Smokenator Dry Run Test

[rangerone]

Hello Everyone,

Today, I put my brand new 22.5" Weber + Smokenator to the test. Well, a dry run test with no meat. Just wanted to "season" the kettle and see how well the Smokenator works. I also used the Maverick ET-732 to monitor the temperature at the grill for the whole dry run and compared this reading to the built in dome thermometer. Today was 84F with about 80 %RH and slight winds. The Weber was protected from any direct wind. I put 60 Kingsford (blue bag) briquettes into the Smokenator, removed 12 to light, and put them back in when they had ashes over. I used the water reservoir and filled it with hot water. I set my temperature probe at grate level, passed it through the top vent, and closed the lid. I set the top vent at approximately 50% open, and the bottom vent was 100% open. I then recorded the grate (Maverick) and dome (Weber) temperatures at regular intervals. I never made any adjustment to the vents.

00:00    102F, N/A
00:10    163F, 170F
00:20    169F, 172F
00:30    176F, 180F
00:40    185F, 195F   
00:50    192F, 203F 
01:00    201F, 211F
WATER PAN IS 1/2 FULL (TOPPED IT OFF WITH HOT WATER); POKED ASH OFF CHARCOAL; THE LID WAS OPEN FOR APPROXIMATELY 1 MINUTE.

01:10    210F, 228F
01:20    217F, 237F  
01:30    228F, 245F  
01:40    235F, 260F  
01:50    241F, 270F 
02:00    244F, 273F
WATER PAN IS 1/2 FULL (TOPPED IT OFF WITH HOT WATER); POKED ASH OFF CHARCOAL; THE LID WAS OPEN FOR APPROXIMATELY 1 MINUTE.

02:10    237F, 265F
02:20    239F, 265F
02:30    243F, 280F
02:40    241F, 277F
02:50    241F, 270F
03:00    241F, 265F
WATER PAN IS 1/2 FULL (TOPPED IT OFF WITH HOT WATER); POKED ASH OFF CHARCOAL; THE LID WAS OPEN FOR APPROXIMATELY 1 MINUTE.

03:10    243F, 280F
03:20    241F, 275F
03:30    239F, 270F
03:40    MISSED!!
03:50    235F, 263F
04:00    235F, 260F
WATER PAN IS 1/2 FULL (TOPPED IT OFF WITH HOT WATER); POKED ASH OFF CHARCOAL; THE LID WAS OPEN FOR APPROXIMATELY 1 MINUTE.

04:10    234F, 260F
04:20    232F, 242F
04:30    214F, 215F AT THIS POINT, I ADDED 8 BRIQUETTES (4 ON EACH SIDE) AND POKED THE ASH OFF THE CHARCOAL.
04:40    212F, 235F
04:50    225F, 263F
05:00    228F, 268F
WATER PAN IS 1/2 FULL (TOPPED IT OFF WITH HOT WATER); POKED ASH OFF CHARCOAL; THE LID WAS OPEN FOR APPROXIMATELY 1 MINUTE.

05:10    225F, 260F
05:20    230F, 265F
05:30    226F, 252F
05:40    217F, 240F
05:50    208F, 230F
06:00    198F, 215F

That was the end of my dry run. Whenever I opened the lid to top off the water and poke ash off the charcoal, the temperature would drop sharply, but it would recover in about 10 minutes.
Except for the fact that it took 1 hour to get up to 200F at the cooking grill, I think it did quite well. With the one addition of 8 briquettes, it held temperature in the range of  210F - 240F at the cooking grill for around 4.5 hours. 

Tomorrow, I will be trying a whole chicken. The only changes I plan to make are that I will start out with 15 lit briquettes instead of 12, and if the temperature does not climb quicker, I will open the top vent full until I see the temperature jump, then return it to 50%. How does this sound? Any advice?


Allan










   






               

[ncsmoker]

Hey Allan not bad at all. I would add coals at the 4hr. point and also sweep the ashes out of the kettle at that point also only thing I can suggest to you. A chicken will take less than 4 hrs. so you won't need to add coals just add wood for smoking and stir the coals.

