# 1st smoke in silver smoker



## elkhorn98 (Apr 6, 2009)

Things turned out OK, I did chicken thighs and a fatty.  I used royal oak briquettes but they got way too hot.  It was like a turbo smoke!  I filled my 12x12x6" basket about 3/4 full and then started a full chimney of briquettes (I am thinking now this was too much).  I have done mods to the smoker including sealing the holes in the firebox, lowering the exhaust pipe to grill level, and adding baffle and tuning plates.  Grill temps were about 310-340 degrees.  I had to close all the intake dampers.  I started with one 1/2 way open and the exhaust 100% open like I read somewhere.  Everything was done in 1 hour.  Nice smoke ring, I never got that with my electric smoker!  Ashes didn't seem to be a problem and I let the charcoal burn itself out for several hours.    

Any tips or comments?


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## mikey (Apr 6, 2009)

I'm with you; sounds like too much charcoal. I will say this, if I want a smoke ring, I just add 4 briquettes at the beginning of my smoke and bingo, the much sought after smoke ring. But the average q consumer doesn't have a clue what it is. Some qvue would have been nice


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## elkhorn98 (Apr 6, 2009)

I took some pictures and will post them tonight.


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## bigbaldbbq (Apr 6, 2009)

Can't wait to see the pictures. I personally like to do my chicken at a higher temp. It helps me stay away from the rubbery skin. As for the fatty, can you make it any more tender? 

But it sounds like it turned out alright for ya.


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## smokin' dick (Apr 6, 2009)

I've also got a silver smoker with all the mods. Yesterday I started with 12 lit briquettes in a charcoal basket about the same size as yours. It was 3/4 full of lump, mostly piled on the vent side. Lit went into the basket on the chamber side. Once it settled in, maintained a nice 250* with very few adjustments. Charcoal is a funny thing, start with less lit and you will eventually get the temps you want.


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## elkhorn98 (Apr 7, 2009)

OK here are the pictures of the fatty and chicken thighs from the turbo smoke.  Everything turned out great.


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## fire it up (Apr 7, 2009)

Wow!  That looks good!  One hell of a smoke ring on her.  
Excellent job.


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## elkhorn98 (Apr 7, 2009)

Thanks.  I think I need to modify my baffle.  It is only 12 inches wide and I think it needs to be wide enough to touch the sides of the smoker.  My temp differences were about 100 degrees across the smoker.  Anyone else have this problem?


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## billbo (Apr 7, 2009)

That looks good to me! You will probably need to play around with your charcoal for a while but you'll figure it out. I am in the process of doing the same on my ECB I just had mods done to.


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## smokin' dick (Apr 8, 2009)

I used to.
You do want that baffle to go side to side in the chamber, so it needs to be about 16 wide. The baffle, or heat shield, does help but I also use a loaf pan filled with water and set that on the grates in the smoke chamber tight up to the firebox. That being the hottest point in the chamber the water helps to even things out. Two other things that I did to my smoker: had some 5"x16"x 1/4 thick steel tuning plates made up. Huge difference. Also relocated the smokestack from the top of the chamber to the end at the bottom. Another huge difference. Plus it looks cool. The temp. difference with these changes is variable, but once the whole thing is warmed up I have at worst a 10* difference end to end. That is certainly acceptable to me. 

Stack mod



Individual tuning plate



Tuning plates in the chamber. they are removable



Heat shield seen from inside the smoke chamber



Charcoal basket



The whole smoker



If I can be of any help just ask, I'll do my best.


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## elkhorn98 (Apr 10, 2009)

Here is the smoker with mods

Grill level 3" thermometers






Charcoal basket






Initial baffle - only 12" wide (black) and tuning plate






New baffle after the turbo smoke ~16 inches and curves along side of smoker, extension of smoke stack and tuning plate.






Thanks for all the tips on this site.


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## pinkmeat (Apr 10, 2009)

Can you only use half of your smoker now?


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## elkhorn98 (Apr 10, 2009)

No I just had the grill off so you could see the baffle in the photo.  The tuning plate is just sitting there so it can be moved too for grilling.


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## elkhorn98 (Apr 19, 2009)

Did a second smoke this weekend with a tri tip, fatty ABTs, and kielbasa.

Here is my thread in the beef forum
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=75879

  The new baffle worked much better.  About 40 degrees difference side to side.  I think I screwed up too by putting the thermometers on the door too far toward the sides of the smoker.  Anyway I am much happier now.  I started with about 1/3 chimney of charcoal and that worked much better.  Added that on the smoker side of my charcoal basket filled with unlit briquettes.  The smoker kept above 225 for 4 hours with my setup.  Testing for future smokes.


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## coloradosmoke (Apr 28, 2009)

Elk, 
I have a Silver Smoker with similar mods.  Question on how much charcoal you start with.  Can you be more specific on what you light in the chimney and what is not and the ones in the basket how do you have them arranged in the basket.  Do you have any pics of this setup?  And what is the duration of burn and temp with this?

Mark


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## elkhorn98 (Apr 28, 2009)

Started with 2 pieces of newspaper and basket was 3/4 full of unlit charcoal all around the basket.  Dumped charcoal on smoker side of basket.  Like I said I am getting things figured out and got over 4 hours at 225 or higher without adding more charcoal.


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## bman62526 (Apr 28, 2009)

That looks great!  I've damn near given up on fatties...can't keep them from exploding.  Looks like YOU'VE got it down.  Good job...


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## coloradosmoke (Apr 30, 2009)

Gonna try your way and see if I can get similiar results.  I am doing a couple of boston butts on friday for a get together on saturday.  Once you get the temp up do you choke down the intake and leave the exhaust wide open?


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