Temp problem

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
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G

Guest

Guest
Hello,

This is my first smoke. I'm doing Ribs and chicken.

I followed the steps for BRITU (2 chimneys worth of charcoal). Temp was at 250 when I added the meat.

Now the temp dropped like a rock, so I opened all the vents (100%) and still my temp is not going higher then 215 usually hovers around 190-200.

It's about 60 degrees here no sun, with the vents opened too 100% is there anything else I should be doing or something I did not do?

Also, adding more charcoal, that a good or bad idea?
 
Al,

Just tried that, I'll let you know what happens, boy it does smell good
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Pete

Sounds like you're using the standard method for firing up and that would have called for the meat to go on when the temp dropped to 350. The meat will take it on down and you slowly adjust the vents open to reduce the rate of descent and stabilize at 250 - but, none of that helps you now. Ash build up probably is not your problem at this point. If the heat won't get back up, I would add some lit and play with the vents till you get it stable.

Paul
 
Hey Pete,

One other idea. Sometimes, opening the access door (a crack) will increase your temps due to more oxygen getting to the fire...just ask someone who has a poorly fitting one! Maybe you could try that, if you haven't added more burning coals already.
 
Al, Paul & Phil,

Thank you for all the help, greatly appreciated. I actually followed all the advice and was able to get the smoker up a bit.

One interesting thing happened, when I removed the ribs the smoker shot up to 250, not sure if it was actually that temp all the time (therm was not in the meat).

But everythng turned out great! First smoke and I wowed the family and myself, I guess there is no going back now!

Thank you again for all the help.
 
The BRITU method calls for doing exactly what you did fire-wise, but I am guessing (and hoping) you didn't sit the chicken out for two hours like you did the ribs (did you set the ribs out?). If you followed the BRITU, but then put chilled chicken and ribs in at a 250° cooker temp you would certainly see the temps drop like you did-- the devil is in the details. Lighting the cooker Standard Method requires you to add chilled meat before the cooker comes down to your target temperature, in order to give you a bit of a leg up against the cold mass. Cracking the door is a good solution to help you get where you need to get to, in this case.

Notice how the temp rose when you removed the ribs? Removing that heat-absorbing mass, and leaving all other things equal, results in a temp rise.
 
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