NC

[rangerone]

I did my chicken today and it turned out great. I started off by using 15 lit and opened the top vent 100%. I also put a chunk of cherry wood in. This caused me to get the kettle up to temperature in 20 minutes instead of 60. It held steady at 230F until I put two large potatoes on the grill, which were fresh out of the fridge. This dropped the temperature to 210 in about 15 minutes. Was a real struggle to get the temperature to climb back up. I added 8 briquettes, but the temperature only climbed to 220F. After an hour at 220, I added 8 more briquettes and the temperature never got above 214F. After an hour at 214F, I added 10 briquettes and this brought the temperature back up to 221F, but after an hour it had dropped back down to 208F. At this point, I really stirred up the coals vigorously and added 8 more briquettes and left the water pan dry. This time the temperature rapidly climbed up to 237F and I finished the cook with an internal temp of 180F.

My wife told me it was the best chicken we have ever made at home. It sure was good, but I think I can do better next time from what I have learned.

Allan

[ncsmoker]

Hi Allan sounds like things came out okay. But you learned a couple of lessons. First never put anything on the grill straight out of the refrigerator, let it warm up 30 minutes to an hour.

Second adding briquettes during the cook will not always increase the temp as you found. It is best to knock off the ash off the coals in the SN every hour and keep them pushed up against the new coals. It is not necessary to add new coals for about 4 hours. The 60 or so coals added at the beginning will keep the SN grill at 225 for 4hr. Only then do you need to add new coals.
This is something hard to get used to but is what the SN is based on, it is called the Minion system of cooking.

Good luck on your next cook and keep practicing.

NC

[kenny]

Here are a few of my suggestions. Go ahead and drill a small hole in the side of the bottom kettle above the grill grate. Insert temp. probes there. Makes handling the lid so much easier. Stack briquettes orderly before inserting the SN. Then top it off. I find I can get about 75 in there this way opposed to the 60 many people mention. I think that is worthwhile on longer cooks.

[rangerone]

Hi Kenny. I have wanted to drill a hole for the temperature probes, but I am afraid of damaging the kettle. I have heard of people cracking the enamel finish and having large parts fall off leaving exposed metal. If I can find someone who knows what they are doing, I might have them do it for me in the future.

I have tried stacking them orderly, and just tossing them in. I have not found too much difference as I have been trying to stick with the 60 total of briquettes and 1 good size wood chunk and I can achieve this both ways. What I have been noticing, now that I have about 6 cooks under my belt, is that with the 60 briquettes and 1 wood chunk, I have to add more briquettes after about 2.5 hours of smoking in the range of 220 - 240F at the grill. Around the 2.5 hour mark my temperature always starts to drop off. When I check the Smokenator, both the left and right sides are practically empty after I push the remaining coals towards the centre. The only time this did not happen, was with the dry run test. But, for the dry run I did not add any wood, the temperature was below 200 for the first hour, and of course, I had no food on the grill. Is this typical or am I using more fuel than normal?

[kenny]

Did not seem that difficult to drill to me. I drilled an 1/8" hole then a 1/4" drill. I can get both Maverick probes through that.

Burn time is why I load as much charcoal as possible. The SN can smoke great food. But it seems that using it is quite user unique. I actually learned of its existence on another website. That guy's instructions work better FOR ME. I leave the dome vent half open and control temps with the bottom vent. Not the way SN instructions are written. Like a car I control the intake, not the exhaust.
I worry very little if the grate temp is 205 or 250 when smoking. And during a longer smoke it may be both or 185 or 275 at different times. You can drive yourself nuts trying to stay at a single temp point and its not that important. Humans were smoking meat long before we even had thermometers. Relax if one guy says he only adds charcoal every 4 hours and you need to every three hours. This is NOT an exact science. Don't expect it to be. Kingsford is cheap as I stock up when its on sale. My advice is to worry less and enjoy the great smoked food. Does it really matter if a rack of ribs requires one or three pounds of charcoal to cook? If you can get to the mindset where it does not you will enjoy the SN much more.
The SN was my introduction to smoking. But after nursing it through several 16 hour butt cooks I have bought a pellet smoker. I can sleep all night while it does its thing. No slight to the SN at all. Its price let us get into smoking and find out we liked it. It even beats the pellet smoker on outright smoke flavor in the meat. I will probably still use it from time to time for short cooks like ribs but the PG does well for me at that too. Charcoal is also way cheaper than pellets. I do not mean to belittle your concerns. I see many such posts on this forum. Try to make the cooking fun and remember there are only two rules:
1. Don't sweat the small stuff.
2. Its all small stuff.
If the result is good it's all good.

[ncsmoker]

I agree with Kenny don't sweat drilling a hole in the Kettle I have drilled one in every kettle since 1978 and not damaged one, I normally start with a small bit 1/8 is good then do your final drill.

