Smokin' Jacket


 
P

Pat Smith

TVWBB Wizard
A couple of months ago, I bid on and won a BBQ Guru Smoking Jacket for my 18" WSM. When I put my Super Bowl butts on the WSM about 11:00 p.m. Saturday night, the temps here in Central Alabama were in the high 20's and there was a bothersome wind that concerned me.

When the smoker temp got to about 235, I slipped the Smoking Jacket on the WSM. Easy on, great fit, and long enough that it extended below the vents to help minimize the effects of the wind.

I checked on the smoker temp about 30 minutes later and it was still around 240 - so far, so good. I checked again about 12:30 - steady as she goes - and again around 2:15 - up to about 245 - still good. I slept for a few hours, and got up about 7:00 a.m. - still at 245. Wow - talk about consistency!

I left the Smoking Jacket on until about 11:00 a.m. when I checked the butts. They still had a little time to go to finish so I slipped the jacket back on. I pulled the butts from the smoker about 12:30 and the temp was still sitting right on 245.

That's not particularly unusual for the WSM, but I expected to fight the temps a little bit in the cold. However the Smoking Jacket helped keep the temps on the smoker rock solid steady for 13.5 hours.

That was GREAT, but the real surprise was when I took off the mid section to sit my grill grates over the coals to burn them off, only to discover that I had about 3/4 of the load of B&B Lump Charcoal left!

After a 13+ hour cook, the amount of burned charcoal was negligible! This WAS a real surprise. I've cooked quite a bit on this particular brand of charcoal and it's well suited to smoking because of the relatively large size of the charcoal chunks but still, to have this much charcoal left after such a long cook was amazing! I almost drove to the Piggly Wiggly to get some ribs to put on the smoker!

So, after this, I think I can safely say that I am a big fan of the Smoking Jacket!!!

Pat
 
Pat,
Does the smoking jacket have holes/grommets on the top for moisture and smoke exhaust ? Also, does it have an opening for the temp gauge in the lid ?
 
I love my Silver Bullet jacket, and it gets a lot of use especailly during the winter months when we have high winds off of Lake Erie. I only use it when my DigiQ II is hooked up and running. However, I am happy to hear that I can use it without the ATC.
 
Yes Chris it has a grommet at the top of the jacket. You should know that it you use one of these jackets you can expect the handle on the lid to turn brown from the smoke.
 
Chris - no opening for temperature gauge, but there is a vent for smoke. I foiled the handle to keep it from discoloring from the smoke.

When I checked the smoker temp, I just slipped the jacket off then slipped it back on. It's an easy process.

Pat
 
I made my own smoker jacket and I still can't get over how little charcoal I use now. For my last smoke it was -25C and windy, and I started with 1/2 a ring of charcoal and most of it was still there after 15 hours. The jacket didn't cost much to make, and it paid for it's self pretty quickly.

I added three grommets to the top of the jacket, aligned with the top vent so I can still use a vent thermometer.

I made the jacket so I could smoke in the cold, but I'm going to continue using it in the summer just because it saves so much charcoal.

-Mark.
 
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