Thanks, your video is well made and you explain things nicely! Keep up the good work. I think you have put me over the edge to go ahead and buy this grill.
Nice rig Dan! I know the post is 2.4yrs old but I'll tell you some things I did to my Highlands. I turned the grate 90 degrees in the firebox and raised it off the bottom and built a fire basket out of expanded metal. That helped keep air under the fire. I sealed between the firebox and cook chamber. I sealed both doors but the firebox seal didn't last. Now I see that it doesn't leak hardly at all. The cook chamber is sealed pretty tight. Good job on wrapping the grate with foil for a tuning plate. I bought the $100 tuning plate and it works, does exactly what I hoped it would. We use the heck out of this thing and it works great. I use almost no charcoal. Thanks for showing these modifications. Good luck!
Exactly what I was going to tell him, rotate the grate 90 degrees and take that pan out, as it’s actually blocking airflow. Then get yourself a charcoal basket that sits on top of your rotated 90 degree grate. That should help immensely.
Thanks 🙏 for making this video I also just purchased this grill and it was in my budget about to season it before I use it ! So hopefully that helps with the smoke 💨
That looks SOOOO much better in terms of smoke loss with just the factory made version before your modifications! GREAT video ! Just used mine for the first time last night, all of your tips will help greatly . Thank you !
Awesome. I really like my Oklahome Joe's. I'm planning on doing a brisket on Memorial Day. Thanks for stopping by. I also do cooking videos, showing how I use mine if you're interested.
I've got this unit. It's my first grill and I am satisfied. I've smoked some pork belly and it was delicious. The propane side is insane. One burner at minimum fire gives 350 F. Mine leaks smoke too. I used the propane side on minimum fire to increase the temperature in the smoke chamber to 250 F.
Awesome idea for the baffle. I was brainstorming ways of making one myself and gonna give your idea a try. I also recommend u make a charcoal basket. There's plenty of guides on making a quick and easy no-weld basket with a $25 piece of expanded metal from home depot.
I bought the OCBS Pecos. Burning it out as I type this then I will install the gaskets once it cools. I got lavalock gasket and rtv silicone gasket as I heard the sticky adhesive is not very good on the lavalock types. Rtv isn't rated for 1000° and it seems to work fine on your firebox. So, if I have any leftover lavalock I will use it on the firebox as well.
I just got the 3-in-1 Combo and it's been pretty great. But how did you actually mount your extra grill plate at an angle so it'd function as a baffle plate?
It’s not mounted per se. I angled it to fit up against the top of the opening into the cooking chamber. I now angle the second grill on top of that, and it just stays in place. Gravity.
Did you assemble the grill yourself or did you buy it built? I'm looking to buy this unit and don't necessarily have the building acumen. I'm probably going to buy it assembled
I fix my Oklahoma joe grill smoke leak with gasket for $9 and I did properly install the gasket. just upload the video on my channel. Main trick is to clean it first.
Hi there thanks for this. I just got this same model. Been having issues maintaining a fire and the right temperature. Do you have any tips on this? I start with charcoal and then add splits. (I buy the bag and then chop a little thinner) But I’ve also tried the wood chunks as well. Anyway, it often reaches well into the 300+ range, and then when I DO get it around the .250 mark it drops really fast and I’m adding wood every 30 minutes! So it feels like I’m adding wood too often, and then it’s not at the temp I want it anyway.
I was able to keep 235 with the side slightly open maybe a quarter and the stack the same way and I was able to smoke fall off the bone ribs in 6 hours
I sealed off the lower small open vent area that goes to the gas grill with a ball of foil and its been great. I did not see the reason for this vent because the main top chimney vent is right above it. This made the heat stay inside the middle area without having to add more charcoal because of heat leaving towards the gas chamber.
Dan, do you think the smoke that is creeping out of the lids seams really makes that much of a difference in the overall results of the food? Thank you
So you put the sealant AND the tape around your firebox opening? I have the same setup that’s leaking like crazy. I put just a high temp sealant, set the lid in it to conform, tested it out and still leaking pretty bad. It’s frustrating as my heat varies quite a lot and I’m always out maintaining it. Very time intensive
Nice video, thanks! A question about the gasket though. Some ppl put the gasket on the chambers like you, and others put it on the doors. Why did you choose the chamber option?
For the fire chamber, I won’t cook there, so on the chamber works. On the cook side, I put the gasket on the lid because food will go in and out of it and I don’t want juices, etc. dripping on the gasket.
I have the same model smoker as well, but I can't control the heat. I generally use apple wood chunks. The heat jumps to about 375 or higher. It is a fight to bring it back down. If you could do a video on controlling heat, that would be great!
I just bought this same grill and added lava lock gasket tape to the doors. However, the doors don’t close all the way now. Did you have that issue? I feel like it caused more of an issue. I’m thinking of adding lava lock door clamps to get the doors to shut all the way. Have you tried that yet? Thanks!
I don't have the clamps. I'd use the smoker as you currently have it for a couple months. I'm betting the gasket tape will conform better to your smoker over time. Best of luck.
My neighbor has one. The doors are severely offset. Let's more smoke out of the door than the chimney. Not enough room in the chamber for lost of meat.
You may need to purchase the baffle plate in order to distribute the heat throughout the chamber, but being yours isn't a highland, I would have imagined the heat not getting to temp.
cheap fix drill 1 hole on either side of handle on bracket and buy a couple of bungee cords you can figure where to put them for best tension should hold lid down to stop smoke leak
After it's used for a bit it will seal up on it's own. No need to go out of the way to seal all this up. It's new and clean. Give it a minute and it will work better.
I've seen people set up their grill side with charcoal. I've only cooked once that way. 99% of the time, my heat is coming from the firebox. Though I don;t think it hurt my grill the time I cooked directly with charcoal on the grill side. Thanks for watching.
I've had my triple grill for about 3 years now and I use charcoal in both chambers (except the gas side of course) and I've never had a problem. @Hog Wild BBQ, I use the side burner to get my charcoal chimney started. Great vid!!
Its a 3 in one, so Id assume you can put charcoal on the charcoal side to cook. Same as any conventional charcoal grille. I used my charcoal side yesterday, no issues at all. Great grille!
How is the foil working? I'm thinking about trying it. I know i can get a plate from BBQ smoker mods for 79$ but i would definitely rather save the money!
You know, I keep thinking I should change the foil, but I'm still using the original foil I put on. I'll probably change it in the spring. It's working really well.
Hog Wild BBQ how did you get the tinfoil extra grate to stay in its place? I tried positioning and can’t get it to stay there to even heat out. I also have an issue with my fire coming through the smoker hole and causing my meat to burn. Any suggestions
That would be a good video. I'm about to have a knee replacement, so I'm probably not going to make videos for a little while. But once I recover, I'll back up again.
Dan farge i bought this same grill around February 2019 And after playing with it i found if you open the stack about 1/8th of a inch and the breather slide 1/8th of a inch it does fairly well at holding temp around 225-250, but its all trial and error i guess lol
Starting the charcoal in "the little bucket" is easier to get the coals burning. By and large the only reason for the charcoal is to get the wood burning. If I used those wax burning things, I could start the charcoal in the firebox.
