I was doing my first all nighter and everything was going great. finally started the 20 pieces of charcoal and put them on the unlit ones at around 12:20. by 12:45 I was able to put the meat on. after about an hour temperature stayed steady at around 230. Well I put 4 chunks of wood on top and had buried 2 small pieces. Well at 5a.m. my thermometer started beeping because the temperature was over 250. So i ran out and closed all vents. Only had 1 vent barely open and another about 1/4 open. But the tempurature keeped on climbing and FAST.
I had already filled up the water pan about 2 hours before so it wasnt empty but I filled it up with cold water hoping it would go down. Nothing. It would climb 20* in about a minute. So Im getting worried so started to lift the top to let some heat escape. still nothing. would climb up to 270 before I would lift it up again. So now I'm taking out charcoals. Took about 20-30 out. Still climbing. It got to the point to where it was 260 with the lid off. Wouldn't get lower then about 250-255 with the lid off. Finally decided to close all vents even the top one and try and suffocate the charcoals. Well it climbed to 187 and stayed steady and FINALLY started dropping. Its dropping slowly but at least its dropping.
Anyone know why this would happen? Could it have been the small wood chunks I buried?
Thanks for your help.
I had already filled up the water pan about 2 hours before so it wasnt empty but I filled it up with cold water hoping it would go down. Nothing. It would climb 20* in about a minute. So Im getting worried so started to lift the top to let some heat escape. still nothing. would climb up to 270 before I would lift it up again. So now I'm taking out charcoals. Took about 20-30 out. Still climbing. It got to the point to where it was 260 with the lid off. Wouldn't get lower then about 250-255 with the lid off. Finally decided to close all vents even the top one and try and suffocate the charcoals. Well it climbed to 187 and stayed steady and FINALLY started dropping. Its dropping slowly but at least its dropping.
Anyone know why this would happen? Could it have been the small wood chunks I buried?
Thanks for your help.