chargriller temps

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grindstaff3

Smoke Blower
Original poster
suprise suprise another chargriller question haha. alright so i have the dryer vent and the baffle and i bought a basket from lowe's for charcoal (lump always) and i put fire rope around the edge of the cooking chamber. i still have smoke pouring out of where the lid meets the base on the cooking chamber and my drawer and top door on the firebox. i built a fire to test it today and the tem got up to about 215 and held for maybe an hour and a half them dropped fast cause i had to leave my vents all the way open. what in the wild world of smokin can a guy do here??
 
I'm real new , done the same mods except sealing the lid . I just keep filling the starter chimney and pouring the coal to it
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have the same happen here....... i've learned weather has alot to do with it.also the coal you use, i swear by royal oak by far the best, temp comes up quick brought down to about 240, just takes time getting used to your smoker.
 
Vents all the way open should increase temp. closing vent lower temp. I have the same smoker and also have done the mods. I do not a charcoal basket yet. I just about fill my fire box all the way up with lump then add one chimney of hot coals and can run almost three hours on that at 230, and outside temp does effect holding heat.
 
Are you using the stock thermo to measure the temp? The stock thermo in my chargriller is not even close to accurate. I measure the temp with a digital probe thermo. I find that I can easily maintain 250° F with the exhaust wide open and the intake at 5-10% open. I find I need to add a chimney of lit lump every 1-1/2 to 2 hours.

Hope you find your solution!

Take care, have fun, and do good!

Regards,

Meowey
 
no i wasn't using the stock thremo it was sayin i was at 150 not 215, so when i temp goes down and i still have some burning coals from doing the minion method can i just dump my unlit coals on top and kind of do a reverse minion??
 
I have done that - it tends to smother the fire for a while. If you are going to put unlit on top of lit, make sure the lit coals are burning well.

I'm hesitant to ask, but, is the opening between the firebox and large cooking chamber clear enough to allow heat flow?

Hope this helps!

Take care, have fun, and do good!

Regards,

Meowey
 
I have noticed that too the few times I fired mine with charcoal. The other thing I tried that worked pretty well -- thanks Josh (Geek With Fire) for the suggestion -- was pushing the lit coals in a pile towards the cook chamber side of the firebox then dumping the unlit on the firebox door side. The piles overlapped enough to ignite the unlit but not as much unlit was directly on top of the lit so it didn't smother it much.

Hope this helps.

Dave
 
meowy,

my path from fb to cc is open. i have a baffle in the cc that extends out maybe 10" but i wouldn't think that would restrict the heat that much. i'm afraid if i take it out then my temps will be very uneven. i had about a 15 mph wind on the smoker would that have that big of a difference on it or should i just keep trying to seal every little gap i find?
 
Wind and gaps will rob heat from the cooking chamber. Keep on plugging away at it. Have you tried moving the temp probe around in the cooking chamber?

If you have air flow through the smoker, most of the leaks plugged and a good set of coals in the firebox, a temp of higher than 215 should be attainable even with a little wind.

Hang in there!

Take care, have fun, and do good!

Regards,

Meowey
 
I have a Char griller and the only thing I have done is flip the charcoal grate in cook chamber up-side down when smoking. Mine will maintain 230-250 with a digital probe about an inch above the cooking grate on the exhaust stack end. I start mine with a chimney and half of kingsford and add a chunk of hickory ( about 3x3 inch) at the start and about every hour there after and half a chimney of lit coals as they burn down in fire box. Mine maintains 230-250 this way and thats with the intake and exhaust wide open, at least mine does.
 
try making a charcoal box out of expanded metal for your sfd you will be able to dump your ashes durning long smokes & your heat will stay more constant. you will need to measure your sfd to make it fit i dont have pics of mine but if you need some let me know I will post them or you can search it.also I used a cookie pan for a baffel i think it works better than flipping over your charcoal pan because you still have room to use a drip pan .
 
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