Knifemaker
Not me
He did say “brewed a 12 oz cup of coffee”, so a liquid.
I have heard of adding ground coffee bean to a rub, and using instant coffee too. I’d think those would go better with beef instead of pork however.
Smokers (BBQ - not grilling)
- Thread starter Fred W
- Start date
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I have heard of adding ground coffee bean to a rub, and using instant coffee too. I’d think those would go better with beef instead of pork however.
Knifemaker
Not me
About time.... Got a 4 pound brisket flat I’m going to smoke tomorrow. 
Knifemaker
Not me
At 4 hours:
going to wrap at the stall and finish in the oven. Going to roast some baby potatoes and sliced sweet potatoes to go with it.
What’s leftover goes into chili this week
Edit:
Sorry no after pics. Took another 2 hours to finish, being wrapped, so no hard bark. Tender, but not as much smoke flavor as my last one.
But was a gorgeous day here to be outside doing the cook.
going to wrap at the stall and finish in the oven. Going to roast some baby potatoes and sliced sweet potatoes to go with it.
What’s leftover goes into chili this week
Edit:
Sorry no after pics. Took another 2 hours to finish, being wrapped, so no hard bark. Tender, but not as much smoke flavor as my last one.
But was a gorgeous day here to be outside doing the cook.
dravnx
Well-known member
15 lbs of Pastrami fresh out of the smoker.
Knifemaker
Not me
So is that just store bought corned beef you smoked?
Been doing some smoking now that the weather is better, which has me farkling up the old Oklahoma Joe again. A while back I think I had reported that the firebox was drooping because the weight of the firebox hangs on the side wall of the cook chamber. The OK Joes are all built of 3/32” steel, which is not thick enough to support the firebox where it is bolted on.
First step was to bolt a length of angle iron to the inside of the cook chamber using the top two bolts. That pulled the bow out of the end plate and got the firebox back up to level. This past week I decided to weld the entire firebox to the cook chamber to give it more support.
I was welding it out in my driveway so I used flux core wire. It makes a messy weld joint, but it is plenty strong.
Next I welded the top and bottom halves of the firebox together. Those welds aren’t too pretty either so I ground them down to nearly flush and shot them all with some 1000 degree BBQ paint.
And my last little add-on was to weld in a piece of 3/4” black steel pipe to the grease drain for mounting a 3/4” full flow stainless steel ball valve.
I recently ordered a new LavaLock chimney lowering kit to replace the old dryer vent mod that I put in 6 years ago. The lavalock kit is a sheet metal box that bolts to the inside of the cook chamber to bring the exhaust inlet down to grate level. So I’ll be putting that on when it comes in, then I should be good for another 6 years on this Old Joe...
oh yeah... One other thing I did recently was bring home this bad boy for days when I don’t feel like sitting around and playing with the fire.
First step was to bolt a length of angle iron to the inside of the cook chamber using the top two bolts. That pulled the bow out of the end plate and got the firebox back up to level. This past week I decided to weld the entire firebox to the cook chamber to give it more support.
I was welding it out in my driveway so I used flux core wire. It makes a messy weld joint, but it is plenty strong.
Next I welded the top and bottom halves of the firebox together. Those welds aren’t too pretty either so I ground them down to nearly flush and shot them all with some 1000 degree BBQ paint.
And my last little add-on was to weld in a piece of 3/4” black steel pipe to the grease drain for mounting a 3/4” full flow stainless steel ball valve.
I recently ordered a new LavaLock chimney lowering kit to replace the old dryer vent mod that I put in 6 years ago. The lavalock kit is a sheet metal box that bolts to the inside of the cook chamber to bring the exhaust inlet down to grate level. So I’ll be putting that on when it comes in, then I should be good for another 6 years on this Old Joe...
oh yeah... One other thing I did recently was bring home this bad boy for days when I don’t feel like sitting around and playing with the fire.
A few racks of babies goin’ in the new pellet burner for Mommy’s Day.
Auburn
Well-known member
Niehart
Pie Smuggler
I agree Bryan, very nice indeed.
Sorry kids, no photos were captured of the finished product. The ribs came out pretty good but our company was here and it was time to get down to the business of eating.
This was only my second attempt at using the pellet burner as a smoker. I had used it a few other times as a grille, and for that it is very good. The Pit Boss brand has a unique slider plate on the heat deflector that opens up slots for a direct heat path for grilling, or slid closed for indirect heat smoking. Burgers and Chicken come out really good on it, better than the old reliable Weber propane grille. But for smoking pork ribs, it doesn’t seem to impart as much smoke flavor as I like.
