My Virgin Voyage

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dmaebishop

Newbie
Original poster
Sep 23, 2013
2
10
Hello!  My name is Donna, I'm from Massachusetts, and I just bought my brand new smoker at a yard sale for $30!  It is a Char-Broil, American Gourmet Smoker BBQ and Grill and the box was still sealed.  It was a breeze to assemble, and I was seasoning it within an hour (we were watching a Patriots game and were done well before half time!)  I seasoned my grill for a good three hours, and cooked a pork loin roast with seasoned oak harvested from our yard.  Amazing flavor - all that I was hoping it would be.  My husband has since ordered me a cover, and some yummy wood chunks, and I'm on my way.  I love free advice, and have encountered on issue that took a little (but not much) wind out of my sails.  As I was building my initial fire, I chose to use wood only in order to keep the temperature low.  I built the fire as I would in my chiminea (sp) and as the wood burned, it fell through the fire grate (of course) and it was difficult, initially, to keep the fire burning.  My husband found some old natural charcoal, which provided pieces big enough to stay on top of the grate.  Once I got a nice base, it was uphill from there.  I was thinking if I put some sort of fireproof "screen" on top of the fire grate, I would be able to keep larger sized embers on top of the grate, enabling better combustion of newly added wood.  Any suggestions as to what material I could use?
 
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 donna, glad you joined us.  sounds like you got a great deal.  Im not familiar with that smoker but if you use the search tool you should find a lot of information on it and mods you can do to it.
 
Hi Donna! :welcome1: to SMF!!! We're happy you joined us! We have over 50,000 members now who just love to share what they know. You've come to the best place on the net to learn and share everything Q!!!
 
Welcome to SMF

I'm not sure what grate comes with it for the fire box, but most are about a half an inch between the rods.  You didn't say what size wood chunks you were using, but either the wood is very small or the grate has very large openings.  Either use larger wood chunks or go to one of the big box home supply stores and get a piece of expanded metal and cut a piece of it to fit over your existing fire grate.  You could also use the extra to fashion a charcoal basket.  Just don't let the ash build up too much under the fire grate or it can't breathe properly

Good luck and keep us posted.  We love pics of anything cooked in a smoker
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Hello Donna, and welcome to the forums!  This is the best place I know for sharing ideas on smoking, grilling, curing, etc.  There are plenty of friendly, knowledgeable folks here who really enjoy helping one another.  Looking forward to your input here, and just ask when you need anything...someone here will surely have the answer.

Red
 
Expanded metal is what you need, you can get it from Lowes or Home Depot or if you know a local steel fabricator you could get it there.
 
Welcome to SMF Donna,

Ditto on the expanded metal. It can also be found at Tractor Supply or other farm supply places. Don't get anything galvanized, that will make it food safe.

RG
 
:welcome1: , neighbor. Good to have you here. Feel free to join the New England smokers group too. Lots of good people from around mass and the rest of N.E. good luck. :grilling_smilie:
 
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to SMF!  We are so glad you joined us! 

We love to see pictures of what you are cooking (or what we call q-views here at SMF).  To "upload the q-views" just follow the directions here and it will be easier. If you are using a cell phone, an IPad or a kindle, go to the main SMF page and click the Mobile button. Will make the uploads a bit faster too.

If you didn't read the "Terms of Service" notes.....please do.  There are a few things that everyone should know about those pesky little rules before plunging into the forums and some guidelines of how to interact within the forums. Off site links are not allowed here at SMF per TulsaJeff. Not that you have done anything wrong....just a little bit of FYI for new members!

If you need any help roaming around the forums....just holler!  Happy to help out!

Kat
 
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Hello, and Welcome from East Texas. This is a great site, lots of good information and great people.


Gary
 
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