Great video my friend, so true that out of the box gear doesn't always work the way you want it. Working with your gear is to me one of the joy's of outdoor cooking.
Great video! I still absolutely believe the Pecos is the best bang for the buck at the $500 price range (March 2022 still $499 at Texas academy’s ) others in the range are bolt together, not welded, and thinner steal.
Hey bro! Still a really good option at the price point. Just not as slam dunk,no brainer as it used to be at 399. I'm with you on the bolted together argument. But I was told the Chargriller Grand Champ is actually thicker than the Pecos. I'm trying to get one to compare it to the Pecos ATM. But IMO the OC Brazos is in a class of its own at its price point. I think that's the best value rn, but it's twice the price of the pecos.
Great tip!I've been using super dry Hackberry which is pretty light to begin with so i think my splits would catch if I tried that. But I just bought a rick and a half of oak so I'll give it a try with that next time i cook. Thanks!
I was fixing to buy the pecos in the next few days glad I watched this and a couple other videos from pecos owners. 500 hundred ain't small change to me and having to make modifications that the maker of the pit should have figured out before marketing them kind of sours me from getting it. Another vid showed having to put gaskets around the doors because of gaps and shoddy welds. Again I don't like spending money on things I have to work on to make them work right. I don't BBQ that often maybe I will stick with webber. They are cheaper, I can buy 5 or six of them for the price of one pecos and they are simple to operate
I've been doing some small mods on my Pecos over the last couple of years. I'd suggest you keep the fireplace grate in there. After trying several techniques, the fireplace grate runs the best fire BY FAR, at least for me. And don't worry about it cracking, thinner cast iron can and will do that under high heat, it won't affect the performance any. I'd been working on a stack extension and put it on this weekend, ran the smoker really hot for a pre spring burnout. The draw I was getting was drastically better than without it. I haven't cooked with it on yet, but I expect it should cook much better. It pretty much completely consumed to ash the Cherry splits I was using, much better burn. I took the steel plate that came in the fire box, had a guy make an exact copy of it, and put them both in the bottom of the cook chamber to use as baffles. Still playing around with it, but with running the new stack extension now I believe it should help them work even better. I haven't removed the baffle shield by the fire box, I still think it serves a good purpose in keeping the flame from coming up into the cook chamber, and with baffle plates on the bottom, it helps even out the temps so you don't get the big spikes. With all that said, I personally believe, much like you, that this smoker is the best value on the market. You can't find a fully welded smoker like this for anywhere near the $500 mark. I paid $400 for mine a couple years ago, but pretty much all smokers gave seen a price increase. The Brazos would have been nice, but it was $600 more at the time and just not quite the value the Pecos was/is, to my wallet anyway. I'd love to have a nice custom built smoker, and I may get one at some point in time, but that $3,000 price point one is looking at for a custom job I still just can't justify.
I have to thank you for this video. I was on the fence about getting one. But thanks to you I was convinced and bought one too. Keep the videos coming.
Flip your ribs over when you cut to see the bones it’ll make life easier. If your worried about messing up the sauce on top put a little bbq on the cooking board before you flip
Appreciate the tip! Had a few people tell me that so far haha don't really care about the sauce on top since it was just me eating it. But will do it next time for sure. Thanks for watching
After hanging around those badass offset smokers in KC I really want an offset now, but i dont have highend offset money 😅 Thinking about getting this Pecos just to start learning offset!
Fire as always bro. Hipped me to a couple channels I didn’t know existed. Probably gonna pick up one of these smokers to see what kind of output I can get.
Thanks brother, yeah all great info from some of these smaller channels (smaller in context to the big dogs here on YT). Yeah if you can find one used, it would be a great deal. They usually come out of the store with some defect. So doesn't make a whole lot of sense buying new from the store after they jacked up the price by 100 dollars
Great vlog!!....I live in the UK and unfortunately our idea of bbq is completely (sadly)different to the American way of slow n low...I have however just purchased an oklahoma joe (unfortunately not 1/4 inch thick)I have done gaskets,latches...going to install a" drip tube"for a bucket..in your opinion judging by this vlog would a stack extension be more beneficial than a baffle plate?...obviously I have watched loads of videos on perfecting the joe to make an easier and shall i say more pleasurable cook experience...I've been getting bits together over the past few weeks...need to build log store and source some wood...I've not even seasoned it yet!!@##£...can't wait to do a cook!!...and better weather!!! Thank you for your time...Paul.
