Hey guys......just threw a roast in my MF.......i went through a bit of a process to see if i can dial it in fairly easily - now i should let you know that im very new (second smoke) - ive added a couple mods to my forge (rope sealed the doors and replaced the crappy non-functioning thermo on the door with a quasi-working thermo off an old q i have here) so this is what i did to dial in my forge - took about a half hour. couple other things - i have an oven thermo in the box and i also have a single probe digital thermo i use in the meat (will be getting a better one later)
First of all ALWAYS start with a clean rig (safety and to get proper temps)
so i removed the wood box and the water pan - fired up the forge to preheat a bit - while the box is heating up i started prep stuff like line the water tray with foil and drain the wood chips i had soaking
temp on the oven thermo is reading about 300 at this point on the door its reading 250 - 50 degree difference - ok - so i add some chips to the wood box and put the box in the forge and string out the digital thermo to get a better idea of whats going on with the temps. let the digital settle and its reading about 325 - ok - 25 degree difference from the oven thermo and 75 degree difference from the door - while waiting for the smoke to start up i put water in the water pan and have a cigarette (if you dont smoke you can skip the cigarette).
once the smoke started i added the water pan and watched the digital plummet - it stabilizes at about 240 - door thermo dropped to about 175 - ok 65 degree difference - not bad - so while waiting for the smoke to start again i go grab the roast and have another smoke (yes i smoke alot) - now the unit is smoking a bit - temp is still about 240....time to dial it down a bit. Top vent is open full - side vents were closed so i start on the right side and open the right vent a little.....temp drops a few degrees - still need a little more for this roast so i open the right vent a bit more - temp drops a few more degrees - open the right vent open full - temp is still about 235 - door thermo is reading about 180ish at this point .....acceptable....put the roast in - digital thermo goes in the roast close up the door and wait for temps to stabilize again......roast drops the temp a few degrees which is ok still in acceptable range
i dunno if this is gonna help anyone but if it does im glad to help
First of all ALWAYS start with a clean rig (safety and to get proper temps)
so i removed the wood box and the water pan - fired up the forge to preheat a bit - while the box is heating up i started prep stuff like line the water tray with foil and drain the wood chips i had soaking
temp on the oven thermo is reading about 300 at this point on the door its reading 250 - 50 degree difference - ok - so i add some chips to the wood box and put the box in the forge and string out the digital thermo to get a better idea of whats going on with the temps. let the digital settle and its reading about 325 - ok - 25 degree difference from the oven thermo and 75 degree difference from the door - while waiting for the smoke to start up i put water in the water pan and have a cigarette (if you dont smoke you can skip the cigarette).
once the smoke started i added the water pan and watched the digital plummet - it stabilizes at about 240 - door thermo dropped to about 175 - ok 65 degree difference - not bad - so while waiting for the smoke to start again i go grab the roast and have another smoke (yes i smoke alot) - now the unit is smoking a bit - temp is still about 240....time to dial it down a bit. Top vent is open full - side vents were closed so i start on the right side and open the right vent a little.....temp drops a few degrees - still need a little more for this roast so i open the right vent a bit more - temp drops a few more degrees - open the right vent open full - temp is still about 235 - door thermo is reading about 180ish at this point .....acceptable....put the roast in - digital thermo goes in the roast close up the door and wait for temps to stabilize again......roast drops the temp a few degrees which is ok still in acceptable range
i dunno if this is gonna help anyone but if it does im glad to help