FAT Es BBQ How to Set Up, Keep Your Fire Steady, & Maintain Temps on Lone Star Grills Large IVS.

This video goes into depth and detail of how I set up the Lone Star Grillz Insulated Vertical Smoker. I had a lot of questions and comments from people having a hard time getting to their desired temps and maintaining them. So in this video I tried not to skip any steps and show the actual complete setup and even starting the fire. Its a long video but again I wanted to make sure I was able to help as many people as I could.
If you have questions please feel free to leave a comment.
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[@rustylamb3421]

Best thing I have found for getting the LSG up to temperature quickly is to light half a chimney of charcoal inside the cooking chamber

[@kwikmechanic]

The one and only downside on the IVS. Takes a while to get up to temp. Other than that. I love my IVS. I do the exact same thing to get mine going.

[@urexpressionsphotography1082]

Recommendation, go to Harbor Freight and buy their magnetic folding shelf for your fire board to sit on.

[@FatEsBBQ]

I went but didn’t see it. :( I’ll keep looking.

[@kwikmechanic]

Hey buddy! Great video and love my ivs. I found some magnetic fibreboard mounts on Etsy. They have been amazing and they are cheap. Please go look at them. It will solve many of the issues you mentioned as I use to deal with them on my IVS. Keep up the great work.

[@kerncountyrd5263]

Have you talked to Chris about possibly making a stainless cap for the water port?

[@FatEsBBQ]

Ill send him that info, great idea.

[@bobbydiggs78]

Or just make a damper for that port just like the main exhaust port. Seems simple enough.

[@kerncountyrd5263]

@@FatEsBBQ Please let me know if you If you get anywhere with it. I smoked Salmon yesterday morning. The coals were still too hot to put the cover back on when it started raining here last night. First thing I thought of was putting a tinfoil cap over that vent to prevent water from getting in, which I did. I'd definitely pay for a cover if Chris made them!

[@bryanrichardson4190]

I went to my local Ace hardware and bought rubber plug for $1.00 it works great. Shaped like a cork and plugs it perfect. The hole you need to plug is 3/4"

[@TB--1]

@@bryanrichardson4190 I purchased an IVS from a guy and he did same but put it on a bolt so weight keeps it snug and easy to take off and on

[@peidsvoog]

Love meeting a LSG IVS owner. I've had mine about 4 years. Really struggling with wood chunks and how much to add. I know with an offset you get much MORE airflow, therefore a different smoke profile. The IVS is LOW airflow, and also a different smoke profile. I've tried few chucks (like 80% charcoal or lump and 20% wood), to the inverse 60+% wood to 30-40% charcoal or lump. The problem I've noticed is smoldering smoke or bitter smoke in the IVS. I want a deep smoke ring, have you found a formula that emulates offset in your IVS? I admit, I absolutely love my fireboard with LSG mini IVS!! Killer BBQ.

[@FatEsBBQ]

The fireboard fan keeps my airflow constant when I need it. My temps do not spike at all. I don’t get bitter wood taste either. I am not sure what kind of wood you are using. Is it your own from your land or purchased from a wood guy? I’ve noticed when I purchase wood from wood guy I need to let it sit for a few months. Sometimes it’s not seasoned that well and still has moisture in it. That is what causes that dirty smoke for me. But if I buy wood chucks from HEB or use my seasoned wood cut up with chain saw, my smoke always burns nice and clear. I’ll set my fireboard fan temp to 225 and it will pump air and my smoke still burns nice and clear. The charcoal I use is also post oak charcoal. I don’t use kingsford or other regular charcoal coal. I don’t like the flavor those give. I’ll use B&B competition post oak char coal and also I’ll use franklins post oak briquettes. When I cook, the smoke smells incredible. Not bland. Hope this helps a little.

[@williamraffield1307]

Just tossing this out here ... Instead of aluminum foil over the water port, try using a boat drain plug. If you look into it from the top, while it is square - there is a round hole just smaller than a garden hose opening in size.. Great video as usual bossman! Keep em coming!

[@Hymnhope]

I run a Gateway Drum. I usually fill the coal basket up all the way and then just torch the middle of the coal basket till it’s good and lit. Then everything just slowly burns outward. Couldn’t you just do the same thing with this? Just fill the basket full and light the middle real good?