Hey Paul! Appreciate the kind words, man. And congrats on the OK joe! I've seen people do great bbq with it stock, straight from the store so I think you'll do great once you get used to it. Tbh I don't fully understand the science behind the stack length. But some resources are the Raleigh Smoke video I linked in the description and also I think Smoke Trails has a video about stack extension (also he just put out a video where he replaced his OK joe stack completely with galvanized pipe). But what I can say, is I don't like baffle plates at all, it impedes the airflow. But to each their own! Cheers and thanks again for stopping by!
@@AntsBBQCookout many thanks for quick reply...I'll keep on doing my homework work on modifications etc...all I've been watching is how to cook,maintain fires etc etc etc...thank god for tube!!🤣...ribs looked great by the way!!!👍
When I slice ribs and don’t wanna flip them over, look for where the meat swells up. So if your looking at the top of your ribs, you wanna cut center of each little hump
Hi i have the Char Griller GrandChamp XD.It was 499.99 last july.now it is 550.00.It is great.Best smoker i ever had.I had a Oak Joe.Iam going to do the extension.i took out my baffleplate .way better.i have smoked porkribs,beefribs and a stuffed porchetta.this summer iam going to smoke a suckling pig.try smoking cheese.when it is colder it is easier.
i've heard great things about that smoker! I think the Pecos was the king of budget offsets until they raised the price from 399 - 499. So I think a great argument can be made for the grand champ now. Plus if you don't live near an academy, the grand champ is a no brainer because it has free shipping!
Ant great mod video!!! A few more you might want to consider is opening hole in the cook chamber to match the size of your stack and also opening up the throat ( the hole between the firebox and cook chamber) . This will increase air flow and burn a even cleaner fire. I know you don’t like using the grinder but it’s worth it. You can also try using a Dremel tool. That might be easier for you. Brisket medic opened up his and posted a video. I am going to post a video of the throat opening hopefully soon. Btw those ribs turned out great….I am a bone side up guy… give that a try next time you are cutting ribs it makes it a lot easier.
Hole is 4" diameter, stack is 5"... so an entire inch lost... My understanding of why they did this was to have a significant area of steel to weld to without the sidewall warping or deforming. Stack metal thickness is WAY bigger than the gauge of the rest of the smoker... I made a collector for mine and cut out a rectangle the entire diameter of my Pecos... and I did notice the metal was a bit warped, most likely from the initial welding process... I was going to go with a taller solid stack the same metal gauge as factory, but the stack would be so heavy, I could see it either breaking the welds or warping the side of the smoke chamber... I opted to cut the L off the factory stack and just use chimney pipe to get the rest of the height...
After quite a bit of research, to maximize my investment vs. the features I wanted, I went with the Char-Griller GRAND CHAMP, it is a fantastic log burner for the money.
Learned about the Grand champ a couple weeks ago and I definitely see why you went with it. I'm hoping to get my hands on one in the near future to do a comparison with the pecos. On paper at least, it beats out the pecos on quite a lot.
@@AntsBBQCookout i have one as well and put a 24" L 5" diameter on it. it has the exact same dimensions as the Workhorse Pit 1969. it runs fantastic! want to trade for your 250 Gallon?
nice vid.. unfortunately in the UK we cant get decent offsets unless spending upwards of $3000, so our budget ones are the paper thin stoked like a train sort.. turn the ribs over to cut... looking forward to more 250 gallon smokes..
It seems like low and slow BBQ is getting pretty popular out there. So hoping things get cheaper for all my BBQ brethren in the UK! I'm doing my first catering gig (sides and all) tomorrow on the 250. Hoping to post that video sometime next week 😁
I solved the baffle plate issue by drilling 3/4in holes across the upper edge about3 inched from the top of it completely killed the hotspot in the middle and increase convection.
That rib cutting, lol. Those St. Louis style racks can be kind of tricky sometimes. The ribs looked fantastic my dude. I'm starving, I gotta stop watching your videos so late...and after 5-6 beers.
