Does more meat in an offset smoker mean less heat for each piece of meat?

[smokediscovery]

I just received my Lone Star Grillz 20X42 offset smoker & has this basic rookie question. It’s one thing for me to smoke one brisket or three pork ribs at a time. But if I decide to smoke both a brisket, a pork butt, and multiple ribs at the same time, do each piece of meat receive less heat because there’s more meat in the smoker?

In other words, would each piece of meat take longer to cook because there’s more meat in the smoker? If so, should I increase the temperature or just cook everything for a longer time period? Thank you all in advance for your answers.

 

[thirdeye]

Initially, there is more 'recovery time' for the smoker itself. Meaning, if your pit temp is 275° and you put on a cold 5# roast, the pit temp will fall, then recover. If you put on 30# of cold meat, the recovery time is longer, but the pit temp will return to 275°.

That said, once the pit temp equalizes, and you have some space between meats, everything cooks about the same. This is no different than baking one potato, or baking 6 potatoes in your oven.... you don't really need to increase the cook time.

 

[smokerjim]

Initially, there is more 'recovery time' for the smoker itself. Meaning, if your pit temp is 275° and you put on a cold 5# roast, the pit temp will fall, then recover. If you put on 30# of cold meat, the recovery time is longer, but the pit temp will return to 275°.

That said, once the pit temp equalizes, and you have some space between meats, everything cooks about the same. This is no different than baking one potato, or baking 6 potatoes in your oven.... you don't really need to increase the cook time.

2nd this

 

[JLeonard]

Initially, there is more 'recovery time' for the smoker itself. Meaning, if your pit temp is 275° and you put on a cold 5# roast, the pit temp will fall, then recover. If you put on 30# of cold meat, the recovery time is longer, but the pit temp will return to 275°.

That said, once the pit temp equalizes, and you have some space between meats, everything cooks about the same. This is no different than baking one potato, or baking 6 potatoes in your oven.... you don't really need to increase the cook time.

I usually give cooker 30-45 min after placing meat in for it recover before I start adjusting vents or etc. If not, your gonna be chasing temps up and down.
Jim

 

[mike243]

Meats are a heat sink the more you put in the more it will drop, it will recover no need to worry, as the meat temps start up the less heat they will draw and pit temp recovers , dont chase the temps as you will have too hot pretty quick, I’d rather catch up as slow down

 

[MadMax281]

I have a LSG 20x36 and do different meats on it per session (brisket,ribs,chicken). Just remember on the top shelf it runs hotter. Especially at the firebox side. Just put temp probes in and check every hour. A 20x42 will give you plenty of room for sure. You are going to enjoy your rig. They are quality smokers. Good luck.

 

[bill1]

In addition to the slightly longer "recovery time" when you first put the cold meat in, you will also absorb more energy in cooking more meat, so you will, in principle, need to be adding more wood to maintain the same temperature as you would with less meat. In an all-electric cooker, this could be an issue....you may not have enough wallplug watts to maintain the temp you want. But in an offset (really any wood-burning cooker) there's power to spare and most of that power is going to maintain the cooker temperature (single wall construction convectively loses a lot of heat) and a lot of energy is lost in heating and pushing hot air out the stack. So you may not even be able to notice.

 

[smokebuzz]

And to add to the great information given, the more meat you put on, the more even the temps will run.