Which type of wood should you use?
“It wasn’t good. There was some scorching where it touched.”
He needed some insulation between the adapter plate and the barrel. Maurice works in a home-improvement shop and he spotted some fibrous cement panelling used in wet areas or to protect walls around wood burners. Ideal really.
He bought some fibreboard, which he shaped and fitted like a gasket between the adapter and the barrel. It was all bolted back together for another test. He dismantled it again to check and … success! No more charring, except where he wants it — on the meat.
“I fired it up again last weekend for a 12-hour smoke and it worked fine. It’s still going strong,” he says.
Fine-tuning
Friends at work persuaded him to fit a diffuser plate under the racks to spread the heat and smoke more evenly. Maurice went back to the engineering shop and had a plate made but after installing it he felt it robbed too much heat. He not only found the food cooked better without it, but he also used less charcoal and wood. The smoker is definitely hotter towards the firebox end but he finds that useful.
Manuka
Flavour: Strong
Good for: Pork, beef, turkey