Just finished my test run

[magnum9]

Well, the Smokenator arrived yesterday and since I had to stay home with my sick daughter I figured I would fire up the smokenator for its maiden voyage...a test run mind you.

It was very interesting because the run was nothing like what I expected.

I started with about 28 briquettes in the Smokenator, and lit 8 others. They were only partially lit when I put them in the smokenator and then I dropped in two wood chunks. I have a temp gauge drilled in to the lid and also a Maverick that measures the grate temp.

Initially I had a major problem with the temperatures. They shot up to 270 dome and 230+ grate temp. I thought it very weird because the coals hadn't even been fully lit and I didn't use as much as recommended.

After 1.5 hours of playing with the vents with no real change in temp I decided to stir the coals and look in. To my surprise almost all of the coals were gone along with the apple wood chunks.

I am wondering if the chunk wood caught fire and actually ignited most of the coals causing the high temps and the quick burn.

Most interesting is that I decided to add 4 more briquettes to each side and the temps slowly rose back up to 220 grate and 240 dome and held there until those few coals were gone.

I think I will buy some spring clamps from a hardware store to eliminate the possibility of a severely leaking lid.

Anyone else experienced this extremely quick burn off of the coals?
I am going to be doing a smoke next weekend so I might actually get to use this think in a real cooking situation to get a feel for it.

P.S. is it best to set the chunk wood outside of the smokenator instead of in the coals? I think this may be where my problem was.

[ecripps]

It sounds like you are getting too much air in the kettle. Try some binder clips and see if that helps. Once the temps get hot, it can be hard to get them back down. You'll really need to starve the fire of oxygen.

Ed

[magnum9]

Thanks for the response Ed.

I read back through my late night (early morning) post and realized I didn't really make myself clear.

My first full load of coals burned up in about 1.5 hours. I added a few more just before the last remaining coals were gone. These coals lasted significantly longer than the full load of coals while also providing the proper temperature.

I will still buy some of really strong spring clamps from the hardware store though. Eliminate that possibility first.

[ecripps]

It still sounds like too much air. Make sure the vents are set right when you start. Also put the starter coals in white hot. The rest of the coals will be placed in first. You can buy binder clips from staples. I use 4 on the 22.5" and about 6-7 on the 26.5".