HELP!! Temp too low!!


 
Status
Not open for further replies.
R

Rob Provost

TVWBB Fan
I have a 20lb bird on the lower rack. Empty water pan, foil lined. Outside temp 62, cloudy, occasional shower, not too much wind.

I lite a full weber chimney, put in in the ring and added another chimney full of charcoal. Waited for that to light and put on the bird and assembled.

Temp wouldn't go over 260. I lite another chimney full of charcoal and added. Same thing. Lite another chiney full of charcoal -- waiting on that result. Fresh, new charcoal, all vents open 100%.

I don't know what to try next. I can't add anymore charcoal, the ring is over flowing. I may have to move this bird into the oven soon. At this rate we will be eating at 8:00pm.

Any ideas?

Thanks.
 
If the bird isn't stuffed it cooks much faster ... my 28.5lb bird took 4.5 hours at an average around 325F, range was 285F - 365F.

If ALL of your charcoal is lit you could prop up your access door 2" by leaning a 2' 2X4 against it. That should help get your temps up.
 
Rob,

Couple of dumb questions:

1. Is your top vent opened 100%?
2. Are you protected against the wind?
3. Any ash blocking your vents?
4. Have you calibrated your therms? (I had but one of mine turned out to be bad this AM.)
5. Is your pit probe safely away from any melting fat but outside the heat wall?
 
I would say somthing is wrong.Check everything rob said for sure.Thats hard to believe you would think your running 500 with all that coal
 
Forget it. I just moved the bird to the oven. Hopefully it picked up some good flavor for the time it was on the WSM.

In the middle of dealing with my temp issues my wife yells, "the kitchen floor is covered w/water!" I run in to see the trap under the sink is corroded through. Think anyplace is open today to buy a trap? NOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Kitchen sink out of commission on turkey day. Great...
Tried to take a trap off of one of the bathroom sinks - no dice. Wrong size.

Anyway, to answer the questions:

1. Is your top vent opened 100%?
Yes
2. Are you protected against the wind?
Not really, but not much wind to speak of
today. Have dealt with worse without
these problems.
3. Any ash blocking your vents?
I cleaned out all ask before the cook. One
vent was partially blocked by a coal, but
I moved it earlier.
4. Have you calibrated your therms? (I had but one of mine turned out to be bad this AM.)
Yes. Checked both of them yesterday.
5. Is your pit probe safely away from any melting fat but outside the heat wall?
Yes. The bird was on the bottom rack,
I was measuring temp through the top vent.

Thanks to all for the quick responses. Now I'll go work on the sink..........
 
With a 20 pound chunk of bird in there it will take some time to get to temp. Its not going to come up to temp fast.
 
RepCap:

Well good news on the sink. Was Wally World open? No. Home Depot? No. The neighborhood Mom & Pop hardware store? YES! Let's hear it for the little guy! Got the trap, 5 minutes later, sink fixed. 1/2 hour before family started arriving.

On to the bird. Finished up in the oven at 350. Turned out great. Good flavor and juicy.

I have a theory on the temp issue. I had the bird on the lower rack and was checking temp through the top vent with a probe thermo - right above the bird. Was the temp and mass of the bird lowering my reading on the thermo? When I moved the bird into the oven the meat was at 95. Sure seemed like the smoker was hot enough. Again, the thermo was tested the night before. If I do that sized bird again I will check the WSM temp on the grate.

Anyone else can confirm/deny/corroborate my theory? I don't feel like buying another 20 lb bird to test it out.
icon_smile.gif


Happy Thanksgiving to all. Hope your food came out well too.

This year (as always) I am thankful for Chris. Thank you. This web site has been a wealth of information. I couldn't do it without Chris and all of you!

As always all my xmas shopping will be done through the Amazon link on this page. Also, I put a logo shirt on my xmas list.

Everyone, do what you can to support this site!!

