A comprehensive look at how to prepare an offset smoker for a cook. (new smoker)
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- This is Episode #9 and a comprehensive look at getting your offset smoker ready for a cook. I think getting a good base for a cook is an essential process for success on a true stick burner.
I took a new Primitive Pits Babe that just been tallow seasoned and took the firebox from cold (it is 25 degrees the entire vid) to ready for meat.
NOTE: With the smoker never being burned before and tallow seasoned, the smoke seen on the video is referenced to as "good" and "lookin good." I am referring to the airflow, but the wind was not cooperating. The color of the smoke will or should become way more clear as the tallow burns off and the smoker gets naturally seasoned.
I hope this helps. : )
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These are the smokers and other live fire tools we build:
Commercial Offsets by Primitive Pits: www.primitivep...
Backyard offsets by Workhorse Pits www.workhorsep...
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Growing up, I would always enjoy sitting next to a fire and poking it around for hours. Since I've discovered offset smoking, I was able to put that enjoyment to very good use. Nothing like babysitting an offset fire for hours and then enjoying the meat product afterward. lol
I enjoy my offset too. Just sitting there watching the fire. It's so relaxing.
Very informative, I am struggling to use my OKJoe offset, using smaller splits and not managing the fire by time sounds like great tips, I will try that. Thanks for another good video
Thanks Steve!
No fancy torch, I like it!!! Nice smoker btw.
You’re totally correct but our school science books are stuck with old unchallenged new findings.
Newer contemporary findings are saying humans have actually been around (and using fire) for much longer than once thought... more along the lines of what you stated. Good job my dood!
Hot damn your videos offer more value than anything else out there for not only business oriented personnel but the average back yard warrior.
So good!
200,000 years . Modern humans lo
You have a real relaxed nature about yourself. Grest vid
I used an offset for nearly 30 years and I upgraded to a pellet grill because pellet grills are less messy, delivers consistent favorable products and requires NO BABYSITTING a flame and temperature.
More chemicals in pellets than natural wood and a little more expensive to purchase! Pros and Cons! Long as you like it!
I bought a 4 grill drum smoker..
Light it up
Get to a steady temp 120C
Put meat on a walk away..
6lb flat Chicken takes 2 hrs to 80C and its sooooo delicious...
Thanks you very much Mr. I am from Chile, I am an enthusiast about the grill and smokers, your video was of great value to me and from far away in South America, I send you greetings.
Great vid, always very informative. Im going to start out with an Old Country Pecos offset smoker. One day I want to make my own from a 200 gallon propane tank but you gotta start somewheres. Lol
I’m even more primitive. I start my fires with lightning. Gotta wait for a good storm a tada!
Great video. Just received my workhorse 1975 on Sunday and looking forward to breaking it in!
Hope you enjoy it!
@@Quetorials good so far! 😀
Come to South west florida it never gets cold here
I’m from Chicago area and smoke usually in cooler temps. I appreciate these videos 🤘🏽
You should mention using a water pan. I put mine right near the throat, and it helps deflect some of that intense heat.
I don’t get intense heat coming off the early grates. We solved that early 2015. It’s +/- 5 degrees across the grate even on the 1000 gallon units. Still a water pan is essential on most cases. Thanks
Thanks for this video btw. That and the Manifesto really simplified the smoking process for me. That and getting (most of) my brother-in-laws 72hr marinade out of my sister was a big time game changer for me. I was so excited she gave it to me I forgot to tell her not to mention it to him...
BangIt!, LLC oh your welcome!! I love doing them. Currently holding down with the flu like symptoms ; ). Oh brother in laws marinade should be public! Ha
I read another guy who makes these say the 500G tanks flow the best or maybe the easiest to make so. To eliminate that upper left hot spot, I think the Propane tank curve on the stack end would help convection flow as opposed to hitting a dead end flat wall. Same thing on the firebox end convecting into the cook chamber.
BangIt!, LLC super. Thanks. We did CFD(computational fluid dynamic) testing for five months and it came down to hotspots(center of grate) on the bigger units (500/1000)in the center. I stand by the smoke stack chase and the only reason would be what I learned from the CFD diagrams. However you can cook on anything that draws good air and combusts wood ; )
@@Quetorials - I snagged a Texas built offset smoker from a guy in PA who got it from his neighbor, who brought it up from TX when he moved to PA. I love it, it's a world class smoker. Looking at an easy smokestack convert to chase config. Intrigued by the no grate curved firebox coal buildup. My box is square. Going to experiment with out grate building the fire on the ashpan. Even thought about making a curved steel bottom insert/ash pan. Cool thing is sq firebox w/ lid gives me a grill, griddle and, with the upper fire grate rails, I got the hardware (baking steel and upper heat baffel/griddle) to make a wood fired oven configuration for pizza and bread... I can't wait to try that!!
