# Stick burner help



## Tfrank778 (Jan 22, 2019)

Last Summer I had purchased one of the original Oklahoma Joe's that was made in Perry Oklahoma. It 1/4" and the welds on it are impeccable. The smoker itself is in great shape and has no rust what so ever. One thing that I am having problems with is the heat distribution across the grate. I have a baffle plate installed and the temperature difference was over 100 degrees from side to side. Tried lowering the exhaust with aluminum duct and the same result. When the smoker is ran without the baffle plate the temperature on the firebox because over 300 no matter how small the fire.

I'm running out of things to try and was wondering what your inputs would be on how to fix this? I'm almost at my wits end and want to sell it, but I don't want to downgrade if I do. Any help is much appreciated. 

Also on the pictures excuse me for how dirty it is... It hasn't had its spring cleaning yet...


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## old sarge (Jan 22, 2019)

My old Brinkmann, while not as robust as your, always got the job done.  Took some tending though. Ir was always hotter at the firebox end.  So, I would rotate the meat every so often and try to keep a small but hot "fire" going. I kept the temp between 275 and 300 and checked often.  Did that for years.  Always has mighty fine results. When I turned 62, I went electric.  Call it lazy or whatever.  Still enjoy the food. But seriously, cooking with fire will always take a fair amount of tending or babysitting.  I reckon pellet smokers/grills are the closest to traditional wood fired smoking without all the work.


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## Tfrank778 (Jan 22, 2019)

I’ve gone from electric to pellet to charcoal to this. I am going to continue to use stick burning and never turn back. I just can’t figure out how to even up the temps. 100-135 degrees is just not acceptable


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## bluewhisper (Jan 23, 2019)

I put a baffle in my offset (see sig) and it helps to even out the heat.


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## SmokinAl (Jan 23, 2019)

That seems insane to have a fluctuation like that especially with the baffle & the stack extension. I'm sure you did this, and I'm not trying to insult your intelligence, but did you put a therm at each end of the smoker & did you check both of them in boiling water & ice water to make sure they are accurate? I put a pan of water on the grate next to the firebox on my Lang & it keeps the temps even across the grate.


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## Tfrank778 (Jan 23, 2019)

SmokinAl said:


> That seems insane to have a fluctuation like that especially with the baffle & the stack extension. I'm sure you did this, and I'm not trying to insult your intelligence, but did you put a therm at each end of the smoker & did you check both of them in boiling water & ice water to make sure they are accurate? I put a pan of water on the grate next to the firebox on my Lang & it keeps the temps even across the grate.



Yes I have my two probes on my fire board at each end of the smoker. They read pretty dead on in boiling water and ice. It’s almost like the pit doesn’t draw enough air and all the heat just stays on the firebox side.


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## daveomak (Jan 23, 2019)

Tfrank, morning....  If you are up to doing some re configuring on that awesome built smoker, here's what I would do...
First I would reposition the tuning plate so it is at the top of the FB opening...  The way it is situated now it is holding the heat in the FB and not allowing for a free air flow...  You will need to have  2 straps welded to the side of the Cook Chamber, at FB opening height and wide enough, to support the diffuser plate...
Second I would shorten the exhaust stack extension...   The food grate is blocking the air flow...  Cut it off so it is approx 3" above the food grate..  
Third, I can't see the FB door area, but I recommend an upper and lower air inlet...  The lower, allows air to the fire to adjust the FB heat....  The upper allows for the heat in the FB to be moved to the CC WITHOUT adding air to the fire....  many members have used this combination with some very good success......

....The deflector plate is blocking air flow...  










... an image of the proper position of the tuning plates....


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## Tfrank778 (Jan 23, 2019)

So should I try to use hard duct to move the exhaust? 

Also the intake is a standard pin wheel damper.


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## daveomak (Jan 23, 2019)

Plug off the top half of the damper or change it...   It's important for it to only feed the fire...
Put a 90deg. dryer elbow in the existing exhaust....  If need be, cut it short of the food grate.....


