Remembering the old way I used to manage smoke on my offset

I got a new offset smoker last year and figured I'd just run it like my old one, but I could not keep the temp steady. The fire kept wanting to go out or run too hot, which was a real pain during an overnight cook for a family thing. It took me about four full cooks (and a lot of lost sleep, you know how that goes) to realize the firebox design was totally different and needed way smaller splits. I was adding big chunks like before and it just choked everything out. Anyone else have to completely relearn their fire management when they switched gear?

2 comments

2 Comments

danielh812d ago

Heard a buddy went through the exact same thing. Switched from a cheap offset to a nicer one and kept drowning the fire with huge wood. Took him a couple ruined briskets to figure it out.

mark7312d ago

Yeah but "drowning the fire" isn't always the problem. Sometimes that big wood is just green or wet. A nice smoker won't fix bad wood.