Brisket - Central Texas Style


 
That Kingsford sounds better then. They must have cheapened up the Old Country because mine is at least 1/8, but mine is at also 5 years old and of differing dimensions. The Old Country Wrangler was 3/16 I believe but the got rid of it and came out with the Wranger II which looks like junk. The thing I like better is the design. You may need to do some mods on the Kingsford, but nothing major. I'd worry about the exhaust and that charcoal grate.
 
But the weights given for the two ..... don't jive.

Academy says Old Country weighs 220# , HD says Kingsford weighs 200# .

Its anybody's guess :)
 
I had an old Brink-man Smoke & Pit and that thing was built like a tank. Newer ones I checked out in the store where light and flimsy and they definitely weren't worth buying.
I checked out an Oklahoma Joe at Farm and Fleet and that seemed like-it was well built, and had the tuning plates like Dustin mentioned.
Do you two have any thoughts on that, cause I do miss my Horizontal, not so much for the constant tending but more towards the killer smoke-rings I used to get.

Tim
 
I think the Oklahama Joe is fine and along the lines of the ones we've discussed. With any of these though, don't expect to use it in really cold weather and in high wind that easily.

My wife is going back to school to be an RN. After she gets out I've got the go ahead to get a nice offset. I'm looking at these:

http://www.lonestargrillz.com/24--x48---Offset-Pipe-Smoker.html

for a traditional and these

http://www.shirleyfabrication.com/product/patio-24x50-cabinet

as far as reverse flow.
What I like about the reverse flow is that you can have a warmer that can be a warmer, or act like a vertical if you shut off the damper for the main chamber. There's a ton of versatility. If you want to go with these things on a traditional you are more limited. Regardless, most people say they don't use them and to pay for the standard grid space. Franklin's book has me more looking at the traditional. But I'm years away from getting one and being able to afford a smoker that nice. Then you have to keep in mind how much you'd actually use the thing. We have a guy on the forum that has a Shirley and winds up using the WSM for overnight cooks. So I'll probably never actually get one.
 
timothy said:
I had an old Brink-man Smoke & Pit and that thing was built like a tank. Newer ones I checked out in the store where light and flimsy and they definitely weren't worth buying.
I checked out an Oklahoma Joe at Farm and Fleet and that seemed like-it was well built, and had the tuning plates like Dustin mentioned.
Do you two have any thoughts on that, cause I do miss my Horizontal, not so much for the constant tending but more towards the killer smoke-rings I used to get.

Tim
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Oklahoma Joes was a well known quality offset back in the 80's and 90's. Company was started by Joe Davidson in 1980, while he was in school at Ok State Univ. He built the Okie Joe name up and then sold to Charbroil in 1998. Since then, the quality is not what it once was. I recently saw an Oklahoma Joe's Highland model at Ace Hardware and it seemed tinny and flimsy to me. The door on the floor model did not fit right, could not believe Ace thought it would sell that way.

After Joe Davidson sold out, he went to Kansas City and partnered with another fella in a BBQ restaurant there called , of all things, Oklahoma Joes. ( I know, its hard to believe huh ) . But Joe sold out his interest a few years ago and they've changed the name. I believe its now just " Joes " .

After Joe sold to Charbroil, Joe's brother, Roger Davidson, started a pit building company in Perry , OK called Horizon. And its my dream offset. Like Dustin, I will never own one, but if I did, it would be the Classic 20" here

http://www.horizonbbqsmokers.com/backyard-smokers-1/

I hear that if you go to Horizon and want the 16" version, Roger will steer you to their 20". He says the air flow is much better on the 20" . Here's the Horizon story

http://www.horizonbbqsmokers.com/our-story/



Project+Smoke+Set+Pictures6.jpg
 
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Alan D said:
Lynn,

I still ponder if an offset is a better mouse trap in how you can easily clean and tend the firebox?

I'm a firm believer that no matter what type of smoker you have, as long as you can maintain stable temps, it will work just fine. This goes for barrels, bullets, offsets, refrigerators, cement rooms or whatever you use to smoke.

With that said, I think I would lean towards spending the big $$$s on a Summit Charcoal before I would spend the big $$$s on an offset. The reason is simple, the kettle offers more variety and is more useful to me. I use my kettle at least as much as my WSM, if not more. I would even say that the majority of 'que I do is high heat, so in that sense an offset doesn't make sense, although some have grills in the firebox, that is not a better grill than a kettle. The fact that the Summit Charcoal can do low/slow smoking is intriguing. Would it replace my WSM? I don't know, it's possible. I mean, you can do ribs, brisket, butts on the Summit Charcoal, and it seems a much more convenient way of grilling, and possibly smoking too.:summitcharcoal:
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I think he was just looking into a middle of the road offset. I really do like the Summit and if it was between that and a Kamado I'd probably go with the Summit. For most people a large offset makes no sense. Do I realistically cook for that many people often? Maybe 3 or 4 times a year if that. It's just one of those things. I can do pretty much anything I need with my Kettle and WSM, and in all honestly could do most things with just the kettle.
 
Dustin Dorsey said:
I think he was just looking into a middle of the road offset. I really do like the Summit and if it was between that and a Kamado I'd probably go with the Summit. For most people a large offset makes no sense. Do I realistically cook for that many people often? Maybe 3 or 4 times a year if that. It's just one of those things. I can do pretty much anything I need with my Kettle and WSM, and in all honestly could do most things with just the kettle.
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Well, sort've ..... I started this thread to discuss smoking with wood and Chris's attempt at replicating Franklin's brisket. That is the reason I'm looking at stick burners.

