r/OffsetSmokers

Hi all, this was my first ever smoke and would love some honest opinions.
I was using the Oklahoma Joe Highland Offset and done some Beef ribs, Pork Ribs and chicken legs.
I forgot to photo the end results of the chicken but it was super moist and Smokey.
Smoker ran between 225-275•f.
Used the 3-2-1 method for the pork.
Beef ribs smoked for 3 hours and then wrapped for 3.
Chicken was thrown on at the last 1.5 hour mark and placed close to the firebox opening.

I posted here not long ago about how my first time using an offset was terrible and I ruined way too much food.
Well yesterday I gave it another go.

You all gave me so many tips and tricks and man did it make the difference thank you!!

I added a grate into my fire box so ash could fall away and I could remove it. I kept the door to intake open the whole time and never closed down the exhaust.

This is not too long into the smoke but had a few too many barley pops while I was tending the smoker and wasn’t thinking about a final picture.

Ultimately I just wanted to say you all rule and thank you for the encouragement to keep at it on an offset.

Show me what’s on your pit this morning!

So originally when I got into this I had the Masterbuilt gas pellet smoker that makes up the vertical cabinet portion of this, and when the bottom started to rot out of it where the burner was, I didn't want to waste the cabinet because it was in good condition, aaand I had a gas grill laying around that was also no good... so I stripped the top off of that and used the bottom as the base, throw on some old bed frame rails to add some counter space and firebox support, grab the fire box, side mount it all together, and Bob's your uncle.... we're smoking!

What I love about this is that I can do a lot of food or just a little food or I can take the racks out and hang ribs or whatever... I can do so many different things with it.... It's a great setup really.... My wife loves to add things she makes like Mac & Cheese last hour to get some smoke, we maximize and freeze whatever for later.

The one thing I realized from this overnight cook though, is I need to improve what I originally had intended as my V grates to constantly feed fuel down to whatever was burning in the middle... it doesn't maintain a decent coal bed so I now need to address this Firebox design.. I have the room to throw on split logs so instead of using chunks I'd like to be able to use split logs.... Definitely would have been nicer on this overnight then to constantly be adding fuel.

I often grab regular oak logs or the firewood bundles from whoever and pick out the oak or Hickory etc if I see it and cut the chunks myself 1/4s 1/3s even 1/2 sometimes so much better than any chips or pellets by far and way cheaper to source fuel.

Brisket came out just fine all things considered.

Hopefully everyone had a great smoke!

Training for the real thing