Good stuff! Those ribs looked amazing dude. I got my pecos about a year and a half ago off Craigslist for $225 and did those mods in early fall of last year. It made a big difference for sure! P.s. is raleighsmoke not named after the city in NC? Maybe I’ve been saying it wrong…
Thanks bro! Yes, I was very impressed with the mods too. Yes, he is from NC so his channel name is based on the city. I thought I was saying it wrong before so I looked it up and google told me it was pronounced ray-lee 😂
forget the cast iron grate that cracked... a couple of fire bricks and an expanded metal screen would work better. and a couple of extra fire bricks would make a great heat sync
You have to cook cooler in the OC mods or not. I try not to go above 275 so i dont burn the meat. Its also harder to maintain temps in the wind with the OC. Other than that its about the same. Honestly, the cooker doesnt matter nearly as much as much as knowing how to use the smoker
@@davidchavarria2992 depends what youre cooking. I think its really tough to do brisket as good as an expensive smoker. Expensive smokers cook so low and slow and the OC is just so small that youre getting radiant heat from the fire box. Plus the fire box is really small, so you gotta cook super low which draws out the cook and dries out your bark and flat or you cook it hotter but the bark is not as dark. Not saying its imposible but i havent figured it out. Other meats the low and slow is not as imortant imo so you can make great quality in the OC
@@AntsBBQCookout gotcha. I really wanted a Mill Scale but I just couldn’t justify it right now. I went ahead and got a Brazos because Academy has a 20% sale today. I’m hoping I can make some top quality bbq doing the smoke stack extension, removing baffle, and using fire bricks in the fire box. It seems like this should greatly improve the overall quality. I’ve seen a guy on TH-cam add a smoke collector too, which would probably add another element of quality since it would theoretically spread out the smoke across the grate rather than concentrate it at the round exhaust hole in the chamber. Do you think these mods (not including a smoke collector) will make it function more like a premium backyard pit?
I'm honestly unsure about the smokestack because I don't know the dimensions of the wrangler. Also in regard to the wrangler I believe the cook chamber is shorter than the pecos. So not sure if the radiant heat from the fire (even if your fire is running low and slow) would be too much for the cooker without the baffle. Sorry that's not very helpful lol but hope it'll get your mind going for a solution. Great question and thanks for watching!
If you want to avoid cutting into the bones, flip the rack meat side down and you can see where to cut better.
Great video my friend, so true that out of the box gear doesn't always work the way you want it. Working with your gear is to me one of the joy's of outdoor cooking.
I'm with you brother! Thank you 😁
38"-42" extended stack from the top of the elbow to the top of the stack was a game changer.
Great video! I still absolutely believe the Pecos is the best bang for the buck at the $500 price range (March 2022 still $499 at Texas academy’s ) others in the range are bolt together, not welded, and thinner steal.
Hey bro! Still a really good option at the price point. Just not as slam dunk,no brainer as it used to be at 399. I'm with you on the bolted together argument. But I was told the Chargriller Grand Champ is actually thicker than the Pecos. I'm trying to get one to compare it to the Pecos ATM.
But IMO the OC Brazos is in a class of its own at its price point. I think that's the best value rn, but it's twice the price of the pecos.
@@AntsBBQCookout absolutely. Great work
Good stuff. I "preheat" my split sticks adjacent to the coals before I add them to bring the heat up. Works really well. Love your ideas.
Great tip!I've been using super dry Hackberry which is pretty light to begin with so i think my splits would catch if I tried that. But I just bought a rick and a half of oak so I'll give it a try with that next time i cook. Thanks!
Wow...I've still got my canvas tent woodheater. And damper and stove pipe!! Getting my pit today.Thx.