I also agree load as mush as possible don't worry about the count. Remove the 12 to lite it. Set a wood chunk on top the lit coals and the water pan on the grill as close the lit coals as possible. I have the Gold grill so I also adjust the bottom vent as well as the top vent. Smoking temps vary from 190 - 275 so don't sweat the variations. If I have a lot of wind I'll check it more frequently but normally just once an hour when I stir the coals. My normal burn is stir coals every hour push up against new coals, at the 4 hour point add new coals. I am a little puzzled at why you need to add coals at 2.5 hours could you explain your process a little. It might help some of us diagnose your problem.

Thanks and good luck

NC
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[rangerone]

Thanks for the replies kenny and NC.

I think I will try to drill the hole in the next few weeks. I am a little reluctant since my kettle is only 3 weeks old and is still so shiny and new. I am thinking of drilling the hole just under the food grate level and attaching the grill probe the underside of the food grate. My idea is to keep the wires as much out of the way as possible. How does that sound to both of you?

As for the use of fuel, I am a cheap bastard. If someone told me how to get the same cook time with 59 briquettes instead of 60 I would be interested! *lol*
I was merely curious about the fuel usage of others since I read that using the recommended amounts of briquettes (60 in total, 48 unlit and 12 lit) should give you 6 hours of cook time. Most of my cooks so far have been 4-6 hours in length and I need to add briquettes somewhere in the 2-3 hour mark or my temperature keeps dropping no matter how much I fiddle with the vents or poking ash. I did some chicken legs and did manage to get the whole cook done in 3 hours and I added no briquettes, but the temperature was starting to drop and did not have much fuel left in the smokenator when the chicken was done.

My results are excellent and I have no complaints about the taste of the food. I am new at the smoking thing, and enjoying getting advice that will help to make it even better.

NC, my process is this:
48 unlit and 1 good size chunk of cherry wood in the smokenator. I use the Kingsford blue bag briquettes.
12 fully ashed coals added in the middle, and moved around to make room for the water pan (which is empty)
Top and bottom vents are full open until the grill temperature is above 212F. (usually 15-20 minutes)
Poke ash off the coals, fill the water pan with boiling water, put on the meat.
When the grill temperature approaches 220F, I shut the top vent by approximately 50%.
I adjust the top vent as necessary to keep the temperature in the range of 215F - 240F. Often, no adjustments are necessary.
Starting from the time the meat goes on, I poke the ash off the coals, top off the water in the pan, and sweep the ash every hour.
2.5 hours after I put the meat on (about 3 hours since starting the smokenator) my temperature always starts to drop.
When I check the smokenator at this point, I can push the remaining coals all into the centre of the smokenator, leaving both ends practically empty. I could add almost 30-40 briquettes at this time, but since I only have 2-3 hours to go, I add about 15 - 20 and no cherry wood.

Thank you in advance for any advice you have.

Allan

[kenny]

Drill the hole. If you use it, your Weber won't look new for long.
Don't be so cheap on the Kingsford. I have bought 40 pounds for $10. But also don't be too quick to add more. That is about half what I pay for pellets. The SN is not set and forget. Pellet smokers pretty much stand alone for that. The vents have to be adjusted a lot. When temps start to drop, open a vent. I adjust the bottom one myself. Adding unlit briquettes will not quickly raise the temp. It will extend the burn time. You do need to add while there are enough lit coals to ignite the addition, but don't rush to add. Four hours usually is around the correct point. Again, adding briquettes is not the right move to keep temps up. That is done by adding air. In my Weber an hour or so is all I can go between water pan refills. I set a standard bread loaf pan on the grill directly over the SN. The SN pan is way too small and steals space better used by more charcoal. To reiterate, no knocks against the SN. It makes terrific smoked food for a small amount of $$$. You can make it so complicated its not fun. Or you can realize its not an exact science but makes excellent food. Oh, smoking wood. I put 4 ounces directly on the coals immediately before adding the meat. That is also when I add the water pan. I throw on 4 more ounces of wood 30 to 45 minutes later. The way I cut it, 4 ounces is 2 to 3 chunks. That's it. I add no more wood. I do use walnut from my yard which is a strong flavored wood. I get tremendous smoke flavor from 8 ounces of wood. The rest is all charcoal smoke. Don't use green wood. I pruned off a 4 inch limb, peeled the bark, cut it into two foot sections, and let it sit in the basement. Smoking wood needs to be well dried. Little tip- soaking your wood chunks in water does nothing useful. They won't produce smoke until they dry back out and wood chunks won't even absorb water very deeply. That is why boats can be made of wood. Limiting oxygen is what keeps the wood from burning instead of smoking. Coincidently that is just how the SN works.

