxes in stock.

Spent most of yesterday putting it together along with replacing flavor bars and grates on the Weber gasser, doing beer butt chickens on the Weber Kettle and Canadian bacon on the GOSM. Did the BB Chix with roasted potatoes and corn for a buddy. His wife had surgery Friday and I don't want him to starve! Q-View still to come.

Anyway, seasoned up the Silver and put some sticks in the firebox and lit em up. Ended up with too big of fire, smoke going everywhere, thin blue out of the fire box and ugly grayish smoke coming out of the stack. Glad I didn't have any meat in there. Blistered the paint on the fire box. Played with the vent(burnt fingers)and finally got thin blue coming out of the stack. Let it burn itself out as it was getting dark. This will definitely require a learning curve but looking forward to the challenge. Still have some mods to do also.

 

[capt dan]

LOL, I did almost the exact same thing a couple years back when I bought mine! Do yourself a big favor, get a bag of lump and try it before the sticks. When you learn to manage lump charcoal,then you can work with sticks/splits. The Lump alone will impart a smoke flavor to your meat, but adding small chunks or foil packets with chips will add more flavor. Don't try to get smoke the whole time. You read up on some of the mods and do them, you will be very happy!

Congrats on the step up!

 

[fireguy]

Corngrats bud, your gonna love your sfb smoker... I know Im hooked.

 

[teeotee]

"Anyway, seasoned up the Silver and put some sticks in the firebox and lit em up. Ended up with too big of fire, smoke going everywhere, thin blue out of the fire box and ugly grayish smoke coming out of the stack. Glad I didn't have any meat in there. Blistered the paint on the fire box."


Lol, Think we've all done that at some point. I know i did.

And congrats on the new addition.