The first stupid question

[rogerran]

Okay I am new to this just bought OBS caught the wife in a weak moment, first question how far do you open the top vent.  I have already seasond the grill and have baby backs on at the moment trying to get the temp back up to 225. I have used cheap water smokers in the past with no adjustments all help is welcomed

[KyNola]

Welcome!  First of all, there are no stupid questions and there is a ton of info on this forum from the veterans.  I personally open my vent about 50%.  Otherwise condensation builds up in mine and runs out the bottom of the door.  Particularly disturbing with the OBS as your heat controls are below the door.  I use the DBS so my electronics are not below the door.  However, my wife does not see the humor of it dripping all over our porch.

Once you get used to your OBS, you are going to love it.

KyNola

[Gizmo]

I second the Welcom and agree with KyNola, no stupid questions here.  In fact, I want to know how you were able to get the wife in a weak moment.  If you can teach that, WOW.

The minimum guide on the vent is open it as far as you need to prevent smoke from backing up into the generator, unless smoking food that has lot of moisture as KyNola mentioned.  Chicken is one such example of moisture.

[NePaSmoKer]

I third that and welcome rogerran

Naaaaaa wifes dont have weak moments do they Giz  ;D

nepas

[Wildcat]

Welcome to the forum.  You have been given great advice on the vent.  I recommend a minimum of 1/3 open for most things up to 100% for chicken.

An old timer on here (do not remember which one) had a good suggestion of slightly elevating the front of the smoker to prevent any liquid from running out the door.  I personally have never had a problem with liquid (probably because I never let any food touch the cabinet walls), but I always raise the front a little anyway.  You never know, it could happen one day.

[Habanero Smoker]

When you raise the front of the cabinet, you only have to raise it about 1/4".

[Kell]

I also have never have problems w/ liquid running out of the front of the smoker but it's good idea to raise the front a little. 

[Habanero Smoker]

Moisture problems generally occur when you are smoking/cooking chicken with skin, (or picnic shoulder with skin). If you do a large amounts, such as four racks of chicken thigh and/or legs, or Tyson chicken wings that have been pumped with water, you can have the vent wide open and you still may have problems with moisture leakage from the door.

[smokin stu]

I had my OBS with four racks of meat and the temp just would not go up to where I wanted it.  I kept closing the vent down more and more but to no avail.  I ended up opening the vent full and the temp started to rise at that point.  I think it was that I needed to let all that humidity from the meat escape.

I leave the vent full open, but then again I have my BS in a weather proof cabinet which backs up the smoke as well as the vent would.

Never had juice coming from the door.  Before I built the cabinet, I do remember having smoke coming out from around the generator which will gum things up so I adjusted the tope vent until that no longer happened.