The thermometer resting on the tinfoil is a genius idea. I have never even considered that before
I was fixing to buy the pecos in the next few days glad I watched this and a couple other videos from pecos owners. 500 hundred ain't small change to me and having to make modifications that the maker of the pit should have figured out before marketing them kind of sours me from getting it. Another vid showed having to put gaskets around the doors because of gaps and shoddy welds. Again I don't like spending money on things I have to work on to make them work right. I don't BBQ that often maybe I will stick with webber. They are cheaper, I can buy 5 or six of them for the price of one pecos and they are simple to operate
I don’t understand why you are even complaining if you are ok with cheaper grade ?? Go figure
I've been doing some small mods on my Pecos over the last couple of years. I'd suggest you keep the fireplace grate in there. After trying several techniques, the fireplace grate runs the best fire BY FAR, at least for me. And don't worry about it cracking, thinner cast iron can and will do that under high heat, it won't affect the performance any. I'd been working on a stack extension and put it on this weekend, ran the smoker really hot for a pre spring burnout. The draw I was getting was drastically better than without it. I haven't cooked with it on yet, but I expect it should cook much better. It pretty much completely consumed to ash the Cherry splits I was using, much better burn. I took the steel plate that came in the fire box, had a guy make an exact copy of it, and put them both in the bottom of the cook chamber to use as baffles. Still playing around with it, but with running the new stack extension now I believe it should help them work even better. I haven't removed the baffle shield by the fire box, I still think it serves a good purpose in keeping the flame from coming up into the cook chamber, and with baffle plates on the bottom, it helps even out the temps so you don't get the big spikes. With all that said, I personally believe, much like you, that this smoker is the best value on the market. You can't find a fully welded smoker like this for anywhere near the $500 mark. I paid $400 for mine a couple years ago, but pretty much all smokers gave seen a price increase. The Brazos would have been nice, but it was $600 more at the time and just not quite the value the Pecos was/is, to my wallet anyway. I'd love to have a nice custom built smoker, and I may get one at some point in time, but that $3,000 price point one is looking at for a custom job I still just can't justify.
I have to thank you for this video. I was on the fence about getting one. But thanks to you I was convinced and bought one too. Keep the videos coming.
No problem, I'm glad you found it helpful. And congratulations! Your gonna love cooking on your pecos 😁
Flip your ribs over when you cut to see the bones it’ll make life easier. If your worried about messing up the sauce on top put a little bbq on the cooking board before you flip
Appreciate the tip! Had a few people tell me that so far haha don't really care about the sauce on top since it was just me eating it. But will do it next time for sure. Thanks for watching
After hanging around those badass offset smokers in KC I really want an offset now, but i dont have highend offset money 😅 Thinking about getting this Pecos just to start learning offset!
Fire as always bro. Hipped me to a couple channels I didn’t know existed. Probably gonna pick up one of these smokers to see what kind of output I can get.
Thanks brother, yeah all great info from some of these smaller channels (smaller in context to the big dogs here on YT). Yeah if you can find one used, it would be a great deal. They usually come out of the store with some defect. So doesn't make a whole lot of sense buying new from the store after they jacked up the price by 100 dollars
Great vlog!!....I live in the UK and unfortunately our idea of bbq is completely (sadly)different to the American way of slow n low...I have however just purchased an oklahoma joe (unfortunately not 1/4 inch thick)I have done gaskets,latches...going to install a" drip tube"for a bucket..in your opinion judging by this vlog would a stack extension be more beneficial than a baffle plate?...obviously I have watched loads of videos on perfecting the joe to make an easier and shall i say more pleasurable cook experience...I've been getting bits together over the past few weeks...need to build log store and source some wood...I've not even seasoned it yet!!@##£...can't wait to do a cook!!...and better weather!!!
Thank you for your time...Paul.
Hey Paul! Appreciate the kind words, man. And congrats on the OK joe! I've seen people do great bbq with it stock, straight from the store so I think you'll do great once you get used to it. Tbh I don't fully understand the science behind the stack length. But some resources are the Raleigh Smoke video I linked in the description and also I think Smoke Trails has a video about stack extension (also he just put out a video where he replaced his OK joe stack completely with galvanized pipe). But what I can say, is I don't like baffle plates at all, it impedes the airflow. But to each their own! Cheers and thanks again for stopping by!
@@AntsBBQCookout many thanks for quick reply...I'll keep on doing my homework work on modifications etc...all I've been watching is how to cook,maintain fires etc etc etc...thank god for tube!!🤣...ribs looked great by the way!!!👍
When I slice ribs and don’t wanna flip them over, look for where the meat swells up. So if your looking at the top of your ribs, you wanna cut center of each little hump
thanks for the tip! I'll look out for that next time!
Hi i have the Char Griller GrandChamp XD.It was 499.99 last july.now it is 550.00.It is great.Best smoker i ever had.I had a Oak Joe.Iam going to do the extension.i took out my baffleplate .way better.i have smoked porkribs,beefribs and a stuffed porchetta.this summer iam going to smoke a suckling pig.try smoking cheese.when it is colder it is easier.
i've heard great things about that smoker! I think the Pecos was the king of budget offsets until they raised the price from 399 - 499. So I think a great argument can be made for the grand champ now. Plus if you don't live near an academy, the grand champ is a no brainer because it has free shipping!