The first time I tried I thought it may have been the meat I used (Chinese Smithfield Baby Backs from Wally World), but these racks were from our regular grocery store, meat that I am very familiar with, and they weren’t quite as good as some past efforts. I guess there has to be some reason to sit around and feed the stick burner all day.
As for future BBQ, our local market has an advertised special this week on Brisket. They cut their choice packers in half and are selling either the flat or point end at $3.99 a pound, very well trimmed. That’s a bargain around here. Flats are generally $6.99 when you can find them, and the only time we see brisket is during spring and summer. I snapped up 3 flats and 3 points and figured I’d cook them as pairs, but with the advantage that the flat ends can be wrapped earlier and pulled off earlier as needed. I’ve always had a hard time getting the point end done without drying out the flat.
This was only my second attempt at using the pellet burner as a smoker. I had used it a few other times as a grille, and for that it is very good. The Pit Boss brand has a unique slider plate on the heat deflector that opens up slots for a direct heat path for grilling, or slid closed for indirect heat smoking. Burgers and Chicken come out really good on it, better than the old reliable Weber propane grille. But for smoking pork ribs, it doesn’t seem to impart as much smoke flavor as I like.
The first time I tried I thought it may have been the meat I used (Chinese Smithfield Baby Backs from Wally World), but these racks were from our regular grocery store, meat that I am very familiar with, and they weren’t quite as good as some past efforts. I guess there has to be some reason to sit around and feed the stick burner all day.
As for future BBQ, our local market has an advertised special this week on Brisket. They cut their choice packers in half and are selling either the flat or point end at $3.99 a pound, very well trimmed. That’s a bargain around here. Flats are generally $6.99 when you can find them, and the only time we see brisket is during spring and summer. I snapped up 3 flats and 3 points and figured I’d cook them as pairs, but with the advantage that the flat ends can be wrapped earlier and pulled off earlier as needed. I’ve always had a hard time getting the point end done without drying out the flat.
Without welding skills, I'm glad I didn't commit to an OK Joe.
Heh, well I have very limited welding skills too, as you can see from my photos, but with a little time and practice they are getting a little better, especially when I can use shielding gas. And I didn’t really need to weld the firebox halves together or to the cook chamber. I mean, it worked perfectly well for 6 odd years just being bolted together. I’m probably only doing these things to stave off the big urge to buy some “over the top” smoker that would cost me a couple of thousand bucks before it cooked any meat.
From a value perspective the OK Joe was pretty good. The pit cost me less than $200. I’ve put another $150 or so in mods into it and it’s still working all this time later. It has been a good pit to learn stick burning on. Maybe more demanding than a big heavy gauge pit because you really have to regulate your fuel loading on such a lightweight pit.
Which brings me to the latest mod. Here’s a photo of the old “dryer vent” exhaust lowering configuration:
As you can see it extends fairly far into the limited width cook chamber. The Cook chamber on this OK Joe Highlander model is 18” in diameter and 35” long, so space is of a premium.
Now, here is the new LavaLock chimney lowering mod from bbqsmokermods.com.
As you can see, this rectangular extension protrudes far less into the cook chamber, and it is welded together out of reasonably thick steel that should last as long as the pit.
I got lucky that the new extension did not interfere with my silicone Weber temp probe port. Worth being aware of if you are ever thinking of doing a similar mod.
I like how low the outlet is now, and that it barely sticks out past the edge of the door opening. And before I installed it, I calculated the cross sectional area of the box (2” deep, 4.5” wide) is greater than that of the 3” diameter chimney pipe, and it is. So it should not cause any restriction more than the dryer vent did.
Blind Squirrel
Well-known member
That certainly seems to be the case.
Going to try cooking some brisket halves on the pellet burner today. One of the local NERDS is coming up for a valve check & adjust today, which requires an overnight cool down for the bike after he gets here, so hopefully we’ll be chowing down on some beef tonight.
Going to try cooking some brisket halves on the pellet burner today. One of the local NERDS is coming up for a valve check & adjust today, which requires an overnight cool down for the bike after he gets here, so hopefully we’ll be chowing down on some beef tonight.
biknflyfisher
Well-known member
For doing an all day smoke with an OK Joe, you certainly are tied to being around home to manage the fire and keep things regulated. I’ve been using it (Highland model) regularly this Spring doing pork shoulder/Boston Butt and country style boneless pork ribs.
