leo238•3d ago

Spent 3 hours chasing a temp issue on my offset smoker

I was trying to hold 225 on my Oklahoma Joe and kept dropping to 190 no matter what I did with the vents. Turned out I had a wet log that was smothering the fire the whole time after I topped off the fuel box. Anyone else wasted a whole afternoon on something this dumb?

3 comments

3 Comments

riverp373d ago

I wasted a whole afternoon chasing the same thing" ... I gotta be honest here though I don't think it was the wet log at all. Sounds like you might have been overthinking the vents and not letting the fire breathe right from the start. A wet log can definitely cause issues but you could have just pulled it out and kept going without losing three hours. Honestly I've seen guys run their offsets at 190 and get better bark and smoke flavor than 225 ever gives you. Sometimes chasing that perfect temp is just a waste of good cook time.

alexlewis3d ago

Hate that feeling, @riverp37.

jesse843d ago

Agree with you man. Once I stopped worrying about hitting 225 exactly and just let the fire settle where it wanted I started getting way better results. The wet log thing is a distraction honestly. Even if it was damp you could have just tossed it and thrown in a dry split and been back on track in 10 minutes. The real issue is probably that you choked the vents down too early trying to fix a temp drop and then the fire smoldered instead of burning clean. That thin blue smoke everyone talks about? You don't get it by babying the fire you get it by having a hot clean burn and feeding it right. Last weekend I ran my offset at 190 for six hours straight because the wind was kicking and the bark was perfect. Crispy almost. Way better than the rubbery stuff you get when you fight to keep it at exactly 225 the whole time.