First and foremost is air flow, or really what would be heat flow. The heat comes from the side firebox through the cooking chamber (where the food is) and out the smoke stack. So here is the deal most smoke stacks don’t stick down in the cooking chamber very deep (inch or two tops), this causes the heat to flow straight up from the point it enters the cooking chamber and out. Heat rises so the hottest part of your smoking chamber is the top, so when you are smoking your food it is not even exposed to the hottest part of the smoking chamber. So what I do is extend the smoke stack deeper into the smoking chamber (just a few inches off the cooking grate) this causes the heat to flow right over the food. Now your heat is flowing right where you want it. You can do this with any kind of stove type pipe.
Next I add mass to the chamber and not just any kind of mass a heat holding mass (ie lava rock or ceramic briskets). This does two things, one it adds a heat holding factor and it also acts as a tuning plate (will help evenly distribute the heat over the entire cooking chamber). I basically fill the bottom of my cooking chamber with ceramic briskets (I just like the ceramic briskets better than lava rock, no real reason why, I have not tested against lava rock or anything like that its just a personal preference).
Adding water pans will also help even your heat disruption because water distributes heat much more evenly even if the pan is getting its heat off of hotspots. I don’t believe in the theory of water adding any kind of moisture to your meat, etc I merely use it as a way to distribute heat evenly. There are a lot of people that swear up and down that it makes a difference, I can’t tell a difference some even put fruit juices and other thing in the water pans and believe they can test it in the meat. ??? That is your call if you want to believe these theories. I have tried them all and I can’t tell a difference and seems like a waist of energy and good juice for something I can’t even tell a difference on.
So now that we have the heat flowing right over our food and heating as evenly as humanly possible, lets keep that heat in the smoker. If your smoker is thinner and you are smoking on a colder windy day you might notice that you are losing a lot of heat due to the outside temp and wind. If this is the case simply invest in a good welding blanket (you can find them at just about any hardware store). Once you have your welding blanket merely wrap your cooking chamber with it, this will help keep your heat in the smoker. I have seen some people cut them to size and they end up looking quite nice, it's like a smoking jacket for your smoker.
These simple mods will kick your backyard offset into a whole new class of smoker; you will see your food getting the heat it deserves as well as you hotspots disappear.
DISCLAIMER: All the examples that will be used on this forum are from the perspective of using an offset horizontal smoker. If you plan to follow this guide to a “T” I would recommend purchasing this type of a smoker. I highly recommend the Char-griller line of smokers they are nicely made and are available at a very reasonable price.
DISCLAIMER: All the examples that will be used on this forum are from the perspective of using an offset horizontal smoker. If you plan to follow this guide to a “T” I would recommend purchasing this type of a smoker. I highly recommend the Char-griller line of smokers they are nicely made and are available at a very reasonable price.
- From no to know
Nathan Conner
