horizontal Smoker

Well, I got a texas style smoker for Christmas. I am having a hard time getting the tempeture inside the cooking area over 200 degrees. Is there a trick to building the fire in the sidebox or some little trick that I am missing? I know its a little cold outside but still I would think I could build a warmer fire then 200 degrees. Please help me!

I have 3 of these smokers. Its best to start some coals in a chimney type starter then transfer these to the box when they are red hot. I usually put in 10 - 15 pounds of coal. Make sure the damper door on the fire box is at least half open and the damper on the smokestack is all the way open. Then after the heat comes up you can adjust them to get the temp you want. I have also found it good to put a pan of water in the bottom of the grill in front of the opening between the fire box and grill. This will better distribute the heat ans smoke as well as add some moisture to the smoke. You can aslo put some cut up apples in the water for an added taste,

Low temps in a horizontal smoker. Like other posters here, I always start my fire with lump hardwood charcoal. When the coals are nice and glowing I start adding wood. My technique is to built a real hot big fire to start with open all vents and the stack, and let it warm the smoking chamber and then burn down to nice coals. With a nice bed of coals you can add wood and adjust your vents to get the temperature you want. Also, check the accuracy of the thermometer in the cooking chamber. I found mine was reading 20 degrees to low. I invested in a good quality oven thermometer for the chamber.

Santa brought me a Horizontal Smoker for Christmas too. One of the great features of these grills is its ability to cook large quantities of food at low temps. Another of its winning features is its versatility. You can put your coals in the smoking chamber instead of or in adition to the firebox for higher temps. I roasted a beef roast, a pork tenderloin, several baked potatoes, corn on the cob (huskless), skewered shrimp, and a pack of hot dogs for our christmas meal. Most of my coals were in the smoking chamber with a water pan direcly under my food and coals on both sides. Temps stayed around low 300s most of the time. All my food came out great.
You may want to save the side firebox for when you want those low temps.
Glad to know there are others on the board using horizontal smokers too. I'm gonna have fun getting experienced with this thing.

Welcome to our two newbies and congrats on your new smoker. As far as my method, here it is....

I start a chimney starter full of lump charcoal and let it get hot for about 10-15 minutes then add it to the firebox. I then add two wood logs (flavor depends on the meat that I am cooking & chunks will work also). I will then add another chimney starter full of lump charcoal on top of the wood to get the fire started faster. I open the side vent all the way and always leave the smoke stack fully open (even during cooking). I let the fire get really hot so I can warm the smoker up and then close the side vent enough to maintain my grate temp of 225 for at least 20 minutes (this will ensure that the temp is stable so you do not have temp spikes or drops later). Depending on the outdoor temp I will add 1-2 logs every 1-2 hours to maintain heat and smoke.

dkrin,

Seems we have basically the same techinque for getting things started. Howver, your logs last 1-2 hours. I cut my wood into about 4 to 6 inch lengths and say about 2 inches in diameter, and man, I am tending that fire every 20 minutes or so. I wonder what we are doing differently. I certainly would like to only have to fool with it every hour.

Roff -

The logs that I use are cut "fireplace style" - they are about 14"-16" in length and aprox 6" in diameter. Many people on this board talk about using wood chunks which I started with but got VERY tired of since I was always adding more. Since I started using full sized logs my smoking has been much easier let alone cheaper!

dkrin,

That is one big fire box. I couldn't even get logs that big in my Brinkman. Looks I am doomed to the 20 minute routine. Ah, tough work.

For our Aniversary, my wife got me a horizontal style smoker and I just finished putting it together last night. Can't wait to cure this thing and get to smokin! Any recomendations on the first meat to smoke? Does anyone make jerky on their smokers?

Here is a pic of it:

Kl8ton - Congratulations on the fantastic new toy! Your wife must be a wonderful woman to feed your habit like that!
As for your christening; a beef brisket is tough to beat. However I'm a rib fanatic myself.

Regardless Enjoy!

There's no better way to say 'I love you' than with a horizontal smoker! You tell that gal thanks from all of us! She made our day too.

Kl8ton -

That is a great wife - there is nothing like the gift of barbecue! That is the same smoker that I started with and still use if I only need to smoke something small (Grand Scale - I know you will not understand this, but sometimes it is only a small feast). As far as seasoning here is what I did with my new Klose smoker

Apply a very heavy coat of peanut oil on every surface on the inside of the smoker, especially the cast iron grates. Put some hickory or mesquite wood in the fire box and start the fire - keep both vents full open to get a very hot fire. I let it smoke for about 45 minutes and then applied another very heavy coat of peanut oil. After another hour the inside except for the grates got another coat and then I used pork fat on the grates and let it cook for another hour.

It may seem like alot of work, but it will not only protect your smoker but will add a little flavor to you cooking.

For your first cooking I would go with ribs since they do not need to cook as long as a pork butt or beef brisket.

"SMALL"??

Dave now you're just making up words...
Next you're going to tell me to adjust the flux-capacitor!

Ribs, chicken or fish of some kind are all good for starters. Ribs are especially good because they are quite forgiving to temperature fluctuations.

Once you get the fire/temp control thing down - pork butts rule.

Scott

Grand Scale -

I should have give you a defination of what this term "small" means - it is the opposite of "grand".

And don't worry I would never tell you to adjust the Flux-capacitor to anything but 1.21 Gigawatts!




Sorry to those who do not understand the 1.21 Gigawatts, you need to be a movie nut as well to understand that one (hint: Back to the Future)