Greetings fellow BBQ enthusiasts.  I have a Horizon Smokers offset stick burner.  I've had it for 8 years or so, and while I have made some good bbq on it, I have made a lot of mediocre bbq.  

Its almost to the point where every time I fire it up, its like cooking on it for the first time.  I do the same things I did the last cook, and get wildly different results.  It has become so frustrating that I want to give up, trade in my man card, and buy a pellet grill.  I have watched countless youtube videos.  I've talked to other members about what I'm doing wrong.  And I still can't figure this damn pit out.  

Here's my current method:  Using oak splits a little bigger than the diameter of my wrist, and whatever twigs and sticks I can pick up out of the yard, I build a fire in the firebox.  Doors, lid, and dampener wide open.  After about 45 minutes to an hour, when this fire has burned down to mostly coals, I shut the lid, add a split, and adjust my firebox vent and dampener to get my temperature dialed in.  Sometimes I'll get good smoke and keep the fire going, sometimes I get bad smoke and the fire goes out.  It requires constant babysitting.  Usually adding a split every 20 minutes or so.  

I've been relying on the thermometers on the lid of the pit, and I think that may be part of my problem.  I picked up a Thermoworks dual probe thermometer a while back, and my plan is to do a trial run with no meat just to see how far off they really are.  

Is there anything else I should look at?  I got rid of the grate at the bottom of the firebox based on a recommendation of another ARFCOM'er, that seemed to help.  As did using smaller splits.  

I want to master this thing.  The best ribs I've ever eaten came off of it.  I want to be able to make them again, but I've never been able to replicate anything on this pit.  EVERY cook is different.  

Good BBQ shouldn't be this complicated.  Help me, O wise pit masters of ARFCOM!

Offsets are often the most challenging to work because there's a high amount of variability.

First thing I would look at: check for leaks. Anywhere that hinges open and closed. Put gaskets around the edges there. Check the welds to see if smoke is escaping out, and if they haven't, seal them with high-temperature sealant. The only place smoke should be leaving the unit is through the chimney. Anywhere else is a source of heat loss and a source for oxygen to come in, which will disrupt fire control.

Your fuel is the next source of variability. Anything that has a higher percentage of sap or anything flammable in it will burn hotter. Also any wood not as dry will smoulder and not burn, or retard fire, reducing temperatures.

ETA: The stick thermometers that most grills and smokers put in the lid is dogshit. They are off by a large margin and should only be used for a general measurement, not a precise one. As you found out, get a digital one. One on the cooking grates, one in the food.

When I run my stick burner I start it with a chimney full of charcoal. Then start adding splits.
One trick I learned was to pre-warm your next splits on top of the fire box. Don't leave them too long. Ive come back to find them on fire!

I will admit I don't use mine a lot. Its just easier to fire up the WSM.

I may have some leeks around the cook chamber door, I'll look into getting some seals for it.  

As far as the wood goes, I'm using stuff I split and stacked myself.  Only the best pieces go into the smoker, the rest gets burned in my fireplace or outside in my fire ring.  I try to use pieces that are seasoned, but not 3-4 years old and super dry.  Here in Louisiana its tough to keep it from rotting or getting bugs in it, even though its off the ground on racks.  

When I cook, I keep 2-3 pieces on top of the firebox to warm.  Haven't had any catch fire yet.

Use consistent wood and charcoal. No sticks from the yard. My offset works well with the vents nearly closed. The charcoal and wood last about an hour before I add more. Fluctuating temperature is not good. Horizon smokers rock.

I only use the twigs from the yard to get the fire going.  Mix of silver maple and oak.  

I've used charcoal and wood before but I can't remember if it was before or after I ditched the firebox grate.  May have to revisit this.

Watching Mad Scientist BBQ on youtube, he talks about having a fire that's barely burning.  There's flames, but your vents are closed down enough that they aren't big flames.  When I try to do this, my fire usually goes out and its a bear to get it back going.  Maybe with a bigger coal bed this would be easier to achieve.

I only have a cheap OK Joe offset.
But, shouldn't you have the chimney open pretty full and regulate the temp with the firebox damper?
You want the smoke to flow through the food chamber, or else it gets acrid?
Dual temp probes is a wise decision to get accurate readings of pit temps.

98% of the time fire control issues in stick burners is fuel.


Small offsets are difficult to maintain temps on.  Period.  So just know that right off the bat, you will never run an offset, especially small homeowner style pits, dead on 250 all day.  It's just not going to happen and it's not a big deal....at all.  

