3 Advanced Tips for Fire Management on an Offset Smoker

Improve your offset smoker fire management skills with these three advanced tips.

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[flagadajones]

According to you guys, where is the best position for the water pan when you use an oklahoma reverse flow?

[donnybondeson]

The “right” sized splits have helped me a lot. Too small = replacing too often, and sometimes too clean of a smoke. Too big = massive temp spikes or doesn’t catch easily. Right size and you get sustained heating and great smoke

[Nguy]

I'm still trying to learn fire management in my backyard thinner metal smoker. That's why I watched this video . 😊

[christopherhelms]

Two things that really helped me maintain temp in my Oklahoma Joe's Longhorn were sealing the door to the firebox with that shiny metal furnace tape stuff that Lowes type stores sell. The door was loose fitting and leaked air in like crazy, making the damper pretty much useless. It looks awful, but works great. The second thing was adding six fire bricks to the bottom of the food chamber, mostly close to the fire, under the water pan. The fire bricks stay hot, so there's less of a disruption to the temp when I open the big door, and I get back to temp faster than I would without them. Once I had those two things going, maintaining a steady 250 over pretty long periods got kind of easy.

[evilTexanBBQ]

I've got a medium sized, about 100 gallon offset. What seems to work best so far for me is to add a chimney of lump and about 6 small splits. 2 one way, next 2 crossed, top 2 crossed again same as the first like a Jenga stack.

Lots of air flow, let that all burn into a nice large bed and then the rest of the cook is a breeze.

People seem to focus on the wood when they should be focusing on the coal bed. The wood's only there to replenish.

[stpepper]

Something I just added and worked great during a 10 hour pork butt smoke is adding fire bricks to my firebox. I pulled out the charcoal basket, and added 3 firebricks side by side at the bottom of the firebox. Then I cut two more in half so I can add another 3 halves to create a sort of insulated bottom to the firebox. Then I started my coals, about 20 or so, directly on the firebricks and start my first couple of splits right on top of the coals. I never had to replenish my coal bed with new charcoal and ran some of the most even temps I have had in my brief smoker experience. I had one mishap where a split went out faster than expected and I did not notice, but the combination of the heat retention from the fire bricks and the small amount of charred splits let me recover my fire quickly without needing to add more charcoal. I still need to run a few more smokes with this set up but I'm liking it so far and the fire bricks cost me a total of $5 at my local SiteOne. This is all in a OJ Highland, running in reverse flow configuration.

[SmokingDadBBQ]

Awesome. Will have to try that charcoal idea

[daniellogue]

I’ve been experimenting with the water pan. It does keep a constant temp when cooking, but IMO it affects the bark and cook time. I smoked a brisket for 17 hours, and I think the moisture in the air prolonged the stall and the cook. I did the next burn without a water pan, and the meat came out dry (the brisket was pretty lean also). I had fire issues at the end of the last burn, and I built the fire up pretty quickly to get a good coal bed burning to finish the cook. I maintained the temperature in the cook chamber by opening the firebox lid and letting the wood burn down. I think the fire was also ‘spilling’ into the cook chamber which was another factor that made it dry. The next burn I am planning to keep the water pan in until the meat starts sweating (stall). After the stall I’ll put the water pan back in. I’m trying to get a good bark without drying out the meat. I might just keep the water pan in the whole cook and bump up the heat when it starts to sweat🤔 I want the brisket to be brisket and not pot roast🤷🏻‍♂️ Also, I have a cheap offset about the same size as the Oklahoma Joe. I figure if I can drive a pinto, then I can drive any car🤷🏻‍♂️ Btw, thank you for your service brother, and thank you for your footwork for the backyard warriors😇 I’m from a multigenerational military family😁

[tyrus]

