Starting the addiction

[Gabe]

Hello all,
I am in SoCal and just purchased my first smoker, an Oklahoma Joe Highland reverse flow smoker. It was delivered to my house yesterday morning. After work, rushed home put it together and used High Temp Red RTV Silicone Sealant FDA rated food contact safe 10.2 oz and tried to seal up all the leaks. Tried to keep it clean looking.

Anyways, looking to install two more thermometers closer to grate level. Does stem length of the thermometer make that much of difference? I was thinking of going with a 3" stem as the Joe is only 1/8" thick.

I have my toggle latches being delivered today and that should be it. Thinking of adding a silicone grommet for thermometer probe, not sure yet.

Hope to be doing my first cook this weekend.

Gabe

 

[motocrash]

Hi,my name's Bill.I'm a smokaholic.I try to keep my jags to once or twice a week but it's a struggle.
Welcome Gabe,look forward to seeing your new smoker mods!

Bill

 

[phatbac]

Hello all,
I am in SoCal and just purchased my first smoker, an Oklahoma Joe Highland reverse flow smoker. It was delivered to my house yesterday morning. After work, rushed home put it together and used High Temp Red RTV Silicone Sealant FDA rated food contact safe 10.2 oz and tried to seal up all the leaks. Tried to keep it clean looking.

Anyways, looking to install two more thermometers closer to grate level. Does stem length of the thermometer make that much of difference? I was thinking of going with a 3" stem as the Joe is only 1/8" thick.

I have my toggle latches being delivered today and that should be it. Thinking of adding a silicone grommet for thermometer probe, not sure yet.

Hope to be doing my first cook this weekend.

Gabe

Make sure to take some pics of your smoker and the meat you smoke on it!
make new threads and and post your pics!
Welcome to the forums!

Happy Smoking,
phatbac (Aaron)

 

[Gabe]

So here are a few pics of what i have been up to. I added toggle clamps but they saw that they were going to be in the way so I had to change the orientation angle of the clamp. Well, after I installed them, I noticed the right clamp was not letting the grate sit properly. So i had to modify the grate a little bit and now it works, lol.
Tried to keep the silicone looking clean but it was hard for me. First attempt did not cover all the gaps in the food chamber door. Did not get it right until the third attempt. I did not remove the silicone from the first two attempts and just kept adding. I figured if it didn't work, i would remove everything and start all over, making it much cleaner looking.
Towards the end of seasoning my smoker, i figured i had a good fire so decided to bacon wrap some dogs and try and apple cobbler. The dogs were amazing but the apple cobbler was over smoked. Learning already!
Here are a few pics of my first few cooks.
Loving my smoker

Gabe

 

[bl0wingsm0ke]

Did you end up going with the 3"? I've always been told it's not about the size....