[@FatEsBBQ]

I’ve never tried that. I know when I accidentally got my whole basket lit, my temps went skyrocketing. I had my coals up too high over the edge of the snake pattern/ metal dividers. So it ignited the next path and then that one ignited the third lane. So pretty much all the coals went up and burned at the same time. lol. But I’ve never tried just lighting the middle. Might be a good test to do.

[@jyfjgtyuh]

You can preheat the cooking chamber with the torch and save allot of time.

[@FatEsBBQ]

I am doing this now. Working pretty well.

[@Beau26102]

Thanks for the video. I just got my LSG IVS this past December. Having those same temperature issues but your video will definitely help. QUESTION…. Why did you set the internal temperature alert to 325 and the Set Point for the fan to to 300? Thanks again

[@FatEsBBQ]

Hey how are you? Thanks for watching the video i hope it helps. The reason for the temps is….. hopefully it makes sense what I type lol.. I set the fan temp to 300 because that’s what I want to actually cook at. So the fan is what will get you to the temp. I set the internal channel temp to 325 as a max temp alarm. Meaning I want my fireboard to alarm if it goes over 325 because at that point I feel it would be too hot in this particular cook and I would need to address it. In this cook I’m okay with the IVS if it goes a little over 300 degrees. So the probe for the internal temp tells me where the actual temp is at, and the fan will kick on or off depending on that temp. The fan wants it to be at 300. So if it’s too low the fan kicks on. If it’s right on correct temp, the fan stops. If it’s too high and goes over 325, I get an alarm and I can quickly address the IVS and close my smoke stack to cut the heat back down if needed. This keeps me from burning or drying out the meat. The internal probe “325” alarm setting does not control the fan or what temp the IVS actually cooks at. It’s only an alarm. The fan setting is what will control your temps. Therefore I wanted to cook at 300 so I set fan to 300. Sorry for long winded response. I hope this helps.

[@Beau26102]

Thanks, it does. One last question. Concerning the internal pit temperature, for cooking you rely on the FireBoard more than the Tell True, correct? Please note that as I’m typing this I am running my pit using your method. I’m documenting the pit temperature every 30 minutes comparing the FireBoard to the Tell True. I’m almost at 2 1/2 hours and my temperature is 260 degrees (FB). Thanks again

[@jimbroomfield8252]

Right on explained a lot to me in this video. I hope you get your food trailer. I’m hoping to start small and sell barbecue in South Dakota. I enjoyed watching your videos. Thank you for all you do.

[@berryhillbbq3977]

IVS4lyfe! Love it bud! Thanks for sharing. Good tips all around. My best tips is to try to avoid overshooting temp. Ease into it even if it takes longer than you'd like especially with a PID. Much easier to raise temps than it is to decrease them in an insulated smoker.

[@MrBubajunk]

A great video , thank you for sharing !

[@todd7641]

Really appreciate your videos, I've learned a lot from them. I order my IVS and trying to learn not the hard way for once. Have you experimented with widening the first run on the coal bed and adding more wood than coal? Was wondering how the temp held and It seems like the first few hours would benefit with more wood for a good smoke ring.

[@paddyoreilly9440]

Thanks for the detailed video mate. I have a different brands vertical smoker but the majority of the information still applies. Good luck with your business!.

[@diesel067]

Hey Bro. E, I really appreciate this video. I own a vertical smoker that is kicking my A** trying to manage my temps, hopefully your info on the amount of charcoal will help me out…

[@wesir427]

Fireboard has a magnetic holder if you haven't already picked one up

[@Liberty1776-p5m]

Great video! One question about the ramps you use to level on the driveway. I saw the same question and you mentioned adding a link. Were you able to find it? I don't see a link.

[@robertdewitt625]

l got my IVS a couple years before you. Best built smoker on the market in my view. This year is my 50th year smoking meat, started at 19 years old with my dad. Also 6 smokers under my belt. Offset, cabinets, gravity and even the old bullet smoker. Anyway meat has never touched my racks. I cook in foil pans with stainless cooling racks inside and 1 inch balled up tin foil under each corner for smoke circulation. Virtually no clean up. Wife runs racks through dishwasher. I'll even line pans with tin foil until they get to bent up to use. As far as coal placement I just banked my coals along the sides of the fire box about 4 to 5 inches wide. 3 sides will get you 12 to 15 hrs cook time at 225 to 250 degrees. That's about 10 or 12 pounds of briquettes. Well I guess I can carry on as long as FATTY. 😊😋 Keep da smoke roll'n thin and da video's come'n heavy.

