Held 250� temp at -31� this morning

Man, that is heartwarming! I'm reminded of the 40 degree days when my offset couldn't maintain 225* without constant tending.

Speaking of blowing up one's smokestack, for that very reason, do you think it would be wise (at least in untended cooks) to install a 90* elbow on the exhaust pipe and cap it to keep the rain out just for those situations where you're not there to see the wind change? I'm envisioning a removable unit, maybe 1 ft. straight out with an elbow of 6-9 in. and Eddy's dryer vent cap idea.

I do my cooks with the unit in the garage and the exhaust pointed towards the door. I do this ONLY because it rolls so nicely in the garage and the unit doesn't have to stay out in our rainy environment. Plus <I> don't have to go out in our rainy environment.

I was thinking the same thing about the exhaust pipe. I also had a thought about restricting the outlet to provide a more smokey environment. I was thinking about putting some type of iris on the exhaust. I need to talk to Eddy first to find out his thoughts on that one. I am sure they did some R&D to find the optimal balance between the fan rate and the exhaust.

I load the unit in the heated garage, push it outside quickly, and run back to the garage where it is warm.

I have been to Portland many times and it is quite rainy. I guess I would take that over the frozen tundra up here.

Craig

Yeah, I'm betting that closing off the exhaust might be counter productive. I know that ANY closing of the damper on an offset stick burner results in ashy food.

Ever think of cutting a 5" hole in the garage wall and piping your exaust thru the hole to the outdoors? All your smoking can then be done right in that heated garage. The FE doesn't produce any appreciable heat except inside the cooker, so why not?

And we like to perpetuate the "rain" theory to keep too many people from moving here. Our annual rainfall is actually less than my home town in Illinois and many other places not thought of as "rainy". It's just that we get a lot of very light rain as opposed to gully washers. If you're ever coming to PDX again soon, look me up and we'll do a BBQ.

KDM is probably correct about leaving the exhaust alone except for piping it outside. Mine is piped through my concession trailer roof with double walled 5 inch pipe and a cap. The pipe just gets warm at 275*F internal.

There is a very easy way to increase the smoke taste. I use Eddy's blended pellets and am quite satisfied with that level of smoke flavor. There are 100% pellets out there that are about the same price. However, with what you are using now and you want to increase the smoke flavor just bring your oven up to cooking temp, put the cool meat in and put the oven controller back to smoke. How long will vary with how much smoke you want. It is said that smoke is absorbed into meat to an internal temperature of 140*F, after that your just cooking slow. I haven't tried it but I have heard that 1 to 2 hours in the smoke position will probably achieve closer to what you may be looking for. Perhaps a piece of paper to write down times to compare later will help. You know like a scientist!

Some say to leave the meat out a half hour or sometimes even longer before going into the oven...I go right from the reefer...maybe a little more fuel consumed but that is the taste I like for my customers. Or I should say it is what they seem to like.

Peter
Maybe more info here at my web site

I saw your venting, Pete, and if you send that pic to SmokinOkie he'll email you a URL and you can then attach it to this post and EVERYBODY will see how to vent one properly.

Kerry

Picture isn't that complicated. Just cut and paste the URL.

Oops, just read the other post where Smokin'Okie says he wants us to submit pictures to him. Will do from now on.

Hey Tom, it is easy...

but we like to have the pictures on the CS server, not elsewhere. In the other forums, which have been going for 4 years, you'll find a number of picture links that are broken. It's because photos are on other servers, and either those servers disappear of the link changes in 4 years.

NO biggie, I'm here to provide the service, so just email the photos to me. I'll copy his photo off and fix the above threads.

Smokin'

About the exhaust pipe, I've acquired a 90 elbow and a vent cap because if the wind is straight into the pipe, here in Oklahoma, that wind can be 30MPH on a slow day and it seemed to have an effect.

What I'm doing, however, is mapping the smoker, with vent and without vent to see if it affects it.

That's my project this weekend.

Smokin'

All the piping and the 2 elbows you see in the picture above posted by Tom Chilton where purchased at my local Ace Hardware store. I had to cut slits in the outer layer of the double walled pipe to clamp around the FE pipe. The hose clamps are not sufficient, a "T" clamp, used for marine exhaust, is, but it seems to be okay for the mean time. I don't move the unit so probably I won't need the more expensive "T" clamp. Then I used stove pipe cement to seal it.

I recall that the male end of the single walled pipe would fit inside the FE pipe but then you're installing the pipe backwards so when you get ready to install the cap it is the wrong gender! And...if there is a rain issue, rain will enter the intersections because it is all backwards. Go figure!

The 2 sections of double walled pipe, a total of 8 feet, the 2 rotating elbows and a cap ran about $100. For the same in single wall it would have been about $35!

I had a device on my sailboat for my diesel heater known as a rotating Charlie Noble. It is a vent cap that sort of looks like a wind vane. This may be an answer. I have found one at the following link, it fits a 3 inch pipe, but perhaps you could ask this marine supplier where they get them from or perhaps you could have one built, or build one yoursel! They can be a bit noisy as they rotate.

The diesel heater has a rather slow flame which I would think is quite a bit more sensitive than the CS/FE.

Peter