My firebox door warped on a 14-hour brisket cook yesterday

I was about eight hours into a cook on my offset when I noticed smoke leaking from the top corner of the firebox door. The steel had warped outwards from the heat, breaking the seal. I had to stop, wrap the brisket early, and rig up a temporary fix with some extra gasket tape and a C-clamp to hold it shut. It threw my whole timing off and the bark suffered. Has anyone else had a firebox warp on them, and did you just replace the door or the whole unit?

2 comments

2 Comments

schmidt.karen16d ago

Oh man, that's rough. My buddy had that exact thing happen on his old offset. The door warped so bad it looked like a potato chip. He tried bending it back with a mallet when it was cold, but it never sealed right again. He ended up just buying a whole new firebox from the manufacturer. It was a pain, but cheaper than a new smoker.

the_nathan15d ago

Actually, bending a warped door back is a pretty common fix. You just need to heat it up evenly first, then use a mallet on a flat surface. It often works if the warp isn't too severe.