[@terrancedickey3889]

Super smart man... I will definitely try that with the foil pans.

[@grailcountry]

Just bought one, and algo serves this up. It's like the eye of Sauron.

[@FatEsBBQ]

Lmao!!! It knows!

[@dejuanbennett1611]

Awesome man, I've been waiting for more of your videos. Thanks a bunch

[@FatEsBBQ]

More to come!

[@bryanrichardson4190]

Great Video. I have a new IVS Large smoker and have been having problems over shooting the temps, I also have and use the fireboard fan. I would of loved to see when you close down your ball valve and how much you close it, to just let the fan control it the rest of the way. Thanks

[@FatEsBBQ]

I only close the water valve once I start the fan up. The actual inlet where the fan is mounted is left wide open. The smoke stack is about halfway open and the water stack is completely covered with the foil.

[@bryanrichardson4190]

@@FatEsBBQ Very interesting, thanks for the reply. I thought for sure you'd over shot it leaving it wide open like that. But I'm going to cap my water filler on top and try it this weekend. Thanks again.

[@jimbroomfield8252]

I’d like to know I’ve started watching you and following you I’m thinking of going into business selling barbecue and buying a Lonestar grill wanted to know if you have a restaurant?

[@FatEsBBQ]

Sorry for delayed response. No I do not have a restaurant yet. Hopefully in 2025 I will have my trailer ready to go.

[@tanson62]

Man I truly appreciate this video only been using a smoker for 2yrs and always been a pellet smoker but wanna get into competition so need to learn how to use stuff like this and looking heavily at this smoker specifically and ur video was very educational

[@FatEsBBQ]

Awesome! Good luck bud! The IVS is an AMAZING pit. If you ever have questions hit me up.

[@prestonbuffington954]

Looking forward to more vids. Good luck with your trailer.

[@FatEsBBQ]

Thank you! I am seriously working hard on this and its a dream of mine. Hopefully we can all finally make it a reality.

[@urbanvegsa1928]

Hi there. I’m in SA too. Thinking of getting this unit for our work crew. When do you add the wood? I have some questions. Can email you?

[@FatEsBBQ]

Sorry I didn’t see the comment. I add the wood and everything at the very beginning.

[@bobbydiggs78]

Great video bro! Question, do you leave that air intake valve wide open with the fan on it the entire cook? If so, does that effect the temp if you are trying to stay around 250?

[@FatEsBBQ]

yes, the air intake ball valve will stay wide open the enitre cook. If I notice things getting too hot, ill close it a little, but I wil say 95% of the time its wide open. The smoke stak is about halfway open. water ball valve completely closed. Water stack completely covered with foil.

[@bobbydiggs78]

Thanks bro! Amazing it doesn’t get too hot, unless that fan has a way to choke off the incoming air.

[@kerncountyrd5263]

I’m in North Houston and have the same driveway issues that you have. What ramps are you using to level things out?

[@FatEsBBQ]

I will look it up for you. I have a rubber ramp I use that I got on amazon. Ill post a link as soon as I can.

[@kerncountyrd5263]

@@FatEsBBQ I would greatly appreciate it!

[@kerncountyrd5263]

@@FatEsBBQ Just a reminder. Thanks! 😎

[@sandycantu6830]

Great video. Have a GREAT NEW YEAR 🎊 🎉

[@robertdewitt625]

P.S. I also use a bbq guru fan system.

[@judgemybbq]

Thank you for the experience and education! Tips are valid for many brands of vertical smokers!

[@FatEsBBQ]

Much appriciated. If I can help even 1 person, this video was worth it.

[@judgemybbq]

@@FatEsBBQ You are reading my mind!

[@V8laca]

This is great! Thank you for sharing!

[@chrismassingill4650]

Hey, thank you for all the info. I’m currently looking at this IVS model. I have a Yoder now, but I need something larger.

[@FatEsBBQ]

IVS is epic. I really love the flavor it is putting out.

[@yeetyeet8365]

Are you running for president 😂

[@yeetyeet8365]

Quit pimping and work. REALLY. WITH WHATS GOING ON TODAY. SHUSH. DONT GRAVEL.

[@yeetyeet8365]

Obviously you want a free grill. Go yell at someone.