- Nov 28, 2012
- 17
- 10
Husbands parents gave him a Char-broil vertical smoker for his birthday (CB600X)
The few reviews I can find about this smoker are either really good, or have the same complaint- temperature control.
We've had a few great smokes - ribs, chickens, pulled pork (butt), turkey legs (one ended badly - we over brined them though)
While we've managed ok, the issue is getting the smoker hot enough and keeping it there.
We quickly found out running it without water in the pan helped, but even on high, we barely keep it at 200-225.
The water/chip pan- it takes up the entire bottom and I think its blocking heat.
I went to Home Depot and bought the metal mesh, had the husband cut it at work and I made a box and filled it with lava rocks. I'm doing a dry run now, no water. On low, its maintaining 275 degrees.
This is too hot - Do I assume a temp drop of about 25 degrees when food is added? If it's too low with water in the pan, and too high with rocks, how do I find a middle ground? Water pan on bottom shelf?
For the rest of the days runs, how would you suggest I proceed?
I plan to crank it to medium, test temp, then high, test temps.
Then add a glass pan of water to bottom shelf, do temp checks at low, medium and high.
After I get done, I'm going to do an entire second run the same way, but adding a hot water blanket to the mix.
Any other suggestions? Or is this all useless on an empty smoker?
I am testing the temp with 2 different thermometers - I'm using an oven thermometer that is laying on a rack, so I can see it through the top, and I'm using my probe thermometer which is tested and correct, but the probe is just hanging there next to a rack - not sure if its accurate since its supposed to be used for internal temps of meat. They are a few inches away from each other and about 10 degrees difference between the 2.
This thread has some photos.
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/128678/need-help
The grate I made:
The few reviews I can find about this smoker are either really good, or have the same complaint- temperature control.
We've had a few great smokes - ribs, chickens, pulled pork (butt), turkey legs (one ended badly - we over brined them though)
While we've managed ok, the issue is getting the smoker hot enough and keeping it there.
We quickly found out running it without water in the pan helped, but even on high, we barely keep it at 200-225.
The water/chip pan- it takes up the entire bottom and I think its blocking heat.
I went to Home Depot and bought the metal mesh, had the husband cut it at work and I made a box and filled it with lava rocks. I'm doing a dry run now, no water. On low, its maintaining 275 degrees.
This is too hot - Do I assume a temp drop of about 25 degrees when food is added? If it's too low with water in the pan, and too high with rocks, how do I find a middle ground? Water pan on bottom shelf?
For the rest of the days runs, how would you suggest I proceed?
I plan to crank it to medium, test temp, then high, test temps.
Then add a glass pan of water to bottom shelf, do temp checks at low, medium and high.
After I get done, I'm going to do an entire second run the same way, but adding a hot water blanket to the mix.
Any other suggestions? Or is this all useless on an empty smoker?
I am testing the temp with 2 different thermometers - I'm using an oven thermometer that is laying on a rack, so I can see it through the top, and I'm using my probe thermometer which is tested and correct, but the probe is just hanging there next to a rack - not sure if its accurate since its supposed to be used for internal temps of meat. They are a few inches away from each other and about 10 degrees difference between the 2.
This thread has some photos.
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/128678/need-help
The grate I made:
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