Good tips on wood size
Thanks!
Can you do more videos with this smoker?
Felipe Pereira I don’t have that one now. I have one similar to the Babe on primitivepits.com. Also enjoy cooking on the workhorsepits.com 1969 a lot.
Love the 80’s theme music!!
Great looking little smoker
thanks!! appreciate it!
I love your offset smoker !
I noticed you are burning the wood directly on the bottom of the fire box and not on top of a grill grate inside the firebox. Does this make a difference? Or is the grill grate just for easy cleaning of the ashes as they build up.
Jesus Rodriguez yep. You want the coals to stay attached to the wood that have not reach the combustion rate yet. The round bottom also gives you plenty of room for air to get in. The grate allows hot coals to drop and separate from the wood it needs to ignite. I find the grate not helpful in maintaining an even burn.
Thanks. I’ll give that a try next time I run my smoker.
i would think your trapping stagnant smoke with the chimney in the middle of the tank ? should it not be on the top ?
When is the how to build video being released? My 120 gal tank is 24”x64” so it’s a little shorter and fatter then yours. I want to try and replicate this build but not entirely sure how big to make the exhaust and collector.
ECUDaniel14 you could use a smoker calculator and put in your dimensions.. I’m picking up one that is 23x56 I may shorten it to 23x about 38 and then build an offset box
What an awesome video, so chilled.
Another great video! Keep up the good work!
Muffin Man. Thanks!!
Where does one acquire that firewood dolly?
Ok that offset is nice it has a great look.
JD can you make a video on the positioning of the fire within the fire box? Also, being an engineer, I would like to find out more about the fluid dynamics studies done for design. Please
lol "fluids" You just want alot of draw man, maximize convection. No need for Star CCM.
Great video man
Numero Uno Comment Once Again!! Awesome video for folks getting into offsets! I love the pit in the video!
lol Thanks Martin!
Your not worried about firebox getting rust? And how do you keep firebox so clean? My smoker is a quarter inch thick, can I burn the same like you without the firebox baffle?
So I hate the wind when cooking only because it will sometimes be coming in from the stack side and that screws me up because i cant move 3000 lbs of smoker in a pinch. One time I took an aluminum disposable banquet pan and bungeed it to the stack to block the wind from hitting it. Sir do you have any pointers on this and sorry if I missed anything on the video covering this. if anyone can help with this you can amigo. Thanks
So my dad always put his chunks of wood and a bucket of water. Why would you want to dry the wood out just a question?
George Williams there is plenty of quality moisture in seasoned wood. Dipping in water was a popular process in the late 80’s and 90’s. Properly sourced wood can yield a nice amount of smoke flavor, color and bark. I have been working the past few months on a multi part series that will air on this channel in a few months. It will be pretty deep
@@Quetorials awesome, thanks for the advise! Enjoy your videos.
Great video! Let's just skip the part when you say that humans have been cooking on fire for millions of years...first Homo sapiens, 300.000 years ago in Africa
I cant wait for my offset cooker to come. This was a great video!
Thx for the videos they are really informative and enjoyable to watch. I am looking to build an offset using 55 gallon drums, does your method work using briquetts for heat and wood for flavor?
Great information- loving your Que-torials.
Well thank you!
Whar size tank was that?
Like your design on smoke stack any videos on step by step building it? cool video
First time i have seen a baffle plate between the fire box and the cook chamber to diffuse the heat that is closest to the fire box. Is that a common problem? Hot spots that close to the firebox?
Looks like a good idea, just haven't seen this done before.
Shopping for my first offset stick burner and i have not seen it on any smokers yet.
Chris Sanchez it’s a misconstrued science that I dug into last year to understand better. I hired a computational fluid dynamics engineer to see what really happens in a chamber. The short answer is the baffle is just there to direct air flow and try to eliminate radiant heat close to fire box. The bigger the smoker the more forgiving. I am doing a video soon to offer some input on the big guys flow. Thanks!
@@Quetorials looking forward to it. Keep up the great information. You're giving me lots to think about on my choices for my offset smoker purchase.