Ant great mod video!!! A few more you might want to consider is opening hole in the cook chamber to match the size of your stack and also opening up the throat ( the hole between the firebox and cook chamber) . This will increase air flow and burn a even cleaner fire. I know you don’t like using the grinder but it’s worth it. You can also try using a Dremel tool. That might be easier for you. Brisket medic opened up his and posted a video. I am going to post a video of the throat opening hopefully soon. Btw those ribs turned out great….I am a bone side up guy… give that a try next time you are cutting ribs it makes it a lot easier.
Appreciate you sharing your knowledge! Looking forward to your video when it comes out! Thanks for watching 😁
I’m definitely interested in seeing this as well.
Hole is 4" diameter, stack is 5"... so an entire inch lost... My understanding of why they did this was to have a significant area of steel to weld to without the sidewall warping or deforming. Stack metal thickness is WAY bigger than the gauge of the rest of the smoker...
I made a collector for mine and cut out a rectangle the entire diameter of my Pecos... and I did notice the metal was a bit warped, most likely from the initial welding process...
I was going to go with a taller solid stack the same metal gauge as factory, but the stack would be so heavy, I could see it either breaking the welds or warping the side of the smoke chamber... I opted to cut the L off the factory stack and just use chimney pipe to get the rest of the height...
Add lava bricks to the firebox and cook chamber. Also I spent months using tuning plates to get it lean and mean..
Yeah I was thinking of getting some bricks. I watched Raleigh Smokes video on it a couple weeks ago!
Great video! I am hoping to get my first offset this summer and this is some great information. Thanks for sharing.
After quite a bit of research, to maximize my investment vs. the features I wanted, I went with the Char-Griller GRAND CHAMP, it is a fantastic log burner for the money.
Learned about the Grand champ a couple weeks ago and I definitely see why you went with it. I'm hoping to get my hands on one in the near future to do a comparison with the pecos. On paper at least, it beats out the pecos on quite a lot.
@@AntsBBQCookout i have one as well and put a 24" L 5" diameter on it. it has the exact same dimensions as the Workhorse Pit 1969. it runs fantastic! want to trade for your 250 Gallon?
@@bpackowski haha tempting.. but pass 😂😂
nice vid.. unfortunately in the UK we cant get decent offsets unless spending upwards of $3000, so our budget ones are the paper thin stoked like a train sort.. turn the ribs over to cut... looking forward to more 250 gallon smokes..
It seems like low and slow BBQ is getting pretty popular out there. So hoping things get cheaper for all my BBQ brethren in the UK! I'm doing my first catering gig (sides and all) tomorrow on the 250. Hoping to post that video sometime next week 😁
@@AntsBBQCookout nice, do catering myself but use the Traeger 1300 trying get the money together for a stick burner.
I solved the baffle plate issue by drilling 3/4in holes across the upper edge about3 inched from the top of it completely killed the hotspot in the middle and increase convection.
How does it work in the cold weather with that sheet metal thin metal?
I got the pecos and i just bent the adapter and it fit.
Flip the ribs bone side up that way you see where the bones go. Also you can stand them upright and cut downward in between the bones and rib meat
That rib cutting, lol. Those St. Louis style racks can be kind of tricky sometimes. The ribs looked fantastic my dude. I'm starving, I gotta stop watching your videos so late...and after 5-6 beers.
Yeah bro, it's an art 😂 thank you brother, always happy to hear from you!
Try using fire bricks as a heat sink!
Great idea!
Good stuff! Those ribs looked amazing dude. I got my pecos about a year and a half ago off Craigslist for $225 and did those mods in early fall of last year. It made a big difference for sure!