In the year that I’ve had the unit, it’s been fun to learn it’s nuances and try new things. Saturday I did more country style ribs and 2 big chicken breasts tied together like a “loaf” to keep them from drying out - worked like a charm.
Even though I fully seasoned the smoker, the paint is peeling off in many spots. But, as I’m in Central Cal. I don’t believe I’ll have much of a rusting problem as we have no humidity to speak of, and not much rain any more...
Brian the biknflyfisher
In the year that I’ve had the unit, it’s been fun to learn it’s nuances and try new things. Saturday I did more country style ribs and 2 big chicken breasts tied together like a “loaf” to keep them from drying out - worked like a charm.
Even though I fully seasoned the smoker, the paint is peeling off in many spots. But, as I’m in Central Cal. I don’t believe I’ll have much of a rusting problem as we have no humidity to speak of, and not much rain any more...
Brian the biknflyfisher
I'm using the even lower-rent Char-King/Char-Griller Akorn Kamado. I manage the feeding of the air (which controls burn rate) with one of these (my specific one is discontinued but there are newer versions).
https://bbqguru.com/productinfo/comparebbqcontrols
https://bbqguru.com/productinfo/comparebbqcontrols
Brian the biknflyfisher - Yeah, the paint they use on the OK Joes is okay for the cooking chamber, but blisters off the firebox pretty much the first time you use it, especially if you are burning wood in it. I usually just hit it with a wire brush and shoot some 1000 degree BBQ paint on it when I get tired of it looking rusty.
If you look back at my earlier posts in this mega thread I showed where I cut 4” wide strips of flagstone that I had laying around using an angle grinder with a diamond wheel. I laid the strips around the bottom half of the firebox both for protection of the bottom and to act as a heat sink to help steady the fire temp. The retained heat seems to help maintain the small fire that you need to have so the cook chamber temp doesn’t sky rocket.
Part of the firebox problem is that the only air inlet is the end door which is low down. I’m considering adding a secondary air inlet up higher to allow cool air to mix with the hot smoke. I’ve tried sticking a thin piece of wood in the top firebox door to simulate the same effect, and that seems to work.
Oh, and here are a 4 lb Hunk o’ Flat and 4 lb Hunk o’ Tip going on the pellet burner at 8 this morning:
And 2 hours in...
So far so good...
If you look back at my earlier posts in this mega thread I showed where I cut 4” wide strips of flagstone that I had laying around using an angle grinder with a diamond wheel. I laid the strips around the bottom half of the firebox both for protection of the bottom and to act as a heat sink to help steady the fire temp. The retained heat seems to help maintain the small fire that you need to have so the cook chamber temp doesn’t sky rocket.
Part of the firebox problem is that the only air inlet is the end door which is low down. I’m considering adding a secondary air inlet up higher to allow cool air to mix with the hot smoke. I’ve tried sticking a thin piece of wood in the top firebox door to simulate the same effect, and that seems to work.
Oh, and here are a 4 lb Hunk o’ Flat and 4 lb Hunk o’ Tip going on the pellet burner at 8 this morning:
And 2 hours in...
So far so good...
Knifemaker
Not me
What’s worked well for me at keeping rust off the firebox on my offset is to spray the crap out of it with canola oil before I start the fire. I do this every time I cook. What this does is “season it” like you do for a cast iron skillet. Then a light spray after I’m done cooking when it cools off some. I only use high temp paint on the parts that don’t get hot.
I honestly should get a cover for the thing.
Congrats on the pellet smoker... always good to have options
I’ve been mulling over the idea of getting one, but tell myself I need to finish installing the stoker on my UDS first. I have the controller, just need to buy the blower.
I honestly should get a cover for the thing.
Congrats on the pellet smoker... always good to have options
I’ve been mulling over the idea of getting one, but tell myself I need to finish installing the stoker on my UDS first. I have the controller, just need to buy the blower.
Might the flagstones have added weight and contributed to your needing to weld?
moto2wheelin
Well-known member
I have also added the PB pro pellet grill to my smoking options recently. I too quickly found that it does not provide the smoke that I am used to from my stick burner Klose pit! The only thing I have tried that has helped is buying an adjustable smoke tube that you fill w/ pellets and put inside the chamber. It does help add some flavor!
