I finally gave up on my smoker and decided to get a new smoker. I went with a bigger model but less tech. Yes, its a cheater electric smoker. My 3rd one. I need more space to cook, I don't need help getting my smoke and temp right. :-)
I've also never used injection for flavor except for pork butt or other big cuts of meat. I decided to give it a try. I developed my own injection. Basically like the other recipes you have out on the internet but I'm putting the rub in the injection and using sirracchi.
Full results not in yet but my son and I think its the best sausage we have ever had.
No sauce. Marinated the meat overnight. Injected the meat. Slow cooked the ribs and chicken. Baste it with a combo of butter and apple juice. Using a combination of Apple, Mesquite, Cherry and Hickory wood.
Originally Posted by Nickhead:
so i have a cheap offset smoker (with mods, pic provided) i have been using, but unless its hot out there is a lot of heat loss. had a bunch of bricks laying around so i thought i would make my own.
this is just a mock up of it. will have to mortar it obviously, and then maybe line the fire box with 1/4 steel. you will notice, i have offset some bricks for rack placement. and i will need to figure a way to have access to lower racks when full. total capacity i would say around 10 chickens or more will fit on this mock up. i do have more bricks, but it was getting quite tall at this point.
you need firebrick on the inside. regular bricks will not stand up to the heat. [Reply]
Originally Posted by mikeyis4dcats.:
you need firebrick on the inside. regular bricks will not stand up to the heat.
i intend to insulate the fire box, but we are in discussions as to whether as a slow cooker, the cook chamber needs 'fireproofing'. doing a road trip to sydney today. gonna get heat resistant mortar, and looking into fire bricks.
just browsing video builds i have seen many made simply of brick, but i don't want to get it built and after ten cooks it crumbles.
so the drawing is an offset smoker out of bricks. where would you place the chimney exhaust? in my original, where the red line is, or somewhere different?
Originally Posted by Nickhead:
so the drawing is an offset smoker out of bricks. where would you place the chimney exhaust? in my original, where the red line is, or somewhere different?
I've seen them at the top, near the bottom, and just above/at/below the grate level, and I've had the best results from those where the stack extends into the smoker and is just above the grates. [Reply]
Just curious, but why an offset design? You could easily build a vertical brick smoker with either bricks or a steel plate between the fire and the food (with a small opening of course for smoke/heat) or you could put a rack in for a water pan between the fire and food. I've used different offset designs and different vertical designs over the years, and I've always turned out better results with vertical because the heat is so much more even throughout [Reply]
like these. I plan to eventually have one like the one that is open faced and have the side, which I think is intended for wood storage, to use as a pizza oven/roaster
I had one like pictures on the left tooge. Briskets were unbelievable. Way better than the professional i use now. It helped me master burnt ends too. It's really how i cut my teeth in BBQ. [Reply]
Originally Posted by tooge:
Just curious, but why an offset design? You could easily build a vertical brick smoker with either bricks or a steel plate between the fire and the food (with a small opening of course for smoke/heat) or you could put a rack in for a water pan between the fire and food. I've used different offset designs and different vertical designs over the years, and I've always turned out better results with vertical because the heat is so much more even throughout
i dont want to spend any money on steel lined doors and hinges in concrete. plus having my thin sheeted metal offset, i realize the food will be five times better and efficient with the brick insulation. to boot, you cannot create enough smoke without too much heat in a vertical. this is purely for smoking, no pizza's, nothing hot.
aaaaaaand... i am only working with the materials i have on hand :-)
now for my disclaimer: i have never used a vertical so i may not know what i am talking about :-) [Reply]
Originally Posted by tooge:
like these. I plan to eventually have one like the one that is open faced and have the side, which I think is intended for wood storage, to use as a pizza oven/roaster
im going for a little more redneck than that but those look nice. [Reply]
Originally Posted by GloryDayz:
I've seen them at the top, near the bottom, and just above/at/below the grate level, and I've had the best results from those where the stack extends into the smoker and is just above the grates.
on my cheap offset, i modded it to stretch down to grate level. i gain about 15 F with it. i have a pseudo deflector plate just at the chamber entry too. :-)
i think my dilemma is that i will have several rack heights. i assume in this scenario, very bottom would be ideal? [Reply]
Originally Posted by Nickhead:
on my cheap offset, i modded it to stretch down to grate level. i gain about 15 F with it. i have a pseudo deflector plate just at the chamber entry too. :-)
i think my dilemma is that i will have several rack heights. i assume in this scenario, very bottom would be ideal?
Agree. Then it's just a matter of learning the heat zones to what you're smoking.
Sent from my phone using Tapatalk (so spelling be damned!!!) [Reply]
Originally Posted by Nickhead:
i dont want to spend any money on steel lined doors and hinges in concrete. plus having my thin sheeted metal offset, i realize the food will be five times better and efficient with the brick insulation. to boot, you cannot create enough smoke without too much heat in a vertical. this is purely for smoking, no pizza's, nothing hot.
aaaaaaand... i am only working with the materials i have on hand :-)
now for my disclaimer: i have never used a vertical so i may not know what i am talking about :-)
You actually get more smoke with less heat in a vertical, and the temps are more uniform throughout the unit. A horizontal cooker will have a high heat area next to the firebox and a cool side closer to the chimney. In addition, you will have smoke draw above the food on the cooler side (heat and smoke rise). In a vertical, all the heat rises, and while it may be a tad higher near the bottom, it will be very minimal, especially in a brick insulated unit. In addition, all of the smoke passes over lower and upper grates, so you get even smoke. In competition bbq, most of the guys use vertical units for the meat they turn in. It's just more predictable. [Reply]
