new here with a question or 2

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deano camino

Newbie
Original poster
Jan 28, 2012
8
10
Fairmont, WV
Well I would like to start out by saying I am new and figured I would get it all out that I am generally a smoking rookie, been doing it on and off for 2 years and have had some and not some sucess.

I smoke on a brinkman vertical water smoker, and have made mods to my charcoal basket as to get the smoker hotter.  I still am having problems bringing it up to temp, the hotest I have registered was 200 degrees. and at times I cant even keep that temp stable.  I still have the stock therm on the door. Maybe I should replace that. I always run into the same problem i just cant get it hot enough, and things take longer to cook then what I read they should on the internet, way longer....  I use a grill basket to but my charcoal in and leave the vents mostly open to circulate air.  I build the first fire in a chimmney. 

I was wondering if I should attemp using just straight wood to smoke if that would make a difference

any bit of advice would help, thanks again in advance.  I almost get so fustrated with it that I dont do it as often as I would like or as often as I have done in the past.
 
Is the charcoal basket up off the bottom of the smoker so it can get air under it? Does the smoker basket have holes in it so it can get air into it and the ashes can fall through it to the bottom of the smoker so as not to smother the coals? What kind of charcoal are you using?
 
I am not sure of the charcoal, all I can say is that it is of kingston brand. the basket does have holes in it a good bit of them more like slots they are about a quater inch wide and probable 1.5 inches long. All throughout the sids and bottom of basket.  The basket sits on the highest level that it can sit on.  There were times I did place th old charcoal pan on the bottom to catch the ashes but I belive the last time I smoked this past summer I did not do that and stil ran into the same problem.
 
Can you put a  few bolts through the bottom of the charcoal pan double nut them as legs to keep the pan from sitting directly on anything thus letting the burnt coals fall to the bottom? Have you tried lump charcoal instead of standard briquettes it usually burns hotter? Also are you keeping the top vent wide open?
 
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