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.
I bought mine about 2 years back, get a fair amount of white smoke leaking everywhere on my burn. It might justbe me but have a hard time keeping at the right level, but truly it was worth the $1000 I spent.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 💨
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 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.
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.
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
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 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!
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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 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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
I bought mine about 2 years back, get a fair amount of white smoke leaking everywhere on my burn. It might justbe me but have a hard time keeping at the right level, but truly it was worth the $1000 I spent.
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.
Hog Wild BBQ I absolutely am! And I will be leaning heavily on your guidance! I’m a newbie!
I bought mine 3 or 4 years ago and it's still rock solid.
No rust issues?
@@Pwn3dbyth3n00b no I bought the cover
@@Pwn3dbyth3n00b no I got the cover
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.
Thanks. It's been working really well.
@@HogWildBBQ thoughts on using a water pan? I've heard good and bad things.
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.
Thanks brother.
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.
Great video. My girlfriend bought me this bbq but never used the smoker. Now I got an idea on how to do it.
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 💨
Appreciate you stopping by. Enjoy your Oklahoma Joes. I've gotten a lot of use out of mine.
Love that cake pan idea for clean up!
Thanks. Really helps with clean up.
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.
Thanks for your tips. Have you ever tried using your gas burner to start your charcoal chimney?
Just got this smoker/grill today - very excited to try the smoker! Thank you for the tips, this is really helpful for someone just starting out :)
Thanks for stopping, and I'm sure you'll enjoy the grill/smoker.
Hey. Turn the grill on the bottom of the fire box 90° this will raise it up an additional 2"
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.
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.
Open the firebox air and give it more air. Adjust the heat by open/closing the flu damper.
Where did u get the sealant at good video
Is it just the video or is they smoke a little on the white side?
Ive usrd the grill twice. Both times one charcoal starter thing full and 45 min later only got the temp to 200f max. Thoughts?
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
Nice Video!!!
can you post the products and links to them in the caption that you used to seal the doors? gaskets and adhessive
Look up lavalock on Amazon
How is your make shift tuning plate mounted inside the charcoal grill portion? What is holding it up?
Love how you did the seals, I am smoking for first time and I see what you mean
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
Dumb question, has anyone used a 30Ib tank in place of the standard 20Ib safely or to the side with this 3-1 smoker combo?
Luke Becraft no dumb questions. I have never tried that.
how is that cake pan holding up? will the extreme temps eventually break that down?
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!
Use less wood. Be patient to get to the heat. Fight the heat up, not down.
Can you get the Latches on the combo? Seems kinda tight. Maybe underneath, vertically?
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.
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.
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.
Food for thought... Thanks for the reply.
I would think on the chamber would be better, because once the gasket starts peeling. I'd be annoyed with it flapping in the wind.
Maj3stik over two years with the smoker, and it’s still sticking like glue.
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.
Hi, just curious what you ended up doing to get the door to shut/seal all the way.
Would you still recommend this grill?
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.
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
Good video thank you
When you put the red sealant around firebox, did you put it on before top part of firebox or once the two pieces were put together? Thank you
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.
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
No.
I'm just curious how did you drop your grill?
Where did you buy the sealed gasket, post a link if you can thanks
bbqsmokermods.com/oem-smoker-mods-by-brand/oklahoma-joe-s/3-in-1.html
On your smoker side have a hole that leads into gas side mine does at bottom where they meet?
Yes, I have that same hole.
It's to let grease thru to catch plate that be said it would be hard to seal grill completely 🤔
@@jamesmartino7081 Yes, but as heat rises, I'm not too worried if a little heat/smoke escapes through the bottom.
Any rust issues since purchase?
cooking in the back yard a little smoke excape isnt going to hurt anything
Totally agree. I can keep the heat where I want it, and the food tastes good. Thanks for watching.
Just makes the neighbors hungry
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
Yeah, my pit leaked a ton. With the gasket tape, it still leaks a bit, but not very much.
I didnt think you were supposed to use charcaol or do direct heat in the grill side of the smoke box?...ive read that is bad for the grill
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!
I was really hoping you had a Hank Hill accent when the video first started.
Hi. I just brought my 3 in 1. I would like to know, can you find the pit gasket locally? Lowe's or Home Depot?
Ran John I got mine here: bbqsmokermods.com/
I found mine at Acadamy
I just got one how is it holding up
How much sealant and tape is needed? Width? Thanks
1 tube of RTV red sealant and one package of 1/2" X 1/8" X 15' tape is more than enough. Good luck.
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.
Can u please make a video on maintaining the temperature while smoking some ribs etc thank you Dan
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.
Good luck and I hope your operation goes well look forward to seeing more of your videos in the future
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
How did u season it?
Charles Kilgore I used olive oil on all inside surfaces, then fired up both the grill and smoker side to high heat.
@@HogWildBBQ so put olive oil in the pit itself ?
Did you clean the packing grease out first or just coat with oil and light?
Why did you start your fire in that little bucket and not in the fire box yeah I'm new at this smoking thing-Thanks and liked your vid
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.
@@HogWildBBQ Thanks and now i know
use more seasoned wood screw the charcoal briquettes the wood would get hotter
Hi I just bought this smoker and have a few questions for you! Do you have another way to contact? I’d like to hear from you on a few things
my email is on my About tab.
Does not show up for me
Could you post here please
@@itsmeathead86_5 hogwildbbqut@gmail.com
Location: United States
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 aluminum cake pan in your firebox will smoke if your flame gets hot enough. No bueno
And tape
yuk the flakes all intomthe food
I payed 150 for mine. ??