High temps, smoke from around lid


 
PeterD

PeterD

TVWBB Super Fan
Hi all,
Yesterday's 2 racks of spares went of pretty well but I've noticed that in all my cooks for 2010, after a few hours, grate temps start heading well north of 260, even with the bottom vents closed. I'm guessing that this is as new fuel minion-starts itself. I'm also noticing smoke coming from all around the lid. I'm using water in the pan (cold water to top it up, which I do when I put the ribs in foil about 3 hours in).

This doesn't seem logical - with water, how can my temps be hitting 300 or higher? Is it normal for smoke to be pouring from the base of the lid (where it sits atop the middle-section)? I have a 5 year old 18" WSM classic. Ribs still turned out OK, but I'm not liking the lack of temperature control.
 
The smoke from the lid is normal (I've never not had this occur); non-issue.

Where are you measuring temps and with what?
 
I'm measuring at both grates using the Maverick ET-73. After this happened last time, I bought two new probes, tested them (they're fine) and clipped the main "smoker" probe as usual under the top grate and the "food" probe was set loosely on the bottom grate. I'm not measuring at the lid.

With a gallon of cold water in the water pan, I can't see how I'm getting 300 degrees on the top grate (and about 280 or so on the bottom).

I should add, I used about a full ring of regular blue K briquettes and 10 hot on top via minion. It took forever to get the unlit to light and the temps to come up. For about 2-3 hours temps held steady in the 240 range, but then started to go crazy. I had the smokewood under about an inch of unlit, and I think maybe the spike was from the smoke wood catching all at once and going into a hot burn, but I can't be sure.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">and I think maybe the spike was from the smoke wood catching all at once and going into a hot burn, but I can't be sure. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Can't be, but that would be my guess. What size wood are you using?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by K Kruger:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">and I think maybe the spike was from the smoke wood catching all at once and going into a hot burn, but I can't be sure. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Can't be, but that would be my guess. What size wood are you using? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I had 5 chunks; three (apple) slightly bigger than a large fist, maybe 6x4x4 if I had to guess and two smaller 3x3x2-ish sized cherry chunks. I think I'm going to rule this out though, since it's happened twice before this year with older smaller wood chunks. In all cases the chunks were buried under a layer of unlit blue K. Maybe next time I'll put the chunks on top of the ring and pour the lit coals from the chimney right on top and see what happens.

I'd really love to know what's going on here, that's for sure, especially with that full water pan. It shouldn't be possible to get temps up that high.
 
When I used to use water (I've been using an empty, foiled pan for some time now) the only time I would get high temps like that was from wood igniting big time. I could open the door and see this plainly.

One thing I did (and have stuck with ever since): I don't use large pieces of wood. I hatchet fist-sized pieces down into 5-6 pieces each - then use about 8 or 9 of those pieces, that's it. I get the same smoke flavor, use less wood, and don't have the temp control issue.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by K Kruger:
When I used to use water (I've been using an empty, foiled pan for some time now) the only time I would get high temps like that was from wood igniting big time. I could open the door and see this plainly.

One thing I did (and have stuck with ever since): I don't use large pieces of wood. I hatchet fist-sized pieces down into 5-6 pieces each - then use about 8 or 9 of those pieces, that's it. I get the same smoke flavor, use less wood, and don't have the temp control issue. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

That's a good plan. I'll try that on my next smoke and see if'n it helps. Thanks!
 
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