Water, Sand, etc in the Cold

Forgot to mention, it's a Masterbuilt 7 in 1 smoker.

Thanks, all, for the advice.  I've certainly learned some things from this first attempt at smoking.  Right after my last post I went out to add wood chips and opened the top vent a bit.  Soon after that I checked the temp and it was up.  I thought opening the top vent would let too much heat out but it seemed to do the opposite - or it could have been that the water was mostly evaporated at that point and just drippings were in the pan.  But at least I got to turn down the propane a bit.

Anyway, at the 4 hour mark I decided to check the internal temp of the turkey.  I hadn't done this yet because I didn't want to waste precious heat too soon.  I stuck in my $10 weber instant therm and it read 190!  Gah!  Out it came.  What was supposed to be a "lupper" became lunch instead.  We covered it with foil in a pan and whipped up some potatoes and veggies and had at it.

The top of the breast was pretty dry and had a firm almost crust on it.  But down below the meat was still tender and juicy.  The legs and thighs had a good smoke flavor.  We used cherry for smoke.

Biggest thing I learned was not to trust the temp gauge in the lid.  Yes, I used the one that came with it.  I went to a store yesterday that had a dual probe wireless thermometer that, according to the website, was in stock.  When I got there nobody could find it.  Computer said 6 in stock, but they think they got lost when rearranging for Christmas.

I also think I have almost half a tank of propane left.  My gauge is old and seems a bit iffy.  I'll have to weigh it now and again empty to see how much was actually used.

So in the end my problems were mostly related to having too high a cooking temp in the smoker.  I wouldn't be surprised if the whole time it was around 300 when the gauge read 250.

Can't wait until the next smoke.  I figure each one should get better as I learn.

Here's my windbreak - made in a bit of a rush last night.  It's wire fence that we had used as a big tomato cage, with reflectix around it.  Big hole where the propane line goes through.  Open at the top.  It seemed to do okay.