Nice cooker, liking the hinged stack, how did you decide where to cut the tank to make the cook chamber fire box configuration
What about excess ash? Is that a thing
Very much a coal bed killer. Get it out
Nice and cool smoker!
How long or what size was that tank before cutting it?
Thanks for the video! Good info given!!
Where is the best sources to build a smoker like that one?
Im wanting to build one this summer and up my BBQ game from a pellet grill.
drunkinmaster1 looks like about a 100 gallon propane tank he used
Would you suggest placing the smoke stack at grate on an offset made from something smaller like a 55 gallon drum?
BIG STEVE'S SMOKEM & CHOKEM BBQ smoke stack should always be a grate level so the smoke is pulled across the food ..
No grate for the fire box?
Must have, No?
M Ladd yes to direct heat cook but not for coals. That causes issues
Really enjoying your videos! What I’m running into with my Old Country Pecos Offset is taming the temps.. When I try to build a coal bed (full chimney of charcoal & 5 small splits of wood) temps spike up close to 400.. then to bring temps down I’m left either choking down the intake which causes smoke.. or if I try and let it calm down with time the coals burn down to nearly nothing and I’m left rebuilding the fire constantly the whole day just trying to stay under 320. Any ideas on what I’m doing wrong here?
i use a separate burn barrel to start and burn down my wood. I shovel the live coals into the offset firebox. Small splits can then be added to the coal bed for a much more even burn. Hope this helps.
john weber thanks for the ideas!
How often do you rotate the meat away from where the heat initially comes from the firebox and toward the back by the smoke stack?
Every 15 minutes
Who made you pit I like it
Justin Richie me. Thanks Justin
Will you please shed some light on why you’re anti bottom convection plates?
I sure will (short version). I am pro convection and air flow. It creates the right cooking momentum for most
all meat. The tuning plate or bottom flow plate ends up like reverse flow, radiating heat causing the meat to cook more with radiation than convection. I am a fan of simple offset and have learned with computation fluid dynamics that you control the air flow with a good firebox baffle-plate and a well positioned/size/height smile stack. Thanks!!
Quetorials now I’ll need to do a comparison cook with my Oklahoma Joe vs. my Lang-- probably spareribs.
I have to ask did you make that smoker. I assume it's a propane tank smoker.
What do you do to a smoker like this to preserve the look that you have here? I would like to keep mine looking like that but not to rust away to much.
Nick Jones episode 2 of season 2 ironically will answer that :)
Quetorials thanks. I’ll be checking it out.
Another good video. New sub here.
Thanks!
Which is better , offset or reverse flow?
BIGJ Dubb offset standard flow certainly cooks better. The cook happens with convection on a standard flow. Thanks
Thanks
Your offset is Awesome
Great tutorial!!!
Man is that chamber really 40” wide ? Looks tiny
Jonathan B yep. Go look at primitivepits.com. They are listed there
What size propane tank was that pit made from?
Joseph Taylor prob 150 gallon
Do you (Primitive Pits) still build the Babe (the model in this video I think)? I went to your website and the page for the Babe came up blank. Would you custom build it for someone?
Hi there. We stopped taking orders Dec 31 of 2018 and discontinued. The tanks to build Babes were harder to find consistent sized and wall thickness, so every one of them was super custom to ensure it burned even. We are launching a new company called @workhorsepits (Instagram). This will be the replacement of the Babe series. These will be powder coated and feature some new features (still being primitive). Workhorse Pits will also have one of the best fire pits I think exists. I have the only one currently but I got a lot of great feedback, so releasing this as well. Thanks!! JD
@@Quetorials thank you for the response! I appreciate that you take the time to do that. I wish I could have got one of the original Babes, but these new ones, whatever you call them, sound great too. I imagine they'll cost more than the original Babes, yes? Still, they sound great. Now I need to learn how to do instagram.... I hope you'll have updates on this new pit here on RUclips!
@@wjcallihan you're welcome! The Workhorse is a different company next door. We wanted to build a backyard pit that could be powder coated have more appeal to people interested in live fire cooking. We might bring the Babe back as a special limited edition someday.
Did you make this one?
Yes.
Nice. I’m assuming it’s from a single tank. Think we could get a video of making one?