[ncsmoker]

Rangerone, hi. There is no need to sweep the ash every hour lets stop doing that, the ashes actually provide an insulating blanket as they build up. We want some but not to many. We will sweep the ash out when we add coals.

Next lets close down the bottom openings to 1/2 after your up to temp. This should still maintain temp. Don't be afraid to adjust the bottom vent, especially if you have the Gold or Platinum series. I sometimes run my Gold with the bottom vent closed down to a third if I have a breeze. Keep the top at what ever maintains the temp. Usually 3/8 to 1/2 closed for me.

But every Weber is different and the SN performs differently in them so just try adjusting the top and bottom vents for your best smoking action. I really like it and have done a lot of smoking using it. Sometimes 2-4 times a week. My best thing I do is my bacon when I add 4 lit coals shut down the bottom vent to almost closed and the top vent to a 1/4 open and the temp at 165-185 at the dome.

[rangerone]

Hi NC. Thanks for the reply, I appreciate your advice. Just to clarify, every hour I have been poking the coals to remove the ash, and using the one-touch cleaning system to "sweep the ash" into the catcher. I think you are telling me not to poke the coals every hour, and that does seem to make sense to me. It is usually right after I have poked the ash off the coals at hour 2 that the temperature starts to drop off for me. I will definitely try your suggestions for my next cook and let you know the results.

Hi Kenny. I have decided that I am going to drill my brand new Weber kettle to run my temperature cables through. I just have to get the parts and I will be all set.

Thanks again,

Allan

[ncsmoker]

Hi Allan a little confusion here I think. Stir the coals to remove the ash and push them up against the new coals every hour. But do not use the one-touch cleaning system to sweep the ash, this should only be done when new coals are added. You have to keep the hot coals pushed up against the black coals, don't mix them. This is called the Minion system and allows a slow burn of coals to keep lit coals igniting unlit coals.

I'll be honest the new briquettes from Kingsford are smaller and burn faster than the old ones that the SN was tested on, I hate them. A bag used to be 20lbs. now it weighs 16lbs. Just load it to the top and don't worry about the count and then remove 12 to get it started. I have changed to Walmart/Sam's that is made by Oakford the second largest behind Kingsford. Larger coals like the old Kingsford, slower burns. I never fail to get a 4 hour or more smoke burn before having to replace coals.

Good luck and happy smoking

NC

[rangerone]

NC, thank you so much for clearing that up for me!! Since I just started using Kingsford I had NO IDEA that they were now smaller. Makes me feel better about my usage seeming to be higher than what I expected.
I now get the difference in what you were explaining (poking ash versus sweeping ash). I did not think sweeping the ash would have any effect other then keeping the bottom vents clear and working properly. I will continue to poke the ash regularly, and use more briquettes to start.

I do understand the Minion system, or at least I think I do. Let me know if I have this correct.
If you make a C shape of the briquettes and place the lit coals at one of the C, it will slowly burn around to the other end like a fuse. This is the Minion system as I understand it. However, if you put the lit coals in the middle of the C, it should start to burn both ways at the same time to each end of the C. I would think since it is going in both directions at the same time, the total burn time would be shorter by about half. If this is true, would it not be better to place the lit coals more to one side of the Smokenator instead of right in the middle? I realize in such a small area as in the Smokenator the benefits would probably be small, but is my logic sound?

Thanks again,

Allan

[ncsmoker]

Your welcome Allan, you are correct on the Minion system. In the SN we start in the center with a small amount of coals and control the heat with the vents, this slows down the process. We have a large number of coals in relation to the started coals. Keeping the ash off the coals every hour for the SN and pushing them up against the unlit coals is important. You would not have to do this in a true Minion system as the lit coals would light the unlit coals. So keep filling the SN full with coals removing 12 from the center and stirring them every hour.

As I mentioned in my above post try to close down the bottom vent some. I usually end up with it at 1/2 to 1/3 open. It all depends on the weather and the wind. Remember I have the Gold so I can adjust the bottom vents easily. And don't worry about the number of coals fill the thing full to the top as tightly packed as you can get it.

Some hints keep a note book on what you do for each smoke(weather conditions, temp, vent settings, adding coals, etc.) After a while you won't need this but it helps while you learn to use the SN.

Again good luck and happy smoking!!

NC