but before we got to this point we had to modify this cooker and season it

and that's what we're gonna learn how to do today on barbecue with franklin

today we're going to be working on this off set cooker it's also called the stick burner

it's called the stick burner because it doesn't use gas it doesn't have propane

gas it doesn't have the electoral elements

is only fire that goes in here and that's the way it outta be

and one of the things we are going to be modifying today

is we're going to drill a hole here we're gonna actually put a decent thermometer on

cuz you can't really cook unless you know how hot you're cooking at

we're going to open this deal up

try and eye-ball how much room the brisket is going to take up its going to be

right about here

and then we're going to look at it and if we are doing a three inch stem we want it to be

about an inch inch and a half above the grate cuz that will be right in the middle of the

brisket

kinda eye-ball it right about here

come over here

our brisket came about up to here

so we are going to drill a hole right about here

we'll take a little sharpie

make a little dot there so we don't mess anything up

and let's get a drill and drill away lets do this

we've got a drill any old drill will work fine

it'd be easiest if you have a whole saw kit

and thank goodness i do have one

this is going to work out really good

this is our thermometer its got a three-inch stem because we got a pretty small

cooker that's a half-inch M-P-T thread

so you gotta find something that's big enough for that to fit through

I believe it ought to be this one

It's a one inch hole saw so this is just the right size

so we are going to get a little meandrel on there

get this thing

and there we go, lets go drill a hole

so we're going to drill this hole right here

so we are going to start off

all right

don't touch that because it's

hot. Gunna add a thermometer

its in the wrong spot there's several different kinds you can get this cheaper one

here's about twenty dollars so most likely this is going to be the easiest

one to find you can get this in the national chain stores across the country

these are the kinds I really prefer, it's a tell true

it's a really good one these cost about fifty bucks

and this is kinda considered to be the creme de la creme and this is a ashcroft

the benefit to an ashcroft is

you can calibrate it. it has a set screw on there so you can constantly make sure that

it's reading exactly

the way you want it to

although i think these got a little off pretty quick so i do prefer the tell trues

i've never had a tell true get off and i've been using these things for a long

long time

for this cooker

we're going to do old country barbecue pits

smoker ang grill three-inch temperature gauge

alright so here's a thermometer we've got a hole drilled we're gonna unscrew

this nut

if you order one of these things online be really really careful that you order

this nut if you need it because they don't come with it and i have ordered a bunch

of these things and not had a nut to go with it

fortunately I can get around it pretty easily

well I have a little shop here

we'll kinda put that thing through

thank goodness the hole fits just fine

you don't want to get this thing crazy tight

for this

there you go

problem solved temperature gauge is between the meat and the heat

so you know it's going to be cooler over here it's always gonna be hotter here

you cant burn anything up if you pay attention to it and it's right at meat level

you wanna make sure that you don't turn it by the gauge because if you do

you'll throw off the calibrations and you just wanna leave it as simple as

possible and just not even mess with it so

that's a perfect placement for a thermometer

alright, so now that we got this thing modified we're going to burn it our we're gimma

get it seasoned if you will

and the reason why we do that is because there is oils and paint and all this nasty stuff in

there so we need to burn it out to make it safer food it appears form here in texas

I'm going to light this fire from shoveling out coals from an existing fire. Let's do this

oh hot coals

fortunately I have the luxury of shoveling out coals from other coal beds but if you don't

you can always use charcoal and use a charcoal chimney and get it started

shovel them in there and then throw some wood

chunks in there

alright, so now that I god some wood chunks on the coal bed

we're going to let this thing sit about 250 or 300 degrees and how do you know how

hot?

new thermometer

we're just going to let this thing ride until it doesn't smell like burning paint

anymore

did you happen to see our episode on trimming a brisket

well if not, somewhere on this screen there is something to click on. click on that