Propane Smoker New Guy Question

[boatlesspirate]

Hi All-

I recently purchased my first dedicated smoker, a Landman 3405BGW propane smoker and have a few questions that I may have missed answered on the forum.

I seasoned the smoker following all the great tips on the forum (burned the gunk, oiled, smoked for several hours). The temp was about 93 degrees out (a little wind). On the LOW setting, and with the gas almost choked off my Maverick on the 2nd shelf down was registering about 270. I did start out with hot water in my pan. I fiddled with the vent (this model only has a top vent), but couldn't get below 265.

Question 1- Can I assume the high outside temp along with not having any meat in the smoker prevented me from lowering the temp?

Question 2- On these type of smokers (top vent only), will opening the top vent more raise or lower my internal temp? (I know I need to play with this but figured I'd ask.

Question 3- What others mods are suggested to help maintain the temp? Can adding a side vent on each side help? And will opening those raise or lower the temp? (I assume that is dependent on wind and outside temp as well).

Last question- By hour 2 of the seasoning, my hickory actually got hot enough to ignite in the pan (as may Maverick notified me immediately of the spike). I was using four large chunks, on end. The wood box on this model is not cast iron, and quite small (say 7"x7"). Should I replace this with a larger cast iron box? And will that help prevent ignition down the road if I can get my temp in check?

Any help or further comments would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!!

Michael

 

[rbranstner]

Hi All-

I recently purchased my first dedicated smoker, a Landman 3405BGW propane smoker and have a few questions that I may have missed answered on the forum.

I seasoned the smoker following all the great tips on the forum (burned the gunk, oiled, smoked for several hours). The temp was about 93 degrees out (a little wind). On the LOW setting, and with the gas almost choked off my Maverick on the 2nd shelf down was registering about 270. I did start out with hot water in my pan. I fiddled with the vent (this model only has a top vent), but couldn't get below 265.

Question 1- Can I assume the high outside temp along with not having any meat in the smoker prevented me from lowering the temp? Not having meat in the smoker  will cause it to spike a bit and the outside temp might effect it a bit but I wouldn't think very much at all. Mostly the outside temp will effect you when you are trying to cold smoke but when you are hot smoking I wouldn't think it would hurt you that much at all. At least I haven't noticed a big difference.

Question 2- On these type of smokers (top vent only), will opening the top vent more raise or lower my internal temp? (I know I need to play with this but figured I'd ask.Normally you want to leave your exhaust vent all the way open so that you get proper airflow. I cut intake holes in the bottom of my one smoker that didn't have them so that I could get more air flow. When you open your vents it will normally let more heat out causing the temps to drop a bit but with my propane rigs most if not all of my temp regulating is done with my burner controls. You may need to install a needle valve or even a low pressure regulator so that you can have more control of your flame if your temps are too hot.

Question 3- What others mods are suggested to help maintain the temp? Can adding a side vent on each side help? And will opening those raise or lower the temp? (I assume that is dependent on wind and outside temp as well). A needle valve will help you out the most in my opinion. Just google it if you aren't familiar with one. It just gets installed inline on your hose from your propane tank to your burner.

Last question- By hour 2 of the seasoning, my hickory actually got hot enough to ignite in the pan (as may Maverick notified me immediately of the spike). I was using four large chunks, on end. The wood box on this model is not cast iron, and quite small (say 7"x7"). Should I replace this with a larger cast iron box? And will that help prevent ignition down the road if I can get my temp in check? I started using a bigger chip pan because I was getting sick of having to refill the pan ever 45 minutes. I like to use a mixture of chips (they start smoking right away and get me some quick smoke) along with chunks (they take longer to start but once they do they go for a while).

I don't normally adjust my vents but I am thinking that when you open them they are going to lower the temps slightly. Someone correct me on this if I am wrong. On a fire burning rig when you open them up the fire  gets more oxygen as you are increasing the draft and it starts to burn hotter but when you are regulating the fire with a propane burner I don't see how more oxygen will make your fire any hotter. It should just allow more heat to escape out of the top. I still haven't really figured out why some propane rigs  have intakes in the bottom and some don't. I installed them in mine because my chip pan wasn't getting enough oxygen so I wasn't getting any smoke unless I really cranked up the heat.

 

[boatlesspirate]

Thanks for the reply!

I planned on adding the needle valve as I want to do some low temp smoking, as well as adding a side vent on each side. It will take some playing around, but thats the fun, right?

M

 

[s2k9k]

I have the exact same GOSM and from day one struggled to get temps below 250*, even with a needle valve. One day while wanting to start making jerky in it I was racking my brain when it hit me, smaller burner means less heat, and being I have a gas grill with a side burner I never use I looked at it and behold smaller and fit right in. Now I can hold temps steady as low as 135*. 

I replaced my chip pan with a 9" baking pan thinking I needed a bigger pan but then found out bigger pan = more wood = more smoke = too much smoke. I had to cut back to just 2 or 3 chunks at a time to get the TBS I want. Yes I have to add wood about once an hour and I am getting tired of it so I am in the developmental stages of adding a external firebox so I can use the AMNPS during hot smokes.

I have not added lower vents so I can't comment on how that might work but in my case I don't see a need for them.

One other thing is I quit using water as a heat sink and put sand in my water pan. I will still use a disposable foil pan with a little water on top of the sand just to catch drippings on those messy smokes.

 

[boatlesspirate]

What's the point of buying something new if you can start tearing it apart right away, right? I installed the needle valve and was able to keep a pretty low flame even with the door open and on a windy day here in the windy city. I imagine with door closed I'll be able to take it even lower. Mod #1 complete! I've got three slabs of ribs, and a few cornsih hens for the weekend. Tomorrow plans to be 95 degrees. We'll see how this works. Thanks for all the advice so far!!  

 

[boatlesspirate]

Well Mod #1 complete. I did add a needle vale and was able to keep a pretty low flame, even with the door open and some wind. Tomorrow's forecast is 95 so I'll really put this to the test!

Thanks for all the advice so far!!

 

[boatlesspirate]

I am pleased as punch with this smoker so far. Yesterday in 95 degrees, I smoked 3 Cornish hens and easily maintained a 275 temp. Although its 90 today with some wind gust, I'm easily maintaining a 225-230 temp merely by adjusting the needle valve and the top vent and keeping a great TBS with only two large apple chunks. if the ribs turn out as well the smoker so far, dinner should rock!

 

[s2k9k]

Sounds like you have that GOSM dialed in! With those temps and that TBS the ribs should come out awesome, keep us posted.