Still have much to learn, offset smoker. Questions please.

[Tallbald]

It's been a nice day here in Southern KY with temps in the mid 50's. A nice change from the 10-30 degree sort of weather we've had for a few weeks.
Started up my OK Joe Highland this morning and put on an 8 poundish pork butt that was prepped last night. Got going with charcoal in a chimney as usual followed by fist sized hickory and oak chunk mix for 12 hours so far. The wood was bought as "seasoned" but feels a little heavy for its size so I have to wonder if it's fully dry.
I still have a lot to learn but the meat looks to be turning out good. Still a couple hours to go I feel. Meat checks out at 187 to 190 degrees F at the 12 hour mark.

Help me understand please. In my reading and video watching it seems that it's sometimes not unusual to have to supplement the wood fire with charcoal. I had to do that two or three times today when the temp dropped and wouldn't come up with the addition of more wood splits. The wood had been heated on the heating plate of the FB. Is adding hot charcoal a surrender of sorts or is it normal folks? I thought I could smoke with just wood fuel. Hmm.

I smoked all day with the stack wide open, and worked to control CC temp with the FB inlet vents. I've read and watched and there seems to be differing opinions as to whether or not the stack vent should be used in heat control. A little confusing to a beginner like me.

I also still have a variance at times of 20-30 degrees end to end. Sometimes not. I did adjust the baffle plates to close off the FB end some but it didn't seem to change the variance. Can't yet figure out what I'm doing wrong.
I've searched and read a lot of approaches here on the forum. But I know each situation is a little different. A master is a person who can adapt to the changes and make things work just right. But so far that ain't me!

I have a handsome brisket frozen in the garage freezer. At $2.89 a pound on sale at GFS a few months ago I couldn't pass it up. But until I get this temp control and balance figured out I hate to risk a brisket.
Good things to all here. And thanks for past and future help. Don

 

[natej]

I am new to stickburning also.. I start with a full chimney of lit charcoal then throw on 3 or 4 splits in a criss cross pattern to heat the cooker up.. they will burn down to coals then from there i use all wood.. the advice i have read on here that helped me ALOT was cook to your coal bed.. you want to try to maintain a healthy coal bed the entire time.

Larger splits will take longer to burn down to coals, which causes your existing coal bed to dwindle away.. smaller splits will burn to coals quickly.

If I have a large heathy coal bed, then ill run 2 slightly larger splits, the coal bed will slowly get smaller the more I do this.. when it starts to get small ill do a couple rounds of using 3 or 4 small splits that burn quickly to replace the coals then ill go back to using slightly larger splits and repeat the process

If your coal bed is small Or dwindling away, add tiny splits criss crossed to allow airflow.. they will catch and burn quick and build your bed back up.. if you add a larger split to a small coal bed it will quickly smother the fire out.

Once your wood has burnt to coals ive found if you dont add wood pretty quickly your coal bed will dwindle away fast

Cook with the stack wide open always and if you see puffy smoke then you need more air in your Firefox. 30 degrees end to end is pretty standard with offset cookers, tuning plate will help with that and so will placing a waterpan at the Firebox end of the smoker

This is what I have found in my cooker

 

[phathead69]

I've got a stick burner and being doing this for a whole 2 yrs so take with a grain of salt. Disclaimer, according to calculator my FB is a little to small. Now yesterday I was outside working and wife said we should have fire in the fire pit. I had trouble getting it going and took long time to really heat up . I'm guessing due to ground really wet and warmer temps lots of moisture in the air. Same for a smoker. Ambient weather and air conditions can have effects small and great on my smoker. I have to use or take my grate out some times as to much or not enough air to the underside of fire. Damper way open or barely cracked pending wind and humidity and ambient temps. All this with well seasoned and dry wood. So if your in doubt about the dryness of the wood that's just another variable to deal with. I've learned a lot on the BB cooks as everyone says they are forgiving. I have tried this and that and got a decent idea on how to manipulate my smoker. Biggest thing that has helped me is having various size splits. Mine range from less than my wrist to my upper arm in size in diameter. I can build coals fast or let a big split low flame for a while pending what I need.

 

[Tallbald]

Excellent ideas for me to try you all. I had cut up all the wood I thought I'd need into the fist sized chunks. I see though that I need to cut or chop them into yet smaller pieces. I did use a single water pan toward the firebox end, but I believe I still need to shut down the baffles even more too at the firebox end also.
I will use the crisscross wood arrangement too. I really would like to use only wood instead of charcoal if I can. Here, the wood is cheaper by far than charcoal and wood is one less thing I have to buy to be able to tease the smoke.
I shut down the smoker about 10:00 PM last night. The but finally did, (and this is a first for me) reach 205 degrees F. The three smokes I've done before this had to be oven finished. Last night was my forth smoke so I have a long way to go in my learning curve. Thanks again! you folks. Don.
* Adding this: I'm wondering if maybe my coal basket is not allowing enough air to the fire. I was saving money of course and drilled hundreds of holes in the stainless pan. I might just need to buy expanded metal or use some old extra grids to fashion a different one. Please share your thoughts. I can always line the drilled pan with a coconut fiber mat, fill with potting soil and use it as a hanging flower basket! Don.

 

[natej]

I would say make one from expanded metal or just build the fire straight on the grate, the pan could possibly be impeding airflow.. rather than chunks like you would use in a charcoal smoker, try wood splits that are roughly 11 - 12 inches long and about the thickness of your wrist or thinner

Here is a picture of basically the size i like to use in my cooker

 

[Tallbald]

I will for sure cut some smaller diameter splits. I had hoped to make the basket I created work out but I believe it is indeed impeding air flow. To avoid spending more if I can avoid it, I will look through my stack of old cook grids to see if something I have already could be adapted with some judicious hammer and press work. Each step I make brings me closer to what I hope to end up with. I appreciate your thoughts. Don.

 

[natej]

Yeah that will work, personally I just took some thicker steel mesh i had laying around and shaped it into a square U shape with open ends, keeps the coals together and the fire is easier to manage

 

[SmokyMose]

Practice, Practice, Practice. It looks to me that you're getting a handle on it.
I've found that you have to shake the ashes out of the basket every so often to keep good airflow.
I've used charcoal to get the fire going again, but only because I wasn't paying attention.
I run the stack wide open and adjust the firebox intake....

 

[Tallbald]

I've looked up the "Kindling Cracker" online and wonder if it would be a good expenditure of my frugal cash flow dollars. right now I've been band sawing chunks of oak and hickory to size (splits to short lengths) , but of course it is time consuming and so much wood ends up on my shop floor as sawdust. My loving spouse Penny would, I know from experience, say "Honey just get what you would like. You've worked hard all your life....". I simply hate spending cash if I can make do..... Don.

 

[SmokyMose]

Sounds like Penny would put the ball in your court.
I'm going to have to check out this "Kindling Cracker". I've been using a small chain saw to slice up firewood size to smoker size and it's a PITA!

 

[Tallbald]

Smokeymose I watched a Youtube video about it, and read a number of reviews too. Most all seem to say it's great. Don.
Late edit. Here's a link to the maker's video.
https://www.kindlingcracker.com/pages/how-it-works-1