Yep Single tank. We build them as a side project from our Franklin style 1,000, 500 and 250 gallon smokers over at Primitive Pits. I sure do plan on making this vid of how to make and all the science we've figured out since unit # 1 six years ago. That particular unit has a test firebox contraption and a low door. Seeing how it handles cold air temps in the north. The video will be out about May. I know its a long time, but got it scheduled for a May series. ; )
Would love to see a video showing how to make that smoker, it's a beautiful design, but I love how it's not particularly huge. I don't need a smoker big enough to make several briskets just one or two at the most is perfect 😁
You're new, no? This is going to be big......
No steam system on your smoker? 🤔🙄.. You need to upgrade your smoker...
Adrian Badea steam system?
Where can i get one of those smokers?
Nick Blevins @primitivepits or for the new backyard models go to @workhorsepits. Thanks
Nick Blevins Instagram
👍🏾💯
Being one with the cooker! Oh no, to much information! Lol.
(Millions of years according to our science books)............hum
That smoker reminds me of a rat rod i love how it looks
Hairy muff
Akorn
That’s waaaaaaay low
I definitely disagree with not using lighter fluid. What a myth. I have never tasted lighter fluid on my meat. Jirby and Myron Mixon both use it, too. Both number one cooks.
The chemical benzene (the smelling part of lighter fluid) is absorbed through the lungs. It’s a Hydrocarbon. Causes cancer. Butane destroys DNA. Hexamine causes reproductive harm. Then again sunlight can cause cancer. Yes you can taste lighter fluid in your bbq so it could be used but definitely not in the cooking process. Do your thing.
@@Quetorials you absolutely cannot taste lighter fluid in your food if you use it properly. Myron Mixon uses it. So does jirby at Golde's bbq; He just made number 1 cook in Texas. Myron Mixon has won more world championships than any other competitor in bbq history. The only way you will taste lighter fluid is if you pour it on your food. The air you breathe causes cancer. Kingsford holds one of the biggest bbq comps in the world. Lighter fluid is made to light fires in any pit. Read the directions and you won't taste lighter fluid. But, if you're into myths and want to spend extra time lighting fires, you do you. I'm gonna follow the world champs on this one.
@@hulkhuggett Myron Mixon makes the very worst BBQ on earth to eat. His restaurants are failing. Yes, he can turn in box of one bite bbq but he couldn't keep up with central Texas BBQ if his life depended on it. Next JD's company has built smokers for multiple Texas #1s. Until the odorless fluid came out, you could taste it. There is a certain group of BBQ people around the world that just do it the simplest way. They learn to burn a fire, keep a coal bed and need nothing more than wood.
@@williemakeit7185 Where do you get your information from? Myron's cooked for you, is that how you know he makes "the worst bbq?" His restaurants are still open as of 2022 and he is the winningest man in BBQ. Have you seen his P&LS?
Orderless charcoal lighter fluid came out in the 1950's, way before I was around. According to Kingsford "odorless charcoal lighter fluid leaves behind no aftertaste." Lighter fluid is the most popular way to light a fire for outdoor cooking; those are peer reviewed facts.
If you want to rub sticks together and/or wait for lightening to strike your pit, then by all means, you do you. I'm gonna continue to follow the directions, (and the leaders), and start a dam fire in 15 minutes so I can get some meat on the grill and have a good time.
I've had jirby's food. It's amazing, and I've had his next to other pit masters, and his blew the others away, by far, hands down, no contest. But what does he know? He's only the number 1 BBQ cook in Texas right now.
I'm sure you're a better cook than jirby and Myron. That's why I've read your cook book when I picked it up at Barnes and Nobles.
@@hulkhuggett Me and two friends took his class last year as a matter of fact. We also went to his restaurant the same weekend. It was so bad that it should be closed. There is no argument whatsoever that he is a "champion" but that food wouldn't last a day here in Texas. I live and eat bbq weekly in Dallas including Goldees, Terry Black's, Cattleacks bbq, etc. Miles above in quality. As for the lighter fluid, it is whatever. Franklin wrote a BBQ book that's kind of popular and he said he recommended not using lighter fluid. Did you call him out? There are people chasing a different quality with speed not in the conversation.
Yeah, Jirby can cook, but I know the guy who taught him (this same method of fire management) has taught a few Texas Top 10's And just to help you with your trophy addiction. Goldees is good, but it by no means is better than Terry Blacks or Cattleacks bbq. There are 25 great BBQ joints here and all could be #1.
Butcher paper is made with plastic. Do not use for your BBQ. News paper uses soy ink in the US and is safer. Only paper no glossy pages.
Peach paper is 100% mill paper. Correct don’t use parchment or semi gloss paper
What type of tank do you use for build your smoker?
that was a 120 gallon