I guess you've come to a point where can comfortably hold temps on your pit and that's basically what it's all about, every pit is different. Well thought out, I do the same thing except for adding additional coal with splits. I have a Lang 48 trailer, the fire box is 18 x 18 with a large flat grate with legs to build your fire. Now although I've had good fires, on some occasions if I wasn't watching the fire would change and smoke or it would dwindle to nothing leaving very little coals. I saw the LSG V-basket and liked the concept but they didn't offer a size for my Lang. I called Lang and they weren't in any rush to provide one so I designed my own. Based on the LSG with a few changes being 3/16 vs 1/4, half the airflow holes, and a short wall in the front to hold the coals in it was finished last week. Two cooks, chicken wings and ribs and the performance results were beyond my imagination. Used about half the splits I had previously, the smoke was always clean and the temp maintained a rock solid 250 once I found the sweet spot between fuel and time and the additional bonus was a greater time between adding splits . It required a little manipulation in placement and tending, but far less than the old method. I keep my splits warm on the fire box and slip in a couple beside the basket inside, the ignition when added is almost instant. It's almost like set it and forget it, too bad Lang is stuck in time and unwilling to see the alternatives, others would find their smokers a bit more enjoyable.

[zxJoer]

You had me at "advanced". Great vid, keep it up.

[skoventure]

Kick ass content brody. Learning a ton.

[thomashood]

Good stuff. May have to try jealous devil

[walkonking]

I use a charcoal basket in my New Braunfels Black Diamond. I put on unlit chimney of charcoal on the smoke chamber side, on the fire door side I put chunks of wood. I then put a 1/2 chimney of lit charcoal charcoal on top of the wood. This will burn up to 3 hours with constant temps. Every 2-3 hours, depending on how it is burning, I will move all the charcoal over to the smoke chamber side then place more wood on the fire door side and push all the charcoal over to that side on top of the wood. Then I put a full chimney of unlit charcoal on the smoke chamber side again. Take about 15 minutes to level out the heat, adjusting the stack and fire door. It will settle back down to temp and go for another 3 hours. I repeat until the cook is done This allows for no spikes and even temps. I am using hickory or apple and Kingford blue

[wudaman]

Hey,
Did you do a time dependant cook comparison to see if the humidity from the water pan use conveyed more heat to the meat? Does a water pan decrease cook time?
Or does a water pan increase smoke ring depth?

[VirtuVisionFilms]

I love Jealous Devil Lump and have used it frequently, but I found that Thaan Thai Style Charcoal works better to keep my temps consistent. and I have an Oaklahoma Joes offset as well.. and yes it needs to be a meater + because the original meater will not go very far.

[nietbepalen]

I've got the same smoker and since today i used 7cm long eco coconut tubes. Before i used a lot of wood like you i have cut the wood in half and need it every 40min. The coconut is burning clean and long on a real steady temp.

Tomorrow I'll do a Boston butt and I'm curious ❤😂

Thanks a lot because your videos helping a lot❤

[miket]

Curious, why haven't you upgraded to a new offset, like an Old Country Brazos or Pecos?

[waltzb]

Thanks again for another great video! Have been using Jealous Devil from day one on WSM with great results. My question is actually about offset smoker steel gauge. Keep researching cheap offset smokers, trying to determine what's the minimum gauge you can get away with and still turn out some decent meals. Don't want to spend a fortune, as I might just go running home to the WSM, being lazy as well. Some of the offsets in question are the Char Griller XD 12 gauge=2.78 mm (7/64") and the Char Griller Competition Pro 14 gauge=1.98mm (5/64") Reviews are mostly favorable, with some calling them junk. Wondering if you or anyone has any thoughts? Cheers!

[missinbrain]

In many of your earlier videos you did a V grate. And now I see a charcoal box. I did watch your video where you compare these, but in it you sounded like you wanted to do more experimentation. So can I assume you’ve decided you prefer the box to the V?

[micahcollins]

Hey Steve, i'm in YYC and have a 120 gallon offset. What are you burning for wood? I've only found apple and cherry locally. Thanks