R. Hutchins
TVWBB Fan
My charcoal chimney has seen a lot of newspaper for starter fuel. Since I started smoking on the Smoker Joe, I decided that I didn't want to risk getting newspaper ashes in the fire area. Then, I got this OTG 22.5 from craigslist and figured I'd be starting a lot bigger loads of coals. Again, I didn't want to get paper ash in the fire (I sit the chimney on the fire grate to start); so I built one of the soda can alcohol stoves. (Search YouTube. There are lots of variations.) I can report that it works perfectly.
Yesterday, I put about a half inch of isopropyl alcohol in the stove and lit it off and timed how long it would burn. It burned almost 13 minutes but I wasn't very precise about the amount of fuel.
Today, I wanted to do a test heat on the OTG 22. I put 52 Kingsford briquettes in the chimney. I then put the alcohol stove in the center of the coals grate and poured in about a half inch of fuel. I then lit it with a gas lighter and made sure is was going to burn then placed the chimney over the stove, centering it as best I could. I could see red coals in less than 5 minutes and had the whole chimney load with ash in 20 minutes. That is the simplest, easiest and least costly starter system I've ever used (I'm 70 yo).
My next step in the heat was to get a feel for temperatures. Here my experiment failed. I dumped the coals and removed the stove then spread the coals approximately evenly on either side of the grate to set up an indirect heat. That was ~26 hot, burning coals on each side. I then closed the air intake to 50% on the bottom and left the top vents open as I placed the top on the grill. I then connected my ET-73 smoker probe and dropped it through a vent hole to hang just above the cooking grill. Temps started climbing and all seemed OK.
I brought the receiver in to my desk beside the computer as I checked emails and caught up on my forums. The heat continued to rise until, at some point - who knows how long - I looked and the receiver displayed "HHH". I pressed the Smoker HI button and got a display of 176*. I've learned since that was a threshold setting for the alarms, but at the time thought I had fried the ET-73. I then checked the transmitter unit and found that it too showed "HHH". Hmmmm. Does "H" mean "high"?
I went to the Maverick web site and looked at the manual in a PDF. I searched for "HHH". Sure enough, down there somewhere was a notice that "HHH" is displayed if there is something wrong with the unit or IF TEMPERATURES ARE MEASURED ABOVE 410*. It also said that using the probe in high heat can damage it. Don't know yet if there was any permanent damage.
So, I failed to learn how high the indirect heat with 26 coals on each side rose. I think I can assume that it was over 410* but I don't know how much over. I DID learn, however, that my Maverick is not going to be of much use on the grill unless and until I learn how to anticipate maximum heat based on the number of coals or other factors. I removed the top and the heat dropped quickly and the ET started displaying temps in the 300s. I started the coals in the chimney about 4 hours ago. The ET is showing 118* as I type with no coals having been added and the top removed only to drop the temp on the probe. I will have to experiment more to learn heat control for smoking on the OTG and for grilling.
So, I told you about the home-made alcohol stove (great idea that I stole from someone), and I told you about the heat experiment and the disappointment in the max range of the ET. Now, for the question: "What kind of thermometer should I get for my OTG 22.5?" My experience of thermometers have mostly been bad (probably because I'm cheap), but I figure I need to know temps to cook on the Weber. Because I only paid $25 for the OTG (from CL), and I've stuck another $30 in it for new charcoal and cooking grates, the finance department is gonna look long and hard at me if I drop a bundle for a thermometer. Suggestions?
Yesterday, I put about a half inch of isopropyl alcohol in the stove and lit it off and timed how long it would burn. It burned almost 13 minutes but I wasn't very precise about the amount of fuel.
Today, I wanted to do a test heat on the OTG 22. I put 52 Kingsford briquettes in the chimney. I then put the alcohol stove in the center of the coals grate and poured in about a half inch of fuel. I then lit it with a gas lighter and made sure is was going to burn then placed the chimney over the stove, centering it as best I could. I could see red coals in less than 5 minutes and had the whole chimney load with ash in 20 minutes. That is the simplest, easiest and least costly starter system I've ever used (I'm 70 yo).
My next step in the heat was to get a feel for temperatures. Here my experiment failed. I dumped the coals and removed the stove then spread the coals approximately evenly on either side of the grate to set up an indirect heat. That was ~26 hot, burning coals on each side. I then closed the air intake to 50% on the bottom and left the top vents open as I placed the top on the grill. I then connected my ET-73 smoker probe and dropped it through a vent hole to hang just above the cooking grill. Temps started climbing and all seemed OK.
I brought the receiver in to my desk beside the computer as I checked emails and caught up on my forums. The heat continued to rise until, at some point - who knows how long - I looked and the receiver displayed "HHH". I pressed the Smoker HI button and got a display of 176*. I've learned since that was a threshold setting for the alarms, but at the time thought I had fried the ET-73. I then checked the transmitter unit and found that it too showed "HHH". Hmmmm. Does "H" mean "high"?
I went to the Maverick web site and looked at the manual in a PDF. I searched for "HHH". Sure enough, down there somewhere was a notice that "HHH" is displayed if there is something wrong with the unit or IF TEMPERATURES ARE MEASURED ABOVE 410*. It also said that using the probe in high heat can damage it. Don't know yet if there was any permanent damage.
So, I failed to learn how high the indirect heat with 26 coals on each side rose. I think I can assume that it was over 410* but I don't know how much over. I DID learn, however, that my Maverick is not going to be of much use on the grill unless and until I learn how to anticipate maximum heat based on the number of coals or other factors. I removed the top and the heat dropped quickly and the ET started displaying temps in the 300s. I started the coals in the chimney about 4 hours ago. The ET is showing 118* as I type with no coals having been added and the top removed only to drop the temp on the probe. I will have to experiment more to learn heat control for smoking on the OTG and for grilling.
So, I told you about the home-made alcohol stove (great idea that I stole from someone), and I told you about the heat experiment and the disappointment in the max range of the ET. Now, for the question: "What kind of thermometer should I get for my OTG 22.5?" My experience of thermometers have mostly been bad (probably because I'm cheap), but I figure I need to know temps to cook on the Weber. Because I only paid $25 for the OTG (from CL), and I've stuck another $30 in it for new charcoal and cooking grates, the finance department is gonna look long and hard at me if I drop a bundle for a thermometer. Suggestions?
