Originally posted by wcpreston
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I can't wait to read your review. I'm sold on Backwoods, and I'm trying to decide between a G2 Chubby and a G2 Fatboy. -
I have purchased two trailer rigs now one was already built but I had to find a LTL company that would bring it up to me. Just finding one and scheduling it took nearly 3 weeks. The other one had to be built and then shipped. That was almost 12 weeks! The wait is agonizing for sure but it sounds like you're on the home stretch!Comment
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I received my Chubby a few months back. They gave me the same lead time of 4-6 weeks. It arrived in a little over 2 weeks. As far as seasoning it I just sprayed the inside with canola, threw in a full chimney of lump charcoal and ran it into the 300’s for awhile. After that I couldn’t wait much longer so I threw some chicken in there shortly after and the rest is history.Comment
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TBoneJack Unless your are cooking a ton of food, the G2 should be plenty big. It will hold 12 racks of ribs or about 6-8 pork butts at once. Here are four pics of the four shelves loaded with a variety of things for a single cook (I freeze a lot).
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Some hints.
Use the water pan with very hot water. Place a single layer of charcoal in the basket with wood chunks on top (will last 8-10 hours) Leave the back left corner empty and start with 12-15 well lit coals. Leave the top damper open fully all the time unless you are shutting down the fire.
Have the bottom vents fully open until the G2 gets to about 150 (using a probe on the middle shelf), then close both vents until you can only see a 1/4" opening. When it gets to about 215, close both bottom vents until the opening is covered (but don't close them completely). The G2 will settle in somewhere in the 225-235 range. This entire process takes 20-30 minutes from the time you put the lit coals in.
Once you put cold food in, you will see the temp drop due to the door being open and the cold food. But it recovers to target pretty quick without adjusting any vents. If you need to raise temp, slightly open the front right vent. You will quickly learn how to set the two bottom vents to vary the temp. A viper fan is a plus but really not needed except for convenience.Comment
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Just showed up! Way faster than 4-6 weekszAttached FilesComment
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I’m making this post while I’m doing my second dry run on my new G2 chubby. The first dry run was as per the directions with cooking oil sprayed on the inside with a small handful of coals. Now I’m trying to follow the directions above to get the smoker to come to 225 and hum. I’m going to post some pictures later but right now I’m standing in the dark staring at the thermometer waiting for it to get to 150° So I can start closing the dampers.
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OK.. somewhat rocky experience so far. It started out exciting. Not sure why, but seeing my name on written across the top of this superbly built wooden shipping container got me pretty excited. But getting it out of the crate was quite the experience.
Taking it apart was challenging. Instructions would have been helpful. There were a ton of these wood screws on all four sides. I used my screw gun to take them all out.
Then it wouldn't come apart. Then I realized a few screws were hidden behind the "FRAGILE" stickers. OK, NOW it'll come apart, right? Nope. Some scary crowbar work later is when I realized it was being held together by some really long staples. Once I figured out that secret, it was a piece of cake. But, honestly, it was a bit nerve racking not being sure where I should push or pull without slipping and scratching my brand new smoker. Once the walls were off, the unit itself was secured to the pallet with two 2x4s.
I unscrewed them and pulled them out. Then all I had to do was slide the 350 lb unit onto the floor and onto a hand truck to get it into the backyard. But given where I live, that was a special kind of fun. Check out the tiny route I had to take. Yes, any grills/smokers I've bought over the last 10 years have all made this treacherous journey. You can see my old COS and PBC in the picture if you look closely.
I'm going to close this post and make another that talks more about my experience with the smoker itself.
Attached FilesLast edited by wcpreston; December 15, 2018, 12:54 AM.Comment
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My experience with the smoker itself is also going a little rocky.
I called support and got right in. Not sure how that would have gone if I had waited for the weekend, but the first thing that happened was they checked where I bought it to see if it came directly from them. (Not sure how support would have gone if I hadn't.) But since I bought it from Big Poppa Smokers, the unit was shipped directly from Backwoods, so I qualified for support. I was transferred pretty quickly to a very helpful guy.
The first problem I had was that it won't sit level on a level surface. It's on a concrete slab and it wobbles back and forth. I even moved it around a bunch of places on the slab to make sure it wasn't the slab. He told me to cross-measure the unit to see if it is out of square. I did, and it's not. Not sure what's next.
The second problem was that the top door wouldn't stay shut. It would just pop open. He explained why the door problem exists and how to address it. (It has to do w/the super hard gaskets they use.) I'm supposed to slam the door w/my hand on the handle. That worked like a charm. He said I only have to do that for the first four or five cooks.
In my first version of this post, I complained that this should have been in the including documentation. Um... it was. I missed that page. I do think it should have come with pictures.
I started my break-in run anyway. As the instructions said, I wiped down the inside and spraying it with vegetable oil and ran it at 350 for a while with nothing inside.
Note: I could have avoided the next paragraph if I had properly read the directions.
I tried to do a dry-run where I followed jlazar directions above. Suffice it to say I did not achieve the desired result. It ran high for the first hour or so, then a few hours later dropped down to 150. I did buy (and am waiting on) a temp control unit, but I thought I wasn't supposed to need one for this thing. I will say I used the temp gauge on the front, not my digital thermometer, because the latter has gotten very unpreditable lately. But I did read that this was a pretty solid gauge, so I thought it would be ok.
Go ahead and read on.
Last edited by wcpreston; December 15, 2018, 04:26 PM.Comment
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wcpreston. Here are my thoughts based on my G2. First, a temp control is nice but you should not need it. My last cook, I used the fireboard/fan on the kettle while using just the fireboard/temp probe on the G2.