P.s. is raleighsmoke not named after the city in NC? Maybe I’ve been saying it wrong…
Thanks bro! Yes, I was very impressed with the mods too. Yes, he is from NC so his channel name is based on the city. I thought I was saying it wrong before so I looked it up and google told me it was pronounced ray-lee 😂
Lol at the axe clip
And now lol at the rib slice. Try flipping so you can see the bones
Hahaha classic movie. Will have to do that next time for sure. Appreciate the advice, James! Thanks for watching 😁
forget the cast iron grate that cracked... a couple of fire bricks and an expanded metal screen would work better. and a couple of extra fire bricks would make a great heat sync
I'm sure it's been said, but flip them ribs over and cut them from the bottom my guy! Great video bud
Use a fireplace grate insert, the best I have used.
thanks for the tip! if I need to replace the grate in the future, I'll give it a try
I would suggest flipping the ribs over so you can see the bone. Then you will get easy cuts.
Thanks for the tip! Will do next time haha
Great insights and great video!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it :)
Dude those ribs look 🔥!
Thank you! They were dang good 😁
Yeah cutting ribs is weird lol. They start off at a small slant then get straighter as you go down.
Yeah, man. I'll get it one of these days lol
Turn the ribs upside down so you can see bones or set it on it’s side. I have this pit. I will make the mods asap.
great advice, G! def the way to go to stop hitting those bones lol hope you enjoy the mods!
@@AntsBBQCookout I was doing the sane thing. 😂 Yes, can’t wait to see the difference it makes.
After gaining more experience with larger offsets, how do you feel the modded OC compares to larger offsets (250/500/1000)?
You have to cook cooler in the OC mods or not. I try not to go above 275 so i dont burn the meat. Its also harder to maintain temps in the wind with the OC. Other than that its about the same. Honestly, the cooker doesnt matter nearly as much as much as knowing how to use the smoker
@@AntsBBQCookout makes sense. How about the quality? Do the larger offsets and even more premium backyard smokers produce better bbq than the OC?
@@davidchavarria2992 depends what youre cooking. I think its really tough to do brisket as good as an expensive smoker. Expensive smokers cook so low and slow and the OC is just so small that youre getting radiant heat from the fire box. Plus the fire box is really small, so you gotta cook super low which draws out the cook and dries out your bark and flat or you cook it hotter but the bark is not as dark. Not saying its imposible but i havent figured it out. Other meats the low and slow is not as imortant imo so you can make great quality in the OC
@@AntsBBQCookout gotcha. I really wanted a Mill Scale but I just couldn’t justify it right now. I went ahead and got a Brazos because Academy has a 20% sale today. I’m hoping I can make some top quality bbq doing the smoke stack extension, removing baffle, and using fire bricks in the fire box. It seems like this should greatly improve the overall quality. I’ve seen a guy on TH-cam add a smoke collector too, which would probably add another element of quality since it would theoretically spread out the smoke across the grate rather than concentrate it at the round exhaust hole in the chamber. Do you think these mods (not including a smoke collector) will make it function more like a premium backyard pit?
Does this apply to the wrangler?
I'm honestly unsure about the smokestack because I don't know the dimensions of the wrangler. Also in regard to the wrangler I believe the cook chamber is shorter than the pecos. So not sure if the radiant heat from the fire (even if your fire is running low and slow) would be too much for the cooker without the baffle. Sorry that's not very helpful lol but hope it'll get your mind going for a solution. Great question and thanks for watching!
Forget Shrek. BBQ is love. BBQ is life.
I was only 9 years old... I loved bbq 😂
All you gotta do is flip your ribs meat side down and you can see the bones to cut around.
Appreciate it! Will do next time 😁
that fire grate looks like cast aluminum not cast iron.
Raleigh Smoke is pronounced like “Rahl E”. It’s the capital of North Carolina
Thank you, I looked it up on Google but I guess I read it wrong 😅
Yo, flip over those ribs when you cut them. They will taste the same and you arent selling them or anything. :)
hahaha great tip, thanks man!
Flip the rib upside down so you can see the bones
Will def do that in the future. Thanks!
Pronounced "Ra-Lee" smoke. Like the state capital of NC... Raleigh...
Thank you! I was aware it was a city, just didn't know how to pronounce it 😅
@@AntsBBQCookout love your channel Homie! Keep up the great work!
@@samuelsheff1007 appreciate that! Have a blessed night!
Not one necessary add on
Ant The Bobblehead
UHHHHHG DEM RIBS DOE
Yeeeeah buddy!! They were wonderful, ate them all 😅
Enjoyed watching till I heard smacking lol
my brother in christ, buy a brazos !!!!
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