# New to Offsets: looking for help



## acidcat (Jan 3, 2021)

Hi all! 

I posted in the Charcoal forums if you're looking for a bit of background (didn't notice the wood section at first). Otherwise, here goes:

My background: I started on a Smokey Joe, then went to the Weber Kettle Grill and then the WSM. I used the WSM for all my smoking and Kettle for all my grilling for the last few years. As a result, I have a _*basic *_understanding of what I'm doing. With the WSM, I would light the charcoal using the minion method, and add about 4 chunks of wood for a full day brisket or pulled pork. I got to the point where I could achieve and hold my temps, and thin blue smoke is not a problem. The only thing really lacking was a strong smoke flavour and a large smoke ring, but food still tastes much better, and it's a fun hobby.

Well about a month ago I was at Lowes and saw this Broil King XL offset on sale from $1,000 to $499 and just couldn't pass it up. Probably got in over my head but if we're not getting in over our head what are we even doing? :P I probably should've sourced hardwood before buying an offset, because so far I have come up dry. My current method is to light a charcoal fire and use that to get up to temp, then sacrifice a chunk of hardwood to calibrate the heat in the firebox to achieve perfect smoke, then get the food on! I use charcoal to maintain temp and wood chunks to produce smoke.

When I first bought the BKXL, I decided to do a quick cold smoke on some bacon that I had cured and hot smoked to 150 on my WSM (I like to double smoke my bacon after curing so I do one hot smoke then follow up with a cold smoke), so I fired up 4 briquettes and put them on a piece of maple as I usually do. ALL of the lids leaked like crazy: the main chamber, the main firebox door and the side door, as well as a bit around where the chimney connects. Yikes! Turns out that the smoker didn't (and doesn't!) come with a seal around the firebox main and side doors (I checked out a couple other floor models and there was no insulation around those doors either).

So, I went and bought some fibreglass insulation and sealed up the main door, main firebox door and side door; chimney is on my hit list but I ran out of the insulation. 

After sealing, I did a couple of factory-oil cook-offs: I ran a charcoal fire in the firebox, and then a charcoal fire in the main chamber. The sealed worked well and got rid of that glue smell from the insulation and factory oil residue.

Since sealing it up, I've run a few smokes and grilled grilled a few times, but nothing too low and slow.

I put on a pork butt yesterday for my first long smoke. My approach was as follows:
1. Put some charcoal in the firebox, then fill up and light a full chimney starter. 
2. Once the chimney starter is almost fully lit, I dumped it in the firebox and mixed it with the charcoal that was in there.
3. I let the firebox get nice and hot and all the charcoal lit, then closed the main chamber to let that start to heat up. 
4. Once the smoker was close to my desired temp, I closed the firebox main and side door, with all vents wide open.
5. I let it run for a bit to maintain the correct temp, then sacrificed a piece of wood to test out the ignition. This is where the problem starts. 

In order to get the wood to ignite, I have to open the firebox main door and side door all the way, which is fine as that was my understanding from all of the videos and tutorials I've watched. I can get it to the point where I can close the firebox main door and continue to produce nice smoke. However, within 30 seconds of closing the firebox side door, even with all vents open, thick white smoke begins to instantly billow out of the chimney. If I open the side firebox door and blow on the wood, it reignites and is fine, but then again as soon as I close the side door again, thick white smoke begins again.

What I ended up doing is just keeping the side firebox door open the entire time: I fed handfuls of charcoal every hour or so, and 1 chunk every 30-45 minutes. 

The problem doing it that way is twofold:
1. It burns a lot more fuel than I think it would normally; and
2. The temp is way higher than I want it because the firebox door is always open.


TL;DR: my smoker is too hot to slow cook my food but too cold to maintain thin blue smoke.

As an aside, about 2/3s of the way through my smoke I decided to stop adding wood chunks. Doing it that way, I was able to perfectly maintain the temp. So I know that I can cook on my new offset, but creating and maintaining nice smoke is the issue.


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## DanMcG (Jan 4, 2021)

What type of wood are you using?