The gauge in front is not accurate but not that far off to do a dry run test. Top shelf will be hottest (+20 to the gauge), 2nd shelf from top +10 from the gauge, 3rd shelf 0 - +5, and bottom -5 to -10 from the gauge. These variations will hold from true for a probe on the 3rd shelf. That will be 0. Bottom -10, 2nd +10, top +20. Not an issue because the majority of the time you are only cooking on 1 or 2 levels. I use the top level to crisp things up.
How long did it take to get to 150, 200 and what final temp did it climb to? I have learned in starting the G2 that one of the biggest problems is putting in too many coals to start. Once it gets too high, it takes a while to bring it back down. It is better to bring it up to temp slowly with fewer coals. If it is moving too slow, open the vents a little. I learned how to do that in about 3 smokes. You will learn to control temp using primarily the right front vent.
When it dropped down to 150 did you try opening the vents a little. Did you visually look to make sure the charcoal in the grate was close enough to snake? Would be very surprised if this didn't come up within 10-15 min. Is the top exhaust completely open. I think this is just a learning curve for you.
Agree on the hard gasket to start with. That is normal. Can't speak to the wobble. The opening on my G2 is pretty close to 90 degrees but not perfect. Your doors should overlap well over 1/8 inch and not impact temp.
PM me your phone number if you want to talk. John
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I had a nice chat with jlazar this morning. SO nice to have someone to talk to on a Saturday.
Turns out I DIDN'T follow his instructions correctly. Specifically, I put the hot coals in the back RIGHT corner, not the back left corner. "Why does that matter," I asked? "That's where the vent is!" he said. Oh... <sheepish grin>
So I'm doing another dry run today. I'm also run three thermometers: built-in, my Maverick, and my "Meater" in a mug of cold water. (It needs something to "cook.") I'm checking all three temps every few mins and recording the results. Interesting all three read differently each time. But if you account for the fact that the electronic ones are about 6" higher than the built-in, he said that would happen. In fact, I moved one of the electronic ones down 6" and voila. 10 degrees cooler.
Not sure which thermometer I'm going to base my actions off yet. I've had some issues w/my Maverick lately, and I do not trust the Meater yet. Interestingly enough, though, the Meater is matching the door temp pretty closely. The Maverick is now 14 degrees lower.
30 mins in it was at 150. I closed the vents to 1/4" as directed.
70 mins temps just aren't getting to 200. (173). So I opened the vents to 1/2" and I'm watching closely.
Why is this taking so long?
I also swapped out the water in the cup I'm "cooking" with the Meater. (I don't want it thinking my "cook" is done.) Unfortunately, temps dropped about 20' when I opened the door for a bit. Based on the graph I'm watching on the Meater, looks like that is going to cost me 20 mins.
911 call to jlazar...
He told me to look in the fire basket. (Fire gloves required.) I did, and I saw my problem. Most of my original coals were burned but only a few cold coal coals were lit. I didn't connect my hot pile w/my cold pile very well. <Sigh> John told me that the lit coal pile should be slightly larger than the hole I leave for it. Makes sense.
(Man, the PBC was easier. Just pour the hot coals on the cold coals and spread them around.
)
2:20 mins later I'm at 230'. Sheesh.Last edited by wcpreston; December 15, 2018, 04:28 PM.Comment
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Looking forward to your troubleshooting! Thanks for taking us along. I really like these smokers.Comment
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I feel so stupid. A lot of my problems were caused by getting too excited to play with the smoker, and not taking 10 mins to peruse ALL the docs AND understand what they meant. ESPECIALLY the "plunger should go behind the strike plate" bit.
But this is why we do dry runs, right? Get to know your smoker before you introduce it to some meat.
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After finally getting to 225, the thing started shooting up again. It was on its way past 250 when I did another call to jlazar. Did I mention how awesome it is I can call him?
While talking with him, I had an epiphany. I thought back to my days of the COS and how I could never get it to stay low and slow. My problem then was too much oxygen. That's when I put two and two together
Me: "Hey, John... Should I be able to see the ground if I look down through the top of my doors?"
John: WHAT?
Me: "The gasket doesn't seal well on the handle side if doors, and I can see daylight if I look directly down them from the top."
John: "That's not right."
<Locate for the first time and read the "getting started with your smoker" doc. Not sure how I didn't see this before.>
Doc: "the plunger on the handle will go under the strike plate and not the roller ... if it's not, open and slam the door harder."
<I do what it said.>
Me: "Hey, John. I can't see daylight anymore, neither can I see huge amounts of smoke coming out my front door. I think I figured out why my temps were climbing. Now I have to dump all these coals and start over."
John: "NO! Use this runaway cook to figure out how to fix a runaway temp! Completely shut your vents and see if you can get the temp to come down and stabilize. And put some meat on that thing!"
<I do have a pork butt, but that's a long cook. I sent my wife to the store for a chicken. Looks like it's smoked chicken tonight.>
It's about 30 mins later and I have the temp under 225. Now I'm just trying to get it to stabilize. I'm making minor adjustments with the vents to get the temp right at 225 and see if I an hold it there. I'll let you know how it goes.
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OK... first cook done.
Amazing what happens when the cooker is properly sealed. Can't believe I didn't put two and two together.
I now want to do another test run/basic cook to see if I can do it all right this time.
Here was my roller coaster ride of temps, provided courtesy of the Meater I was using. Nice, huh?
You can see how the whole story I told above. The slow climb from 150, the sharp drop when I swapped the water, and the climb past 250, then under 225, then back up to 225.
Here's the chicken I cooked. Pretty straightforward cook. I threw a couple of sausages in there as well.
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