Thanks again all.
 
i was just going to post the same problem....this is the second time...heres my story

i put on 4 5 pound chickens tonight...lil garlic and oinion inside and spinkled with a sorts of spices......

i got some red oak lump...(i thnk thats what its called...the good kind) lit 2 chimneys full they were fully hot and red....then i put the birds in at 70 deg each....with two vents open it wouldnt climp past 250....so i got my guru closed the vents and set to 350....it still coudltn get past 280...errrr...it is curretnly 42 degrees outside......so i tried to open the vents...forget about it....so it cooked for about 2 hours and then threw it on the sivler A for ten minutes just to get some finishing crisp.....

any suggestions i cant figure out whats up...maybe i need a 10 guru fan...i dunno guys watta ya think

i have some pics of it cut up... everyone raved about the chicken.. very mild smoke taste and very juicy....
thanks guys im eating better than ever now...
 
The only thing I can guess is that you guys may be using water in the pan. I can't get my smoker over 300 with a pan full. You may just want to foil the pan and leave it empty.

Today, for my ham and turkey...my smoker got to 400 when I put it to 'full blaze' waiting for the ham to finish. (12 pound turkey, 21 pound ham).
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Empty water pan, foil lined <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Don't think so. Has to be air leaks. That much charcoal should burn his house down.

Rath *sorry to hear of your dismay*
 
Rob
I think you answered your own question, with a cold bird and a probe touching or just above that cold mass will effect the reading. I would guess you had a real hot fire going, given more time the temp reading would have come around.
Plumbing on the Holidays, is there anything worse?
Jim
 
Rob-
it sounds like you initially put unlit on top of lit coals(?). I know that this can work successfully, but I wonder if it gives lower temps than vice versa.

Weather here yesterday was high 40s or so and windy. I lit 1 and a half chimneys of kingsford mixed w/lump. Let them get good and extra hot, dumped them on 1/2 ring of used kingsford mixed w/lump, and immediately put my 18lb turkey on toprack and began the cook.

My access door is sealed tight w/papertowel gasket.

I ran 50-100% open for most of my cook and maintained 310-335. I blocked much of the wind with three bifold glass hearth doors that I stand up next to the wsm vents.
 
Im really up the creek i guess....i had three thermos telin me the same reading....nutemp,guru and weber.....two loads of royal oak and never went higher than 280....the only thing i can think of is that MAYBE there might be some junk stuck in the inlet of the guru on the inside of the WSM...ill check mon when i get back home..but other than that i have no idea whats going on with me....it was 35 outside..but still

neways have a great weekend
 
I'm having the same problem. Put a 9lb butt on last night about 11pm when we got back in from our annual Christmas shopping marathon. Kept an eye on it via the Maverick through the night. Temp never got above 217. It's in the upper 30's with light winds. I opened up the bottom vents some and added some lump to the kingsford just afew minutes ago to see if it will bring the temps up. The butt is at 151. I'm writing this as a distraction. I'm fighting the urge to sit in front of the thing and poke it with a stick. Only thing I can think of is that I switched to the Brinkman water pan this time and I wonder if the extra water could have that big of an effect.
 
I've been having low temp problems, too. I lit two chimneys of lump. Temp went to 350. Put on a 13 lbs turkey which had been sitting out for about an hour. Temp drobbed below 250. Half-hour later, still no change. I thought it might be the proximity of the probe to the bird, cause it smelled like it was cooking. Took off the access door and came back 5 minutes later. Temp was 450+. Put door back on, closed one vent and put the other two to 25%. Temp quickly came down to 350. I openend the vents at that point, and she stayed above 300 the rest of the cook. I wonder if I cooked it vertically, if that would allow better air circulation. Anyway, I probably wont find out till next Thanksgiving. I don't really find turkey that special. Duck would be better, or goose.
 
Well, it took 18 hours but the butt finally reached 196 and I pulled it and foiled it. The WSM temp only got to around 290. I guess it was a cobination of low outside air temp and wind, along with the extra water in the Brinkman pan. I let the water run out and that's when the temps got as high as they did. The pork was fine but predictably had a little more fat left in it.
How long do you guys usually let the butts stay at your target temperature before you pull it off the WSM. Like I said I pulled this one about twenty minutes after it got to 196 cuz I was ready to eat.
-+
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

 

Back
Top