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## tag0401 (Jan 4, 2021)

I adjust how much my door is open just like I would adjust the vent, sometimes it wide open sometimes it is just cracked. I commented on your first post and gave a full rundown on what I do. I would suggest trying to start with a bed of coals and then add wood splits for the rest of the cook. I have found the key to a clean burn in my offset is keep the fire as small as possible, just big enough to give you the temps you need. Also from my experience the lower end offsets 0-1000$ are probably the least efficient of offsets


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## daveomak (Jan 4, 2021)

Having upper and lower air inlets in the FB, do wonders for controlling heat in the Cook Chamber and reducing the consumption of fuel used in cooking....   The upper air inlet, directly across from the FB/CC connection also helps to even out the temperature across the food grate...
The lower inlet controls the temperature of the fire while the upper inlet moves heat from the FB into the CC...
It's been tested and proven by the many members that helped in the development of ....
*Standard Reverse Flow Smoker Calculator... by DaveOmak and others*

Click on this link....




*                         Standard Reverse Flow Smoker Calculator... by DaveOmak and others... Ready to use..  rev5.. 6/19/15.                     *

...


Below are good ideas members came up with for regulating the air...
Both work very well.... 



























Quote Reply 

Report Edit


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## thedude99 (Jan 4, 2021)

Try using smaller splits, and adding them more frequently. 

Cheap offset smokers are a battle - it likely doesn’t have good airflow.

Mad Scientist BBQ just put out a video about running on a smoker like yours - might be worth a watch.


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## acidcat (Jan 18, 2021)

Thank you all for your assistance! I have since pumped out some delicious foods and am enthralled with offset cooking. The flavour I am finding is superior to my water smoker and easier to set up and get going, though my water smoker was much easier to maintain once it was all set up (simply dump a bunch of lit charcoal on a bunch of unlit, close it up, add chunks and walk away for a few hours!). I think I will just keep both smokers, along with my Weber Kettle, smokey joe and propane cheapo :)

Quick notes in response to some of the things above:
- I am using seasoned hardwood but unfortunately the only seasoned hardwood I am able to find is chunks or chips sold in bags from places like Lowes, Home Depot, etc. All types of wood but so far a lot of apple. I did try Mesquite for the first time yesterday on my potatoes and I loved it! Otherwise, Oak, Pecan, Cherry, Maple, Oak barrel;
- I am not set up, either intellectually or physically, with the means to make any mods to my smoker. I likely will grab a firebox basket to contain embers though since I have to leave the door open and it's on my vinyl deck. I could also put some chicken wire across the opening but I think a charcoal basket would be easiest;
- I find that the smoker is incredibly efficient for charcoal burning: I used a very small amount yesterday for a 6 hour rib/potato cook. It uses a lot of wood on the bed of charcoal embers though, but I'm ok with that as long as the Weber bags of chunks remain under $15 (so far they are $10/bag at Lowes, but I am looking at Kamado Joe's website which seems to have a better deal). For ribs yesterday, I decided to do the 3-2-1 because my wife likes that stewed texture and I'm trying to convince her to let me keep all of my toys! I used about half of a four pound bag of Weber Apple Wood Chunks, whereas my WSM would likely use only about 6 chunks for same.

Essentially, I am running my offset as follows:
- light up a chimney and dump the charcoal into the firebox once the chimney is lit;
- bring up to temp and shut things down;
- let some of the charcoal burn off (I am lighting far less to start now that I see how little charcoal is needed);
- place a test piece of wood in to calibrate;
- get the meat on and start adding chunks/charcoal as the day goes on.

For the last step, I am finding that the amount of burning embers to maintain a target 250 temp is so small that I am worried about the fire going out, though I don't think that would happen. Either way, I am adding about a handful of lump every 45 minutes and a chunk or two of wood every 45 minutes, staggered of course (I get the charcoal lit, then add the wood and let it light before closing the main firebox door; I am pre-warming the chunks, sometimes on the firebox lid and sometimes right in the firebox, and am finding that the wood nearly insta-lights!). I am confident that I could run this smoker purely on chunks, and I did test this out yesterday for about an hour to much success! If only I could find some logs to split, but unfortunately that is my situation.

The weekends have not been good to me, but so far I have put out chicken wings, drumsticks, pulled pork (in the rain all day!), couple of steaks, bone-in rib roast, pork ribs and various vegetables. Everything has been a hit!

Thanks again, and any tips or recommendations are welcomed!


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