Quote:
Originally Posted by wayner123
Does the one touch still seal well enough to keep temps steady?
|
The firebricks help a LOT with keeping the temps constant. To me, it doesn't seem like it requires any more adjusting than really any other small smoker. You have to make a few adjustments for the first half-hour - hour or so, then after that, you can just leave it for like 5-6+ hours without having to fiddle with it. Then, as you get toward the point where the coals are just about all spent, you have to either add more or make adjustments. I've had mine hold constant for 4-5 hours on a partial fuel load, then I noticed that the temps were dropping slowly, so I opened up the vents a bit more, but never looked inside, temps climbed back up - about 20 minutes later, falling again - opened the lid and looked, I had two or three tiny little remnants of briqs still left. It had been essentially out of fuel yet holding temp long before I made that first adjustment.
The oddest thing for me was realizing that you can close the air damper down to 0% while leaving the lid vent at 100% and it won't go out, it'll just sit there, chugging along low and cleanly for hours on end because the vanes do leak as does the lid sides.
If you need more heat buffering, you can add a loaf pan full of hot water on the grate over the coals, this is how the
Smokenator adapter works. (some of their claims don't quite jive mathematically, but most ad copy is always slightly exaggerated).
The other cool thing about the OTS as a smoker, is that if you absolutely HATE it or can't get the hang of it (I don't feel it's really any more or less challenging than any other pit I've used), you can always just take the firebricks out and just use it as a grill. You're only out six bucks, and you can still use the firebricks one per side when you make indirect charcoal mounds for things like fish or chicken.