Camp Chef smv 18" Haunted???

[bbqu freshman]

I been having to much trouble with my vertical propane smoker. From to much smoke to horrible temp control the list is plenty full,I would make these great ribs on my Weber but now this smoker makes me doubt my own abilities.Should i go back to the my tried and true kettle grill.Any advice?

 

[BandCollector]

 
I been having to much trouble with my vertical propane smoker. From to much smoke to horrible temp control the list is plenty full,I would make these great ribs on my Weber but now this smoker makes me doubt my own abilities.Should i go back to the my tried and true kettle grill.Any advice?

The Weber is a great tool for making ribs.  Do not be disparaged.  There are a lot of great chefs here on the sight who can give you good advice in solving your delemma.

Just give more specific information as to what is happening.

Good luck,  John

 

[venture]

Any commercial unit will have a learning curve and might need some simple mods.

For your smoke problems I would contact Todd here:

http://www.amazenproducts.com/

I highly recommend his products and his customer service is top notch!

For your temp problems, there are lots of experienced gassers here who will be happy to help you out.

Good luck and good smoking.

 

[frog1369]

 
I been having to much trouble with my vertical propane smoker. From to much smoke to horrible temp control the list is plenty full,I would make these great ribs on my Weber but now this smoker makes me doubt my own abilities.Should i go back to the my tried and true kettle grill.Any advice?

Like John said, more specifics would help.  I have a SV24 and love it.  Are you using chips or chunks? I found out right away unwrapped chips would make way too much smoke in a hurry.  I switched to chunks and have no issues.  I also use an AMNTS with pellets that works great, but in that 18 it might be a lot of smoke, it is almost too much at times for the 24.  As far as temps, my knob is very touchy and I was going to order a needle valve, but by the time I got around to seriously going needle valve I got the standard valve dialed in real well.  Like I said, it takes patience and a very gentle touch, I can now adjust about 10 degrees at at time, when I started out my adjustments were more like 50-100 degree adjustments.  Let us know how things are going ......

 

[bbqu freshman]

well i guess my biggest problem is to much smoke, i use oak wood chunks and i put bout three to 4 chunks on a pan directly over the fire.This gives my ribs a huge smokey flavor.As i mentioned before the temp control is horrible. I could be cruising at a temp of 220 for 6 hour and my meat will still end up under cooked. I believe that the me smoke vault is not holding heat well.Or maybe i might need the get the SMV 24"

 

[frog1369]

 
well i guess my biggest problem is to much smoke, i use oak wood chunks and i put bout three to 4 chunks on a pan directly over the fire.This gives my ribs a huge smokey flavor.As i mentioned before the temp control is horrible. I could be cruising at a temp of 220 for 6 hour and my meat will still end up under cooked. I believe that the me smoke vault is not holding heat well.Or maybe i might need the get the SMV 24"

Depending on the size of the chunk you may be just using too much wood.  I've also found if the chunks touch they tend to go faster and produce more smoke.  I use one to two chunks at a time, Maybe 3-4" in diameter and about 1"-2" thick.  If they're large in diameter I sometimes stand them up on the edge and let them burn that way for less smoke.  I have some chips I want to use up also, so sometimes I wrap them in foil and use that method.  But, like I said earlier, I'm starting to love my AMNTS.

If you're maintaining 220 for six hours it doesn't sound like a temp control problem ...... on your temp, how are you measuring it?  And where?  What kind of ribs?  In my 24, @ 220 I don't think a slab of spares would cook in 6 hours.  240-250 with a 3-2-1 method, that gets the trick done in 5-6 hours.  Baby backs about an hour less.  I measure my temp about an inch from the meat and about an inch off the rack surface.  I figure if it's 240 there, it's 240 at the ribs.  I don't even look at that decorative door piece they call a thermometer, I checked it using the boil test, it's close but it's probe is nowhere near where my food is cooking.  Oh yeah, I also run with the bottom dampers almost completely closed, modified the tab to accomplish this and then the top damper wide open ..........

 

[bbqu freshman]

i like the idea of standing the chunk up for a slower burn, and just some digital thermometers to measure the temp inside the box, however i just let the probe hang off the rack over the meat not touching anything.What is the boiled water test?

 

[JckDanls 07]

boiled water test is.... how you calibrate your thermometer.. get a pot of water boiling on high heat.... hold the probe to your therm in the boiling water without touching sides or bottom ... thermometer should read 212` (pending your elevation) ... can also calibrate with ice water... fill a glass with crushed ice and then fill with water until ice just starts to lift of the bottom of the glass... stir well with thermometer probe and see what it reads... should be 32` .... these calibrations will tell you how accurate your therms are (or aren't) ....

If you are really having a hard time controlling temps... I would suggest a needle valve installed in the gas line at the tank.... these provide much more accurate adjustments... as stated above (even with a needle valve) ... adjustments are VERY minor... turn the knob just a hair will raise (or lower) 10-20`...