Post by bruce on Nov 10, 2010 10:31:32 GMT -5
I had temp issues with my first try with the Smokenator.
I followed the instructions that came with the Smokenator very closely, and started with 48 Kingsford regular briquettes in the baffle. I lit 12 additional and poured into the baffle to get things going.
The ambient temp was about 45 degrees with the wind blowing at 8mph when I started.
After about two hours the wind died completely and the temp came up to over 65 degrees.
The problem was that I could never get the internal temp of the weber inside to regulate or maintain. It was either slowly going up or slowly coming down. It would slowly go up to about 260 or so and would then stay about a minute and then slowly start to fall never staying at any one point for over a minute or so before going to the next degree.
I checked the water pan every hour to add water. I knocked the ashes off and swept the ash every hour as well.
I have a new Performer(about 2 months old) with a leaky kettle. From the start I used the 1.5 inch binder clips to clamp down the lid, and was constantly adjusting the upper vents(most of the time I left the lower vents open as I was told to do by an email from the company). I started out using the upper vent measurements in the guide, but when that did not cause the temp to maintain, I started trying to fine tune those by halves or doubling. Nothing seemed to to work
I used a Maverick T-73, so I was measuring the temp at the food grate.
The thing went through charcoal pretty quickly. The 60 initial briquettes were almost gone in 3 hours and I had to start adding. I added 10 12 briquettes every time I opened the lid after the third hour.
The cook lasted 7 hours. I did a small boston butt. It came out OK, but having to be constantly watching the temp go slowly up and slowly down was a pain.
Any input as to what I might be doing wrong would be appreciated.
I followed the instructions that came with the Smokenator very closely, and started with 48 Kingsford regular briquettes in the baffle. I lit 12 additional and poured into the baffle to get things going.
The ambient temp was about 45 degrees with the wind blowing at 8mph when I started.
After about two hours the wind died completely and the temp came up to over 65 degrees.
The problem was that I could never get the internal temp of the weber inside to regulate or maintain. It was either slowly going up or slowly coming down. It would slowly go up to about 260 or so and would then stay about a minute and then slowly start to fall never staying at any one point for over a minute or so before going to the next degree.
I checked the water pan every hour to add water. I knocked the ashes off and swept the ash every hour as well.
I have a new Performer(about 2 months old) with a leaky kettle. From the start I used the 1.5 inch binder clips to clamp down the lid, and was constantly adjusting the upper vents(most of the time I left the lower vents open as I was told to do by an email from the company). I started out using the upper vent measurements in the guide, but when that did not cause the temp to maintain, I started trying to fine tune those by halves or doubling. Nothing seemed to to work
I used a Maverick T-73, so I was measuring the temp at the food grate.
The thing went through charcoal pretty quickly. The 60 initial briquettes were almost gone in 3 hours and I had to start adding. I added 10 12 briquettes every time I opened the lid after the third hour.
The cook lasted 7 hours. I did a small boston butt. It came out OK, but having to be constantly watching the temp go slowly up and slowly down was a pain.
Any input as to what I might be doing wrong would be appreciated.