Couple things:

Make absolutely sure your fuel is dry.  Get a moisture meter.  Use it.  Test the INSIDE of the splits.  Split one of your splits and test the inside to get a true reading of moisture.  <15% moisture, around 10% is best in my opinion.  If you don't have dry wood, nothing else is going to matter.  

Leave your dampers, both intake and exhaust, wide open all the time.  Control the temperatures with the size of your fire remembering that temperature swings aren't that big of a deal.  Plus or minus 30 degrees is no big deal.  Most smokers do NOT have enough intake damper area.  Leave the door to the firebox open.

If those two things are good to go, your splits are still too big.  Probably both length and width.  Small offsets take really small splits.  Comically small sometimes.  

Build a bigger coal bed early.  Build your initial fire, as you do, add more to it after 15-20 minutes, let that burn down into coals and start the cook adding splits.  

A lot of times smaller offsets do not have big enough stacks...this is getting better but almost always adding a 3-5' length of black stove pipe to the stack will help an offset immensely.  

EDIT: After looking up your smoker brand...definitely add a longer stack.  Those are nowhere near long enough.  You need more draw.  Too much draw is ALMOST impossible.  

Thanks for the tips.  

I disagree with removing the FB bottom rack, getting air underneath will help. use a combo of charcoal and wood, charcoal for stable heat and wood to flavor and increase heat real fast. I run both my offset's ( 2 diff brand's) with firebox wide open and adjust heat by my stack dampner, one issue I see with your brand is that the stack is near the very top of cook chamber, figure out a way for the stack to draw air closer the the cook grate. I used heat duct stuff on my Lang, my outlaw does not need it. The temp at the top of the cook chamber doesnt matter, what is the temp at the cooking grate.

Planning a trial run this weekend, weather permitting.  I'm trying to narrow down the variables but there are a bunch.  

My game plan is to build a fire as I have been, get it "dialed in", and then start monitoring my temps with my new thermometer.  I can make some detailed notes and see what I learn.  

From there, I can start playing with things like the door and dampener position, split size, coal bed size, etc.

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I think I figured out part of my problem.  Factory thermometers were way off.  

Ran the smoker today from 11-6, things went surprisingly well despite the wind.  I started with a chimney full of lump charcoal, then started adding splits as needed.  Kept the dampener on the stack wide open, tried to use the vent on the firebox door as my "throttle" so to speak.  Was shooting for 250 degrees, I'd say I stayed between 220 and 290, with most of the cook being under 260.  Clean smoke probably 85% of the time.  

The ribs I cooked today came out good, though maybe they could've used a little more heat.  I ended up wrapping them and finishing them in the oven.  

I think I'll run it like this again.  As funds allow I'll seal the cook chamber door and pick up a moisture meter.  Some of my splits would burn, but water would sizzle as it cooked out the end of the piece.  When this happened, temps would drop.

Yes you need the grate to help in fire control, next you need the correct hard wood, not all wood is the same.  When you start your pit, chimney wide open and control fire with the fire box vent, you want to get some good coals before adding your meats or you may get dirty smoke taste on your meat.  Add a stick when the temp starts to fall or best just before sticks are burned down.  I would add 2 or three, do not worry about using too much as you can always close the firebox vent, leave the chimney alone. The secret is a good bed of coals. Offsets are work and a labor of love,  keep the meat chambe lid/lids closed as if you are peeking you ain't cooking and you loose your heat.  Pratice, pratice,pratice!

This is the best advice in this thread. For best results with a stick burner you want exhaust and vents wide open. You want a small fire that's burning clean and hot. You manage temp with the fuel load. You'll have to experiment to find what size splits work best and how frequently you need to feed the fire.

A trick that can mitigate less than perfectly seasoned wood is to keep your next couple splits on top of the fire boxes preheating. Even better is if you have enough room in the firebox to preheat your next split with out it catching on fire. A split that's well pre heated will be dry, ignite instantly, and immediately burn cleanly.

No other smoker turns out better BBQ than an offset burning real hardwood. I've cooked on all sorts of different smokers. Eggs, pellets, kettles, wsm, electric etc. They can all turn out fine BBQ, but none as good as an offset.

Yes, most built in thermometers suck.  I always use digitals when I use them.  If you want to replace the ones you have, look into tel-tru.  They're one of the better ones.  

If it's boiling water out of the splits, they're still very wet.  As you've found, that causes big problems and likes to cause dirty smoke.  

Glad this  cook went better.  I like higher temps on my ribs.  275-300.  Takes less time and the results seem the same or better than the lower temp cooks.  Keep at it, keep us updated.