New owner of a Horizon 16, looking for info

[TheWizardKnows]

Pulled the trigger on a used Horizon 16, looking forward to figuring it out. Prob won't be for a bit, we have a winter storm warning today and a lot of rain in the forecast...

I would be very interested in anyone's input that has any experience with one of these. From what I can gather from other posts it might be easiest to start with charcoal and feed it smaller sticks instead of small logs. Can anyone tell me specific sizes they like to use to hold 225-250?

It did not come with a convection plate so I am going to try the bread/brisket matrix to check out hotspots. Who am I kidding even it it came with the convection plate I probably would do it

Any handy tips or links would also be appropriated! I have a lot of experience with a pellet smoker and a Weber smoky joe.

[Jerod Broussard]

Probably something about the diameter of the thick end of a pool stick.

You ain't gonna hold 225-250 too much. Don't sweat it, no matter the temp swing, there is always an average in there.

Congrats on the smoker!!!

[FireMan]

Nice addition! Looks in good shape.

[TheWizardKnows]

Oh yea, just a little rust on the grate in the fire box. From what I can tell I should be able to fix that pretty easily

[RonB]

Congrats. As Jerrod said, don't sweat the temps too much.

[HawkerXP]

Gettin into some heavy metal! Congrats!

[glitchy]

From most things I’ve seen and playing with a COS for a very short while, you’ll probably be less frustrated trying to keep around a 275 average temp vs 225. You want more time at 225 with a pellet grill for better smoke, but you should get more smoke at 275 on a stick burner than 225 gives on a pellet grill.

[Bad Hat BBQ]

Concur

My Okie Joe runs at 275-285, pretty eay to maintain that temp and happy w/ the results.

[TheWizardKnows]

Great, I just built a fire and it seemed pretty easy to get to 300 probably need a bit of work to dial in to 275.

[jfmorris]

I will second what folks are saying about 275 being easier to maintain than 225 with an offset. And for me, "mini splits" on top of a bed of charcoal is the way to go. Think firewood, but cut in half (8 instead of 16 inches), then split each log a time or two to make it smaller. Actual sticks as you mention burn up too fast.

You can also try just feeding it wood chunks along with charcoal too, if you don't have a good source of wood. I do that with my offset if I want to spend less time feeding the fire, and set the firebox up minion-style with a bed of unlit charcoal several inches deep, and a half chimney of lit at one end, letting it burn across the firebox, and I stage wood chunks across the top for smoke. With that technique I can get 2-3 hours hands off, versus having to feed wood to the fire every 30 minutes.

[bbqLuv]

I see the fun in your future,

[TheWizardKnows]

Put a quick video together. We got a bit of brake in the weather so finally got a chance to get into the smoker. Other then a bit of rust and a bunch of crud that needed scrapped out it seemed in pretty good shape.

https://youtu.be/Qv02HOzOgeE

[Huskee]

Nice! I prefer firewood cut in half, roughly, lengthwise (assuming it's your "average" length piece of firewood) then split about 1/8 splits or even slightly smaller to start. Once it's going you could probably use 1/4 splits, just don't need 'em too long. Here's a writeup I did many years ago, might not be the best but I hope I shared some helpful tips from my learnin' processes: https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...et-stickburner Also get you a Kindling Cracker XL too, along with a 4lb sledge hammer, it will be a huge help running a stick burner and splitting down wood.