# Oklahoma Joe Bronco -trial run in process



## mike1ranger (Dec 22, 2019)

Got a call from the wife while traveling back into town from a work day trip. Could I detour 50 miles to walmart a couple towns over? The Oklahoma Joe Bronco she got me for Christmas was on clearance for $184 and was last one. And, guess it was too big to fit in her car.   Surprise,  new smoker!

Anyway, wanted to share what I'm seeing on this guy as far as assembly, seasoning, and trial run/temp control. Since the Christmas suprise that wasn't is now up and running, might as well figure it out and plan a Christmas dinner. 

Assembly- easy, effortless really. It's a heavy unit and well built. Need a bit of muscle to man handle but goes together very easily. 

Seasoning - full load of charcoal, lit about 15 briquettes, dumped lit briquettes into hole in charcoal pan on one side. Opened both intake and exhaust all the way. Got it up over 350 in no time, dialed it back to experiment with temp control. Got it down to 300 +/- for about 4 hours. Easy enough to get to temp but a little learning curve on which damper to move and by how much. 

After about 4 hours, decided to play with the temp some more to learn lower air intake vs exhaust adjustment for temp control.  Gonna be a learning curve to get it just right but I can say it does respond well and holds temp pretty dang well. She ran at 235 +/- for a good 3 hours. A couple times I messed with it just to see how it responds but it would have held well I think if I would have just let it be.   Went to bed with it still rolling. Figure it ran 8+ hours on a full load of charcoal. had it running hot for over half that time so bet itll go longer with a more controlled cook. 

Trial run - Couldnt stop this morning trying learn so wanted to see if I could run it at lower temp for sausage, sticks, and jerky.  So, took the snake method alot of us use on the weber kettle and am 2 hours into a trial run. First hour was able to get it going and got it up to around 130, was wanting to keep creeping so dialed back exhaust a bit, tweaked the intake down, and I had this thing hold at 135 for over an hour. Opened the exhaust a bit trying to get it to creep up to 145ish, took about 30 minuted but crept to 165. Wife needed another cup of coffee anyway so got up and dialed back the exhaust just a bit and closed the intake just a very minimal amount. Gave the wife her coffee, watched the term and for last 30 minutes or so its held right at 165. Gonna just leave it right here and see how long I can get while keeping this temp. 

Overall impression - the bronco well built, easy to put together and seems to hold temps well. While there is a learning curve, it responds well to adjustments. 

Still gotta dial it in and learn to fine tune it but in just the minimal amount of time on this thing I'm loving how versatile it appears to be. Seems to be able to do it all.


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## SmokinAl (Dec 22, 2019)

Sounds like it didn't take you long to figure that guy out!
Looking forward to seeing it in action!
Al


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## hoity toit (Dec 22, 2019)

Good burn-in . Sounds like you scored a good gift from Mrs. , now cook her a nice prime rib roast for Christmas. You will both love it.

HT


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## kruizer (Dec 22, 2019)

You are going to love your Bronco. I love mine and have done a couple of pork shoulders and they turned out awesome. You will find that it will run for up to 12 hours at lower (225) temps. I am going to do a brisket on mine when the weather gets a bit warmer. Enjoy!!!


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## sawhorseray (Dec 22, 2019)

What a great Christmas present, and you've already taken huge steps in dialing it in! I've had my offset for six months and the learning never stops. There are more little tricks to learn as you start adding wood to the firebox, the smoke flavors you'll achieve are beyond compare. Enjoy! RAY


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## mike1ranger (Dec 22, 2019)

7 hours in and it holding temp nicely. I think I love the bronco. Temp crept up when I left it alone and went to church. Was gone about 3.5 hours and it snuck up to 178.  Couldnt help myself, opened it up and took a look at the remaing snake, looks to be just less than 1/4 left. Guessing the overall burn time on the snake method will be ball park of 10 hrs with temps pretty much where I'd want them. Wouldn't let her go for hours without watching it but it's not a high maintenance rig from what I'm seeing and it responds well. 

I think this bronco is a great smoker and if you've looked at one it is well worth getting it going.


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## sawhorseray (Dec 22, 2019)

Ah, now that I've checked them out online I see! Yeah, they look great and with much less to worry about when using than a stick burner. RAY


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## hardcookin (Dec 22, 2019)

Enjoy your new smoker!!


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