The Texas BBQ Forum

I picked up an old country over and under at academy sports after my side box needed to be retired. Have used it 4-5 times now and have a real issue getting temp up over about 200 (on their screw in thermostat). One time I did but had about 5 pieces of oak in the fire box to get it to 225. What took about 3-4 hours is now taking 6-8 hrs. I have added gaskets on smoke box to reduce heat loss. Flavor is great, just too much time. Any ideas are appreciated

It could be a number of issues. Too much fuel, too little fuel, wrong fuel, bad fuel, too little oxygen.

Can you give us some more detail on your cooks? At least as it pertains to the pit itself and how you're building your fire.

Plenty of knowledge spread amongst the members of the forum. We'll get it worked out, but it will likely take some experimentation, which means more cooking, which is a good thing!

Start with chimney of coal on top of unlit briquettes then add hardwood on top of that. After a while add more charcoal vs wood

Add more wood as other burns, can hold 200 forever. Last time stacks wide open with lower vents

I'm no builder but, if this is the unit you have, it sure seems ill designed to me with the smoke stacks almost directly over the fire box - - - - is there a plate of some kind between the fire and stacks to deflect the heat and smoke from being a direct flow from fire to exhaust?????

Try, with or without cooking, leaving the lower vents all the way open, and opening the door. See if the increased air flow helps at all. As an example, on my offset, I leave the door open 1-2 inches (in addition to the intake being wide open) to increase the volume of air moving through it. The hotter I want the pit, the more I open the door.

I've looked at them in the store and the exhaust is indirect, all smoke/heat flows into the cook chamber then out the the exhaust.
I was tempted to buy one, the design looks very good.

thanks, CD, I sure couldn't tell from the photo - - - is it similar to a reverse flow ????

I have tried the basics, even put some bricks in to retain heat. Vents open, chimneys open, door ope, hot as blazes fire! Will keep experimenting but if anyone has more tricks, please share

On the cooks you already did, was the meat cooking very slowly in addition to the low temp readings?
Do you have digital temp probes in there at the cook grate level or are you reading a door gauge? A good quality door gauge?

OldUsedParts wrote:thanks, CD, I sure couldn't tell from the photo - - - is it similar to a reverse flow ????

It may be reverse but with the stacked set up it's hard to tell.
When I looked inside I could not see where the smoke comes in OR goes out so it's not straight through for sure...
I'll see if they have one on display so I can take a pic tomorrow.

Vent holes high in the fire box then through hold to low open vent in smoke box

OldUsedParts wrote:I'm no builder but, if this is the unit you have, it sure seems ill designed to me with the smoke stacks almost directly over the fire box - - - - is there a plate of some kind between the fire and stacks to deflect the heat and smoke from being a direct flow from fire to exhaust?????

OldCountry.jpg

yes it has a plate that separates the chamber from the box... its supposed to deliver even cooking.

Interested to know how this turned/turns out?
I found one for sale used and am sorely tempted...

There is a guy on youtube who used one, I think its madscientistbbq and it looked like he used a lot of wood to get the temp he needed. I am guessing since the firebox is so huge some of the heat is lost just in the firebox. I am sure if you get a grate thermometer the temp would read a lot higher since the factory one is probably in the coldest position.

I've recently purchased my over and under smoker, but have done tons of research over the past two years, before this purchase. There is a damper that separates the firebox from the smoke chamber. There is a handle on the side of the smoker that allows you to open this all the way to allow more airflow. The design flaw is that you must HOLD this handle open to get that additional airflow. That will get your temp up.

I'm working through a solution that will allow me to keep it open at various levels, without holding it.

Good luck!