Grilling - Cannot Get High Temps on Smokey Joe Silver - Advice Please


 
T

Trail B.

TVWBB Member
I have been using my smokey joe silver for over a year now. Generally I light about half to 3/4 of charcoal and/or lump in a chimney and then put it on one side of the SJS. I wait until the charcoal is screaming hot.

however, every time I put the lid on, the fire dies down.

Just so you know, I have used lump and regular charcoal of different varieties (Cowboy, Kingsford, Stubbs, Trader Joes, HEB Grand Champion, etc...). Same thing happens on each one. The fire doesn't die, the temp just goes down more than I would like.

I watch the intakes and regularly clean them out to make sure ash is not blocking the air flow. I have both top and bottom vent fully open. Also, whenever I take off the lid, the charcoal gets hot again if I leave it off, but as soon as I put the lid back on it dies down.

Anyone else have a similar problem? Any suggestions?
 
do you know what temps you are getting with the lid on? You should easily be able to get 400-500 at the grate with the lid on and the intakes open.
 
Yep, as George stated this is normal for any charcoal grill. The key is understanding what the actual temps are with the lid on to see if you have a problem or not. The range of 450-650 is considered HIGH heat. I personally have temp gauges in the lids of my SJS and WGA and may be something to consider as it takes guess work and worry out of the equation. here is my WGA with it:

 
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Trail the only time my SJS does that is if some small chunk's of coal/lump fall's right into the bottom vent & them i push them up & away using this piece of steel rod i bent just for that reason...With the vent right below & in the center of the bottom it's bound to happen & it does alot on my SJS cause i reuse the left over coals all the time.
 
Sometimes for steaks and burgers you can just leave the lid off and enjoy the screaming hot fire as is, and just put the lid on if you need to control
flames or heat. You could also use the lid, but leave it propped open on a bolt or piece of fire brick as a spacer, this will let more air in and let you keep the temps up high.
 
yea, I rarely have the lid on. the sj are best at open grilling. you can also put more coals on one side so that you can still have a safe zone in case things flair up.
but I have basically switched to the go anywhere.
 
Trail B. said:
Anyone else have a similar problem? Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

That's pretty much the way the most fires behave, fire needs air to breath, more air=more fire, closing the lid restricts the air flow.. which can be a good thing and slows down the fire. Next time tilt the lid a little on the side opposite the coals and it should increase the temps.
 
I agree with Bob and George, have had some really good results with the lid off with both steaks and burgers.
 
I too have this issue with my portable. I have a smokey joe platinum with the side vents. I've found I can get up to 500 by setting the lid off to the side a bit on the opposite side of the coals. Try it out.
 
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