Weird Temp Issue


 
J

Jim Creasy

TVWBB Fan
OK... Mine is stuck at 175.

Here is what I normally do... One large bag of Kingsford with Hickory, fill the chimney and light, put the rest in the ring and Minion. Full water pan. Stock aluminum door with a little leak. Vents wide open.

Tonight, I had a little left over from another bag and those small bags of Hickory chips. So I am burning more charcoal in the ring, a full bag, along with the chips, and a smaller amount of lit charcoal.

I am 30 minutes in and stuck at 175ish. Not windy here and under cover/protected. With this set up, I usually settle in at 225/240 and hold... Rather quickly.

Am I OK? Could it be taking longer to get the coals up and burning? Should I vent the door? Any input appreciated. I am not going to do anything yet because I don't want to be chasing the temps on this thing all night long.

Oh, by the way, the meat is 3 Boston Butts on top grate. A fair amount of meat, but I've had double on there before (fully loaded) and did not notice this issue...

Thanks,

JKC
 
How much water is in the pan?

You might want to try putting the lid on crooked to get some extra air in until it gets up to temperature.
 
OK... I may be being anal. It is now 1 has below 200, but still this has been going now for 45 minutes.

Anyone ever notice a different burn/temp when using Kingsford? I've tried to stick to the tried and true so I have a constant. I wonder if adding those Hickory chips may have filled holes and choked out the fire a little...

Man, I am anal.

I just like the set it, light it and nearly forget it aspect of this smoker and now I am off top-dead-center.

JKC
 
Used Kingsford blue today and it seemed to be taking forever for the temp to raise, so rather than doing anything at first I went to post office after about 30min it still hadnt broke 200* but I went ahead and opened door threw in a chunk of cherry wood and as the chunk started to burn my temps went up and before long my heat was too high so i am thinking maybe some charcoal had a harder time than what I expected to light but with that chunk burning everything eventually caught.
 
I'm just tossing this out there because I'm not really sure myself, I trust the water was hot when you put it in the pan,could the butts have been colder than usual, maybe your therm is just acting up a little because of consdensation,could the charcoal be older than you think or have gotten wet some how or some where like in the store before you bought it
 
It is now at about 215/220 and I am an hour and a half in.

To respond to questions... Charcoal was not damp, bought from a grocery store (indoors, although I suppose it could have gotten wet before but no sign of that). Water was not hot but tap (like I always use). Pork was pulled straight from store cooler to kitchen, then cooker, so not too cold. (I've packed mine with cold meat before and no issues).

The only thing I can come up with is that emptying the bag with all the dust and then the Hickory chips is denser and not breathing?

Long story short, I am going to be up watching this thing for a few hours because I don't want to sleep and have it die at 3 AM. Which, is not what I wanted to do tonight.

JKC
 
Will post in a hour or so.

Anyone else had an issue with Kingsford charcoal being slow to get to temp or having a variation? Seems to me if I am using the briquettes as opposed to lump, I ought to be more constant.

Thanks

JKC
 
To close this thread, I went to bed around 1030 EST and it was at 225ish. I got up at 630 AM and it was at 200. So, it went right at 12 hours.

The only thing I can think of is that the smaller Hickory chips slowed down the "... breathing" by plugging some of the holes between the charcoal, I also dumped the full bag of charcoal and there was some dust in there that probably did the same thing.

Once it got up to temp., though, things went fine.

Hopefully, this post will help someone who stumbles across a similar issue.

JKC
 
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