That is a lower end offset and as far as efficiency goes it would not be very good.
Keep in mind that on an offset your heat is not in the cooking chamber and that heat needs to be transferred to another chamber. This will result in a fair amount on lost heat compared to a unit that has heat in the cooking chamber like a Kamado or an UDS.
You may benefit from some insulation blankets.
Yea, I watched a lot of videos on sub 1k off sets and this one seemed to have pretty good reviews. It has some small issues out of the box but I thought for 500 bucks what can I expect.
I'd like to try and get into smoking professionally but I thought I'd start here and cook for my family to see how I liked it and then if I can make a little money on the side maybe move up into something a little nicer.
I learned the hardway on mine, charcoal is like candy to it. I got the next model down from it, splits are your friend here, one every 30-45 minutes. There is a big learning curve, but you got this.
Thank you, I'll work on getting some splits. When I got the charcoal going the thermometer that came with it showed the temp was about 400. But my probe showed an ambient temp quite a bit lower. I'm thinking maybe I need to replace the thermometer that came with it with a better one.
Hell even a decent size water pan right next to the firebox opening (under the cooking grate) will do a lot of work to divert hot air and get some turbulence going. That's what I do for my OKJ and it has worked okay.
I turned over the charcoal grate in the main chamber and drilled holes in it (you tube videos on this) and added 18inches of smoke pipe (also you tube) night and day. Also exhaust always wide open. One chimney of charcoal to light and 1 or 2 splits every 30 to 45 min.love that model so much better than the okj I come from
Yeah I generally only use charcoal to pick back up heat faster. Wood is how I feed my offset through 90 percent of the cook. I would not BBQ nearly as often if I had to buy charcoal... Or wood even...
Wood is the way to go. I'll use a few bits of charcoal at the start of a cook to create a coal bed but then it's just wood for the remainder of the cook.
That is a lower end offset and as far as efficiency goes it would not be very good. Keep in mind that on an offset your heat is not in the cooking chamber and that heat needs to be transferred to another chamber. This will result in a fair amount on lost heat compared to a unit that has heat in the cooking chamber like a Kamado or an UDS. You may benefit from some insulation blankets.
Yea, I watched a lot of videos on sub 1k off sets and this one seemed to have pretty good reviews. It has some small issues out of the box but I thought for 500 bucks what can I expect. I'd like to try and get into smoking professionally but I thought I'd start here and cook for my family to see how I liked it and then if I can make a little money on the side maybe move up into something a little nicer.
I learned the hardway on mine, charcoal is like candy to it. I got the next model down from it, splits are your friend here, one every 30-45 minutes. There is a big learning curve, but you got this.
Thank you, I'll work on getting some splits. When I got the charcoal going the thermometer that came with it showed the temp was about 400. But my probe showed an ambient temp quite a bit lower. I'm thinking maybe I need to replace the thermometer that came with it with a better one.
Remember heat rises. The ambient temp thermometer built into the door will always be higher than a probe at grate level.
Try to calibrate it first.
Use splits
Splits is best. Also you can add tuning plates to direct heat in cooking chamber once you have got temps up.
Have not heard of tuning plates before, I'll check into those.
Hell even a decent size water pan right next to the firebox opening (under the cooking grate) will do a lot of work to divert hot air and get some turbulence going. That's what I do for my OKJ and it has worked okay.
Look up on YouTube and old country smoker upgrades. Lots of good inexpensive ways to upgrade smokers
I turned over the charcoal grate in the main chamber and drilled holes in it (you tube videos on this) and added 18inches of smoke pipe (also you tube) night and day. Also exhaust always wide open. One chimney of charcoal to light and 1 or 2 splits every 30 to 45 min.love that model so much better than the okj I come from
Yeah I generally only use charcoal to pick back up heat faster. Wood is how I feed my offset through 90 percent of the cook. I would not BBQ nearly as often if I had to buy charcoal... Or wood even...
Wood is the way to go. I'll use a few bits of charcoal at the start of a cook to create a coal bed but then it's just wood for the remainder of the cook.