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## Tfrank778 (Jan 23, 2019)

daveomak said:


> Plug off the top half of the damper or change it...   It's important for it to only feed the fire...
> Put a 90deg. dryer elbow in the existing exhaust....  If need be, cut it short of the food grate.....



If I plug the top vent wouldn’t I need to increase bottom pin wheel to make up for the loss of airflow?


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## daveomak (Jan 23, 2019)

Did you calculate how big the air inlets have to be ??  0.004 X Cook Chamber volume in cu. in...


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## daveomak (Jan 23, 2019)

Take a picture of the FB end...  where the door and pie vent is located....


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## Tfrank778 (Jan 23, 2019)

daveomak said:


> Take a picture of the FB end...  where the door and pie vent is locat
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Here’s a pic of the vents


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## daveomak (Jan 23, 2019)

Here's what skifreak did with a smoker like yours...   
One thing you will find is if you open up the CC to the FB by eliminating that deflector plate, you will get even heat to the CC...  






And how he did it.....    

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/side-burner-air-intake-butterfly-modification.129311/


...........


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## Tfrank778 (Jan 23, 2019)

daveomak said:


> Here's what skifreak did with a smoker like yours...
> One thing you will find is if you open up the CC to the FB by eliminating that deflector plate, you will get even heat to the CC...
> View attachment 386298
> 
> ...



So shall I just ignore the previous suggestions or try them with the damper mod?


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## daveomak (Jan 23, 2019)

Pick your poison....  Start with the deflector and plate realighment... above the FB/CC opening...  
If you have the skills and tools, I would opt for the lower and upper air inlets...  The pie vent modification was a very good option, but not the best fix....
Oh !!!   The elbow on the exhaust is a definite must-do...


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## Tfrank778 (Jan 24, 2019)

daveomak said:


> Here's what skifreak did with a smoker like yours...
> One thing you will find is if you open up the CC to the FB by eliminating that deflector plate, you will get even heat to the CC...
> View attachment 386298
> 
> ...



So I had an idea what if I basically made a design where it was half of the butterfly that’s in there now. Attach one to the firebox on the inside and the outside. For the fire and one for air intake. Tighten the original bolt down enough to hold either one open and be independent of each other.

Thoughts?


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## daveomak (Jan 24, 2019)

That should help...   Also, the deflector plate, it is important to remove it...   It is blocking air flow.... When you get the other ideas into  play, it will all come together.....


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## Tfrank778 (Jan 26, 2019)

daveomak said:


> That should help...   Also, the deflector plate, it is important to remove it...   It is blocking air flow.... When you get the other ideas into  play, it will all come together.....




So I I made some adjustments and will try it out tomorrow. I made the two separate dampers and made my own tuning plates out of some flat bar 3/16”. Fingers crossed and thanks for the help!!


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## daveomak (Jan 27, 2019)

Cool...   The results will be interesting....


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## Tfrank778 (Jan 27, 2019)

daveomak said:


> Cool...   The results will be interesting....



Well it’s seems that the mods didn’t really work out too well. Tried just about every combination of the vents and tuning plates and the best i could get is an 80 degree difference from side to side....

Not sure where to go now


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## daveomak (Jan 27, 2019)

Have you done anything with the deflector plate ??  With it bent down, like it is, it's blocking the air flow to the CC....


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## Tfrank778 (Jan 27, 2019)

With that being welded to the cooker I’m not sure what to do without tearing into it


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## daveomak (Jan 27, 2019)

Can you get an angle grinder in there and grind off the welds ??


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## daveomak (Jan 27, 2019)

Or bend it up with a lever or hydraulic jack ....


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## Tfrank778 (Jan 28, 2019)

daveomak said:


> Or bend it up with a lever or hydraulic jack ....



