Temperature Management Problems

[kgarberg]

The last couple of times I've used the Smokenator, I've only been able to get the temp to about 220º and that's with adding 6 to 10 coals every half hour or so. Should I be getting the temp higher or is that good as long as I plan a long enough time to cook?
Does it matter if the bottom vent is under the Smokenator or not?

[Don Thompson]

Kgarberg,

I don't have enough information to really know what is going on.
If you have placed 50 or so coals including the starter coals into the baffle, set the upper vent to 5/16", kept the lowers full open and have a calibrated themometer who's tip is 1/2" under the skin of the dome. The unit as a closed system should reach 230 to 240 deg f with NO food in an hour at an ambient temp of 80 degress.
How much of a boil is the water exhibiting?
I suspect it is your themometer becuase you indicate you are adding 6 to 10 coals every hour. The weber-smokenator actually burns about 8 coals an hour at 230-240 deg F. So if you are adding 12 to 20 coals an hour, the baffle would fill up.

Would you test your thermometer in boiling water 4" for about 5 minutes to see what temp it registers. How many feet above sea level are you at?
How many coals do you start with?
What are you setting you upper vent at?
What are you setting your lower vents at? Hopefully full open.
Lastly, if you are loading the kettle up with 15 pounds of food that is 60 degrees F then the kettle often runs at 190 deg F Dome for about 1.5 to 2 hours.

Don

[kgarberg]

I've used the Smokinator several times with amazing success....my husband brags to everyone about my ribs! But for some reason I've had problems the last couple times. I had suspected the thermometer might be bad, but after 5 hours on the last batch of ribs, which was what I cooked them before, they were not fall apart as they have been.
I start with probalby 40 to 50 coals. I use a chiminey starter and fill it full.
I usually have the bottom vent about 3/4 open and the top maybe 5/16" to 1/2".
We are probably only about 300 - 500' above sea level. I was cooking 3 full racks of ribs, which is not over full on my grill. it's worked fine before, but I'm doing somethign wrong lately. I guess the best answer might be patients and drink another glass of wine while I wait a bit longer for them to get done!! )

[Don Thompson]

Other members have reported that high humidity will affect dome temperatue. The upper vent has to be opened more to pull the heavy air up into the kettle. This means the lower vents have to be open fully so that pressure drop will be reduced. I hope this helps.
Don

[sacbbqchamp]

I took Don's advice when I first set up my grill and made sure the bottom vents were fully open. The only time I've experienced temp control problems is if its windy out. On those days I make sure I open the top vents more to increase the air flow to raise the temp. Once I get the desired temperature I monitor to see if it starts to fluctuate and then adjust the top vent accordingly.

[frankg]

Using the S-nator a few times now, I have been pleased, as well as my guests...the temperature gets to vary from 230 to 250 degrees, but I have not noticed any problem with the final cooked product...so far so good.

[ecohawk]

I'm gonna second Don's advice as well. I've owned his product for more than two years and have smoked about every kind of meat possible including some tofu for my neighbor who proclaimed it the best she's ever had. I live smack in the middle of San Francisco so fog, wind and humidity are a constant issue. Unless it's windy, open the bottom vent wide open and play with the top vent. I keep mine about half open when it's foggy and wet and maintain 235 - 240 degrees, my favorite temp. Make sure you use good charcoal too. Buy a national brand name unless you know a secret about the product. Briquettes work better than lump but you can use the mid sized 2" lumps if you pick through the bag. Use the rest of it for grilling. Works every time.

[pbankson]

I've used it twice and both times have been very successful on baby back ribs in both instances. I ran into a bit of a problem last time. I was using the 2-1-1 method and stirred the coals after the second hour. This caused a real flare up on one of the hickory chunks which sent the temp soaring! I had to douse the chunk with a few sprinkles of water to lower the temp to the 300 range I was looking for. Ribs still came out great.

[twoshots]

Don, it seems obvious to me after reading these posts for an hour, the main problem people have is temperature control, you have a great product, but you need to recommend a remote digital thermometer to go with it, so people KNOW what temp. they are cooking at. Thanks

[delapaco]

* There can only be one thermometer. I followed the advice from amazingribs.com (a site recommended by don in the manual) and bought the "Maverick ET-73 Redi-Chek Wireless Remote Smoker Thermometer", and I do not regret a penny! You get two digital thermometers, one for the meat and the other for the smoker, and the gadget is remote controlled.

* Filling the chimeny starter full just seems awfully wrong!? This will light almost all coals at once instead of just starting with about 12. In fact I have learnt that adding just a few extra coals to the starter, a normal day, will over shoot the temprature easily.

* Dousing the ignited piece of wood with water is kind of useless? The water will quickly steam and hardly chill down anything at all. What should be more controlled would be to quickly put on the lid and maybe even lower the upper vent a bit. This way you minimize fresh oxygen input, wheras spraying water with an open lid will vent the grill quite a bit.

[pbankson]

* Dousing the ignited piece of wood with water is kind of useless? The water will quickly steam and hardly chill down anything at all. .[/quote]

Uhh, wasn't useless in my case. Worked fine. I guess I just have the touch.

[grillnut1]

Thats it! I'm going to install a thermometer on my kettle dome but where is the best spot?

[bigsteve]

Jul 30, 2009 21:36:23 GMT -5 grillnut1 said:

Thats it! I'm going to install a thermometer on my kettle dome but where is the best spot?

I humbly submit you would be better off buying a digital thermo, and use it to track temps at the grate. I drilled a hole in a small piece of wood, push the probe through the hole, and set it on the grate. The wood won't burn at smoker temps.
Some folks use a potato, or a lemon instead of wood.

[fkngufy]

I used my smokenator for the first time. I live at about 5,000 ft. I found that I had to adjust the top vents from 3/4 to full open to maintain 230. Has anyone else living at higher altitudes come across the same issue? I am very pleased with this product.

[cabosailor]

I used my unit for the first time and had the problem of it getting way too hot. Grill was Weber Performer, hand counted 48 briquets of Stubb's all natural charcoal into the unit along with 2-3 chunks of hickory. Set bottom vent to full open and closed the upper vent per instructions.

Put 12 briquets in accessory basket and lit'em up with the gas flame. (Now here is where I might have screwed up) I let the briquets get going good and dumped them into the center where the water pan sits and then mixed them around. I filled a drip pan under the ribs with water and the filled the stainless water pan with water as well.

The temp just kept getting hotter and hotter. I finally had to pretty much close both vents. In fact at one point I added water to douse some of the coals. Eventually, with the vents practically closed I was able to get it to about 225.

So, any suggestions? What to do if the entire load of charcoal wants to ignite?

Rich

Edit: I was also using the dual probe Maverick Redi-check thermometer to monitor the temp approx one inch off the grill grate.