Temps to low in 14.5

[AlWielgosz]

What am I doing wrong?
I've used my new 14.5 twice now for baby backs and I can not keep the temp in the smoke zone for long. I start with a 1/2 ring full of blue and a full lit chimney on top and 3-4 pieces of wood. Top vent wide open and bottom three 1/2 open. Full water pan. Could not get much more than the 125 mark in the Smoke Zone even after opening bottom vents all the way. I ran 4 racks (8 halfs four on each grate) I foiled the ribs on the top rack at the 2 hour mark. I ran the smoker for 6 hours and reloaded 12-15 more coals at 4 or 5 hour mark. Pulled them and the bottom ones just weren't done enough. Usually the foiled ones shake off the bones when unwraping the foil.
Maybe leave water out next time?

 

[Bob H.]

Al, try starting it with all three bottom vents wide open, along with the top vent wide open. It sounds as if it is not getting enough air. Start shutting bottom vents around 225-250,
and then you can adjust temp to where you want it from there.

 

[Jeff Padell]

I have trouble getting my 14.5 down to 250! I don't use water in the pan. For chicken where I wanted 325 or more I ran Cowboy lump

 

[Dave Russell]

I assume you meant to type 225, not 125? If so, nothing wrong with that. You can easily check the therm for accuracy in boiling water, but keep in mind that until the meat warms up good, the dome gauge is going to be a good bit lower than the grate temp with that much cold meat in such a small cooker. For instance, even when I put cold butts in my larger cookers, I don't expect anymore than 200* or so in the first hour if cooking slow and overnight. A full chimney of lit sounds like a lot of lit to start off with, even using water, but maybe you're using a mini chimney? If you're going to use water, I'd make sure it's HOT. I use a boiling tea kettle and use hot tap for the rest. Sometimes you just have to leave the vents open for a good while to get the temp up, especially with water. Water's certainly not required, though. Just try it both ways for different things and see what you like best.