I’ll have to look when I get home, but I have an angle grinder so I can get it off if I can get in there....

With the top of the angle being so close to the cooking grate would it take away the ability to use a baffle plate?


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## daveomak (Jan 28, 2019)

No...  Generally, folks tack weld hunks of angle iron on both sides of the CC....  The lip,of the angle iron, is at the height of the top of the FB/CC opening...  Make the lip wide enough, your perforated plate can be set on the lip, providing a "dissipation" of heat and smoke in an even pattern in the CC...  2X2 angle will do even if you have to tack weld a couple of strips to narrow it enough for your perforated plate.. or tuning plates to rest on...  
Doing those changes allows for free flow of heat and smoke through to the CC...   AND your FB will run a lot cooler and reduce fuel consumption... or so it says in fine print somewhere...
That angled deflector plate was installed to keep the heat from the first part of the cooking grate...  That would have been a good idea if the smoker was operating as a "forced air" cooker...  unfortunately, in a natural draft situation, it seems it's best attribute is choking off air flow..
With the FB/CC opening free to allow air flow, the upper and lower air inlets can be adjusted for a smallish controlled fire and the upper inlet moves heat in the FB through to the CC without adding oxygen to the fire...  not unlike the fan on a forced air furnace theory...  
A tightly sealed smoker is pretty much a necessity for all this to take place...  any air leaks disrupt the natural draft...


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## Tfrank778 (Jan 28, 2019)

daveomak said:


> No...  Generally, folks tack weld hunks of angle iron on both sides of the CC....  The lip,of the angle iron, is at the height of the top of the FB/CC opening...  Make the lip wide enough, your perforated plate can be set on the lip, providing a "dissipation" of heat and smoke in an even pattern in the CC...  2X2 angle will do even if you have to tack weld a couple of strips to narrow it enough for your perforated plate.. or tuning plates to rest on...
> Doing those changes allows for free flow of heat and smoke through to the CC...   AND your FB will run a lot cooler and reduce fuel consumption... or so it says in fine print somewhere...
> That angled deflector plate was installed to keep the heat from the first part of the cooking grate...  That would have been a good idea if the smoker was operating as a "forced air" cooker...  unfortunately, in a natural draft situation, it seems it's best attribute is choking off air flow..
> With the FB/CC opening free to allow air flow, the upper and lower air inlets can be adjusted for a smallish controlled fire and the upper inlet moves heat in the FB through to the CC without adding oxygen to the fire...  not unlike the fan on a forced air furnace theory...
> A tightly sealed smoker is pretty much a necessity for all this to take place...  any air leaks disrupt the natural draft...



I should have clarified a little. The top of the angled deflector is above the cooking grate. So if I trim it off the tuning plates, to be at the same level, would be pretty much at cooking level...


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## daveomak (Jan 28, 2019)

All that needs to be removed is the part that blocks the FB/CC opening....  







????? Is the food grate at the same height as the top of theFB/CC opening.... ??

Can the FB be unhooked from the CC and lowered a few inches ???   Before you go cutting stuff...   
Just trying to figure out how the smoker was made....


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## daveomak (Jan 28, 2019)

???  What end of the CC is the hottest ??? I'm guessing the FB end...


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## Tfrank778 (Jan 28, 2019)

So the firebox is welded on and there is no moving it.

The opening to CC is the first picture and the angled steel is the obstruction you see in the other pictures


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## daveomak (Jan 28, 2019)

Take an educated look at the plate and see if cutting off 3" with a cut off wheel on your angle grinder will give you room for your deflector plate with holes in it AND room for your food grate...
Cutting off the deflector plate on the wide end, opens up the FB/CC the most per inch of a cut.... 
you may have to add some tabs at the CC door opening to hold the food grate...  They could be holes drilled and bolts secured to hold the food grate...   If you were here, I'd use my plasma and welder and we would be done in an hour..

