Found a brick trick for temp swings on my offset smoker

I was fighting 40 degree temp swings on my 18 inch offset for months in Austin. Tried an old trick from a YouTube video where you put a firebrick in the firebox to hold heat longer. It dropped my swings to about 8 degrees. Anybody else use thermal mass tricks for their stick burner?

2 comments

2 Comments

ninam8616d ago

My buddy in San Antonio swears by putting a split of mesquite on top of his firebricks to get that extra radiant heat kick. I tried it once and ended up overshooting my target by 30 degrees lol.

luna_wells5716d ago

Oh I've definitely done the overshoot thing with mesquite (it's sneaky hot). One trick I picked up is to soak that split in water for like 30 minutes first. It'll still give you that radiant heat kick but it'll be more of a slow burn rather than a fireball. Also I'd pull your firebricks a little further apart next time, gives you more control over the air flow and keeps those temps from spiking so fast. That extra 30 degrees is rough though, I bet that brisket came out angry lol.