Temp Problems with my BBQ

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steveyfrac

Newbie
Original poster
Jul 13, 2009
7
10
Hi Guys,

I'm having a bit of trouble with using my BBQ as a smoker. I should be able too, but the temps fall off when the lid is on it. Like crazy. It'll actually put the fire out if I leave the lid on.

Here is a picture of the BBQ sans lid, with part of it for coals, and part of it for the chicken i was about to smoke.

The smoke turned out ok, I just had to periodically lift the lid to let some air at the charcoal to hit it back up.

-Steve
c89c74a2_vbattach22216.jpg
 
If thats a smokey joe type small grill, I would say between the coals and the foil your completly blocking airflow. Those draft top to bottom. If no air can pass thru, then yes it will die.
 
Does your lid have vents? If it does you may need to open them up all the way. If not you may need to make some air holes. Hard to tell without knowing what type of lid you have.

Also, do you have vents under the charcoal chamber? Do you coals sit right on the bottom of the chamber or up on a raised grate? All these things will make a huge difference.

You want raised coals with proper ventilation. Let us know what you got there and I'm sure we can help out.
 
Hi Bilbo,

The lid has a circular vent cutoff thing, which was open all the way.

The coals are on a grate, and the vents are at the same level as the grate, so I would guess that not a lot of air movement happens below it.

It has been suggested that I drill a few holes in the bottom to get some air coming in from under the coals.

-Steve
 
Before you start modifying things......

Were you measuring the cooking temperature? If so, what were you shooting for, and what did the temperature fall off to when you put the lid on? A grill or smoker with the lid off will have the coals running about as hot as they can get, due to unlimited access to oxygen. When you pop the lid on, the air flow is controlled, and the coals will burn at whatever rate the controlled airflow allows them to.

Just wondering if your coals were starting to come under control, and you thought they were snuffing?

Definetly look this over a few times before you get out the drill motor.

What brand, model grill is it? Maybe someone here has one.
 
BigSteve has a good point. What temps were you dropping to? Also that looks like a smaller grill so you may need to add more fuel more often. Are you lighting the whole thing off or using the minion meathod? So many questions!
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My .02 is that you might be using too much fuel. Looking at the photo closely, it seems that bowl is pretty full which will choke off airflow in combination with the foil. I would experiment with less fuel off to one side of the bowl and no foil, but that's me and I love to experiment with tasty things...
 
Hrm... seems as though I may have some food based homework to do... :P
 
So, I totally solved this problem. And it's a solution I would like to recommend to anyone else with the same difficulty.

I bought a Weber One Touch 18.5" grill. :P No more side draft vents!

Gonna break it in tonight!
 
In my new grill?? I don't think i'll have any trouble keeping it hot!
 
I think you may have missed the post that said I fixed the problem by replacing the cheap grill with a Weber One Touch Silver.
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