Looking at the welds on the FB/CC, you have one of the OLD but Very Good smokers...  They don't make them like that any longer...  Folks started opting for Chinese crap and didn't realize what they were missing...  Too bad....

If I screwed up in the "half assed directions", let me know what's fuzzy.....

for cut-off wheels, they make pretty thin wheels for cutting off steel...   The thicker wheels are for grinding...
BTW, some call cutoff wheels, wheels of death...  I had one jump out of a cut last summer and it "peeled out" across the back of my un-gloved left hand.....  down to the bones... they are unforgiving... wear a face shield and gloves....  If a wheel fractures, who knows where the fragments will go....


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## Tfrank778 (Jan 28, 2019)

I will look into cutting it off.... 

The quality of this pit is why im willing to do just about anything to fix it. It really is incredibly built.

So when that angled deflector is cut off is it okay that that hole between cc/fb can be above or level with the food grate?


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## daveomak (Jan 28, 2019)

Yes.....  Jambo designed smokers have the FB/CC opening above the food grate and the exhaust is below the food grate...

Check out the pictures....  Notice how high the FB is ...  then look at how low the exhaust stack and plenum are on the CC...    https://thecloak9.wixsite.com/jambopits    ...
One member built one several years ago and was very pleased on the small amount of wood it used, how even the temps were across the food grate...


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## daveomak (Jan 28, 2019)




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## Tfrank778 (Feb 1, 2019)

Well I finally got to cutting the angled piece off after the polar vortex....

Will test out tomorrow and report back. Fingers crossed this works


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## daveomak (Feb 2, 2019)

The heat and smoke will certainly move through to the CC easier...   It's going to operate a lot different than it did before...   With the upper air inlet open during fire up, the smoker will come up to temperature faster...   Try leaving the upper inlet open and adjust the temperature with the lower air inlet..  It will take a bit to understand how the 2 inlets interact...
Patience, and great smoked meats await you....   Dave

I think what you are going to find is...  more upper air flow and a smaller fire will get you to a good starting  place while learning the ins and outs of that beautiful, well built smoker....


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## Tfrank778 (Feb 2, 2019)

Well I’m not sure it helped again... what next....


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## daveomak (Feb 2, 2019)

We need to know what the conditions were and when...   Take pictures of the inlets and note temperatures....  
Looks like you were able to get the temps to be consistent for a period of time...  That's good...   The 200 degree difference is AMAZING....
Did you make adjustments to the upper air inlet and let it stabilize ???  What did you do.....


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## daveomak (Feb 2, 2019)

OK, I've been thinking....   If the hottest section in the CC is nearest the FB, the upper part of the original pie adjuster should be opened up (cut off) (made wider) ...  That will allow for less air to the fire while allowing more air to the upper part of the FB...


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## offset1945 (Feb 3, 2019)

Tfrank778,

This forum is great, you will learn everything you ever need to know to become a true Pit Master ... but ... as I am learning, it is all not in one easy to follow recipe. Not everyone is the same, many have completely unique smokers, etc.

One thing I see here in reading along is that you've not mentioned exactly how to run your fire. SmokinAl responded to me in a thread and gave me advice that changed everything for me: split sizes. To some perhaps his information was obvious, for me it was a game changer.

Before the splits sizes ........
If you have some time, just a few hours, it would be great if you could post to different graphs after having done the following:

Remove all tunning plates, remove the stack extension, leave grates
Stage your probes
Count out exactly 60 very nice/pretty quaily charcoal briquettes
Light them in a chimney starter or directly in your FB, make sure they are in a nice concentrated pile
Run this test, stack wide open and all FB vents wide open
Next run, to all of the above again, except with the FB DOOR completely open the entire time.