Its sort've been taken off the road, out into the weeds :)
 
Lynn Dollar said:
Well, sort've ..... I started this thread to discuss smoking with wood and Chris's attempt at replicating Franklin's brisket. That is the reason I'm looking at stick burners.

Its sort've been taken off the road, out into the weeds :)
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No problem, I've removed my comments to keep you on your road...Enjoy!
 
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Dustin Dorsey said:
I think Franklin is anti-reverse flow. The Old Country pits are in the 350 range I believe or maybe 400 for the Pecos. It's got a baffle plate and the exhaust is at grate level. Mine actually pre-dates the Pecos model and isn't quite as long. It cooks fairly evenly considering. If you are cooking just one brisket it doesn't really matter. I'd look at it. I think it's the best bang for your buck in the price range, and you can get a convection plate for it here.

http://www.bbqsmokermods.com/

I don't know if I would bother with it. I will point this out. I had the Old Country pit way before I had my WSM.
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Was in Academy yesterday and looked closely at this Old Country Wrangler offset.

https://www.academy.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_10051_653607_-1?gclid=CjwKCAjwwuvWBRBZEiwALXqjwxo4ELNLG_Qw_oz0_xxX0rK5Uo8C1MUiWFAqAK_zDUB65V8iJJeBuxoCR-UQAvD_BwE


I was impressed. It has all the after market mods that I see done on YouTube vids , smokestack intake at grill level, a welded in baffle, everything but the tuning plates. And its heavy 3/16 steel. Cooking chamber is not as long as most offsets, about 30" as opposed to 36" on most, but I don't consider that a huge problem. Similar smoker with 36" chamber and 1/4" steel is a cool $1,000.

Soooo, I start doing research on the net, trying to find reviews and experience of people who bought the smoker. And I see a ton of YouTube vids about building a charcoal cage for the firebox. This enables them to use the Minion Method. They put a log of wood in the cage , fill it with charcoal, and then pour a few lit coals on top. What they really doing is turning the offset into a WSM.

Now I wonder how many stick burner owners tire of the constant meddling with the fire, as it appears these charcoal baskets are a popular mod. And I found one YouTuber who bought an Old Country Wrangler in 2013, a year later he's building a basket for it, then a year later he sells it.
 
Still searching for reviews and experience with the Old Country Wrangler offset smoker ......... and offsets in general.

Found this review from 2013

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/old-country-bbq-pits-wrangler-smoker-review.142246/

And interesting, there's a poster who purchased the Wrangler in 2013 based on the review, posted bout how he loved the smoker, then in 2015 he posts he's sold it and is smoking on a 22 WSM.........

Thanks OKTORB, and you are most welcome. This will be my last post on anything about the Wrangler. Even though it is a dang good smoker, and I loved smoking on it, I've been using my 22.5 Weber Smokey Mountain for almost everything here lately...due to the ease of use. And, I'm getting too old to spend my weekends chasing temps on any offset. The WSM is by-far the easiest smoker I've ever used, and I've been smoking meat for 35 years. So, I put my Wrangler and a Weber propane grill on Craig's list and sold them both. My patio looks a lot better with just a 22.5 WSM and a 26.75 Weber Kettle. Anything I could ever want to cook, I can cook on one of those cookers.

Good luck with that brisket...the Wrangler spits out a pretty dang good brisket.
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Heck, here I am thinkin of sellin my 22 WSM to buy a Wrangler.

I hate buyer's remorse .......... and I hate sellin stuff on Craigslist, even more. I'd love to fiddle with one of these Wranglers, just to see if I can up my BBQ game smoking with wood, but I'm beginning to think the best kind of offset to smoke meat on ............ is somebody else's .
 
Lynn Dollar said:
Still searching for reviews and experience with the Old Country Wrangler offset smoker ......... and offsets in general.

Found this review from 2013

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/old-country-bbq-pits-wrangler-smoker-review.142246/

And interesting, there's a poster who purchased the Wrangler in 2013 based on the review, posted bout how he loved the smoker, then in 2015 he posts he's sold it and is smoking on a 22 WSM.........



Heck, here I am thinkin of sellin my 22 WSM to buy a Wrangler.

I hate buyer's remorse .......... and I hate sellin stuff on Craigslist, even more. I'd love to fiddle with one of these Wranglers, just to see if I can up my BBQ game smoking with wood, but I'm beginning to think the best kind of offset to smoke meat on ............ is somebody else's .
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One thing I noticed the last time I went to academy is that now they have a Wrangler 2 which is the same size of the wrangler but with about half the steel, so keep an eye out on that. Mine is not really a Pecos, it's kind of the precurser to that when they had a 16 inch and a 20 inch model. It doesn't have as big of a cook chamber but it has a small upper shelf, and the steel is maybe slightly thicker. The 20 inches is actually 19 inches. They do have a baffle and the exhaust is at grate level. Mine cooks pretty well, but you need small splits. A full size log won't burn. Think about the size of those Western Wood Logs and split that in half. I've got some branches I've cut down off my Pecan tree and seasoned, and they work perfectly. I also usually have the side open on the firebox as well.
 
You have to remember, meat quality, and equipment experience all come to geather in what you come up with. There is almost never a bad cook, just more knowledge and experience learned.
 
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