First cook w/ pics

i picked up my fat 40 from Okiejay last weekend. I seasoned it on Monday and Friday night I did 2 packers and a butt. I also made some of my beans that turned out better than ever cause I put them under a brisket during the last few hours. I also did a breakfast fatty. Sorry about the odd sized pics for some reason my camera stores the images in different megapixels and when I edit them they come out all off.

fat 40


packers and butt in the early morning


sliced fatty


Burnt ends


sliced brisket


pulled pork


I have a question. It seems that I loose my hot coal base after a couple hours. Almost like the grating is to big and all of the coals are falling through. I was also having to add two 4-5" X 18" logs every 45 min to an hour and from what I have read this seems like to much. If the base would stay there my thinking is that would help hold some heat in. Any tips would be appreciated.

Other than learning the querks to it its an awesome cooker. Temps ran smooth all night long and the food was great. Kudos to Travis for building this bad a$$ smoker.

I had the same problem, I was using all wood going through 2 sticks every 45minutes to an hour, I was at the comp and a buddy of mine suggested I use more coal less splits so I have tried it the last 2 times, Royal Oak Briquetts and a split on each side every 2 hours, I am getting 2 1/2 hours without messing with it much. I have the exhaust open 1/4 and my dampers open all the way and then adjust by opening and closing the exhaust. Seem to be able to keept a 225 temp with out much trouble. I did have a local welder make a few mods I will add pics this weekend. He built 2 charcoal trays for me, 4 inches high on one side and 10inches high on the other and 15 inches long.

Nice looking brisket Scoutguy! The only problem I think some people are having with the temps are maybe (assumption only) that maybe you are located in a more humid or higher elevation, where there is less oxygen to burn. I live in both a dry and low elevation area and I can keep temps pretty well for an hour with one 18"-24" split. I do go through a lot more wood when it's crazy windy or really cold, but that's only during the winter.

Good luck!

I'll have to give that a try. I'm doing more brisket and ribs this weekend so I'll see what happens. I think I will also fab up a grate that sits inside the other one to hold more coals in. Sticks, how much RO did you add everytime?. I used about 30 good size sticks of hickory and apple and till I get my pile seasoned I have to buy local. At $50 a run the wife is gonna kill me if I can't make it more efficiant. sp? Thanks for your advice. I will let you know how it goes.

I don't know if you have an ACE true value close by but you can get a 18lbs bag of RO for 4.99 Walmarts off brand briquette is made by Royal oak as well.

I did another brisket and 2 slabs of spares this weekend and it went a lot better with the wood. I placed another smaller hole grating over the existing one. I started with 2 chimneys of unlit RO briquettes added 1 lit on top and then 2 4" splits. I used roughly half the wood I used last weekend. I had the intake open 1/4 to 1/3 and the stacks closed about 1". It ran a very consistent 230 all day long. The more I use it the better I love it.

Thanks for you help fellas,
Scott

Are you plannng on doing any competitions? I have 3 under my belt this year and am trying to squeze in 1 more if the wife will let me. The last 3 cooks I have used RO Bricketts and a 1 stick pecan per side every 2hours and am averaging 8 bags a cook and need to adjust a little every 2-3 hours. Real happy with it.

Next year we will be doing the NKC snake Saturday comp and most likely the Lenexa BBQ battle. We will probably do the BrairQ at Briarcliff village again(small ribs and chicken deal). I would like to do the crosspoint cookoff that you did earlier this year and maybe the royal if I can find another team mate or two to share expenses. Although, the president of the company took me out to lunch a few months back and we got talking Q. He wanted to know if we were doing the Lenexa battle and I told him the entry fee was too much for my humble little team. I almost fell out of my chair when he asked if a coorperate sponsor would help. Of course I said UH-HUH. So if that is that case I would like to do 4-5 next year. It would be great if a bunch of us could get together and take over a corner at a comp with our chrome stacks blowin.

DPP Chrome...now that would be alot of fun.

There could very well be the possibility of a DPP corner at a contest. I know someone who is working on a contest in Las Vegas. So far, the details are as follows:

Location: The Orleans Hotel/Casino - Las Vegas, NV
Date: March 2009.
Minimum number of teams to participate: 100
Cash & Prizes: $100,000.00

I think this will bring a lot of out to play, from across the nation.

100 teams isn't that hard. I have a competition this weekend and we have 51 teams shooting for the $17,000 prize pool.

I would like to go, quite a road trip but what fun it would be..