The above two controlled tests will give you and the forum a much better idea of your draw AND _importantly will for now leave out the huge variable of fire management_. 

btw ... regarding the door, MANY custom pit fabricators, whose pits are used by the best houses do not even have vents in the door.
I can run a near perfect temperature graph by not being a slave to thinking that the door must be closed.
( I truly used to be mad about it, in my mind I would insist that I should be able to close the door )
Now, I run any combination of the door closed / vents closed / vents open / door wide open / door just cracked open etc etc
Do I burn slightly more wood?
Maybe, but if our objective is an even cook for 8 plus hours, with a graph that is a nice straight line .....................


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## Geos7812 (Feb 12, 2019)

I had a similar issue.  I recently did two things.  First I put a seal on my cc door.  This helped a bit.  Secondly, I moved my tuning plate away from my firebox.  It was touching the deflector/baffle.  I had a theory that it was conducting a ton of heat from the firebox through the deflector and drawing it inward to the cc through the metal.  I moved the plate 4 inches from the box so it wouldn’t touch and bingo.  16 degree differences.  Just a few thoughts.


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## Tfrank778 (Feb 13, 2019)

Well I tried two things tonight:

I moved the original baffle plate further back in the cook chamber. About 4 inches from the fire box.

I also did not use the vents just used the door.

It got the temp difference within 40 degrees. So I guess this confirms my suspicion that there wasn't enough air flow to the cook chamber.


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## Tfrank778 (Feb 13, 2019)

Tfrank778 said:


> Well I tried two things tonight:
> 
> I moved the original baffle plate further back in the cook chamber. About 4 inches from the fire box.
> 
> ...













Where to go now....


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## indaswamp (Feb 13, 2019)

Those logs on top...is that the size you are using???


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## Tfrank778 (Feb 13, 2019)

Yes. That picture is deceiving.... all the logs in my shed are under 12” or so mainly being from 8-10


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## Tfrank778 (Feb 13, 2019)




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## indaswamp (Feb 13, 2019)

your wood is too big IMO.... those splits need to be about 2" dia....


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## Tfrank778 (Feb 13, 2019)

Do you think this contributes to one side being too hot?


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## Geos7812 (Feb 13, 2019)

Interesting theory.  I like it.  If the logs are smaller they will burn hotter and push more heat which will in theory draw more air which will even temps.  Is that about right?


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## Tfrank778 (Feb 13, 2019)

I guess to that point the average log in my shed isn’t much more than 2” dia.


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## indaswamp (Feb 13, 2019)

Geos7812 said:


> Interesting theory.  I like it.  If the logs are smaller they will burn hotter and push more heat which will in theory draw more air which will even temps.  Is that about right?


Yes....with much better air flow.


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## kmmamm (Feb 13, 2019)

Just for giggles, a couple questions.
1) Is your testing being conducted in a windless environment or outside in the elements?
2) has the cooker been allowed to heat and stabilize before you start recording temps? Most of my builds have taken around 40-60 min (feeding 4-6” splits) to stabilize.


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## offset1945 (Feb 14, 2019)

Tfrank,

If you look back at my post in this tread ( #41) it was exactly to avoid the current tangent discussion.

Everyone's discussion and input is great, but to be clear and to focus on your issue of 'temperatures varying greatly across the cooking chamber' you want to focus on your pit.
As I noted, fire management would ( and should ) be a big debate.

You have already made many modifications to your pit, perhaps all needed, perhaps all not needed, it is hard to know at this point. What we do know per your feedback is that much improvement.

If you can, please run the tests I mention ..... with charcoal. If you want to make them longer runs, that is fine, just increase the amount of briquettes.
One run with FB door closed all vents wide open. One run with FB door wide open.
Same amount of charcoal in each run.


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## Tfrank778 (Mar 2, 2019)

Sorry I’ve been absent for a while y’all. I ran the test and determined it was air flow issues. Been running with my baffle plate further away from firebox and using the door and not the vents. I’ve had some amazing results. Thanks for all the help. One happy camper


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## Geos7812 (Mar 2, 2019)

That is good news, man.  Glad you have it figured.


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