Dry run with the SnP in cold weather...

[3montes]

Well I really shouldn't say cold as it was 20 above zero when I fired it up. Thats about 40 degrees warmer than what is has been in the last week. I bought a new heat shield for the SnP and wanted to heat it up and burn off any oil or left over residue from cutting at the factory before using it in the real world. I thought this would be a good opportunity to see how the temp in the Brinkmann would run in the colder outdoor temps using Royal Oak lump which I have never used before. I filled a chimney starter load of RO lump and got it started. Dumped into the fire box and watched. Within 15 minutes the smoke chamber reached a nice 220. Tapered off pretty quickly though. I added a stick of maple about 10" long and maybe 1/2' in diameter. Once this got going I got the nice thin blue right away but the temp spiked quickly to 250 but held nicely. I could also see where my Brinkmann was losing smoke around the fire box and cooker doors.
I should also add that the fire box damper and the exhaust damper were both wide open the entire time.
The temp held for about 30 to 35 minutes and then stated to drop quickly as the lump burned away. So were I actually cooking something my options would have been to add more lump or wood as I desired.
One puzzling thing. I hade a oven thermometer located inside the cooking chamber close to the fire box. That actually ran cooler than the Brinkmann Thermometer (the good one) mounted in the cooker door near the exhaust. Could this be due to both the fire box damper and exhust damper being wide open?
I learned that heat control in the cold weather will take a extreme amount of babysitting. I will add there was very little wind. 6mph at the most all day. I burned up some lump for no reason other than to learn what my SnP will do in cold weather. It was a worthwhile learning experience.

 

[walking dude]

hey.......even if its a burn in...........

Q-View

 

[capt dan]

Its because that factory therm is located higher up from the grate, heat rises. Another reason may be, most factory therms are not very reliable. If you can pull it out and check it with boiling water to varify its acuracy. My CB silver door therm reads 300 when my grate temp is where I like it, 225-245. I bought it at Lowes cuz my charbroil didn't come with one. Extend that smoke stack down to the grate inside, and you'll save more fuel,because you can run that lump with the firebox intake only half open or even less.

 

[richtee]

The higher in the cooking cavity you measure the higher (typically) the temps will be. Heat rises. I'd suspect that the oven thermometer is probably only withing 10% accurate as well. The digital units are pretty darn good usually. If only for the digital readout, eliminating parallax error and poor vision variations is a good thing... heh.

 

[capt dan]

I look at the fire management issue like this. The firebox is like a carburator, and the exhaust stack is the tailpipe. You neve ever want to plug up the tailpipe, or constrict it, ruins power, bad for the engine, makes things less efficient. The firebox intake valve is like the gas pedal, if you hold it all the way down very long, you are gonna be runnin hot, and going to the gas station alot. To make the most of fuel efficiency, a steady foot is best as is small adjustments to the firebox intake. If the temps get too high,I find it better to close down the intake a small amount, and open the lid a little while instead of"on/off, on/ off" all the time. If you put regular wood logs in a firebox with lump going good and temps staying steady, you WILL always get a pretty good temp spike, because of the flame, instead of the glowing embers of charcoal. Anyways, thats just my opinions. I used to mess with the firebox damper all the time, once ya learn your smoker, you will not play with your fire as much. Wind and rain are the biggest pains when it comes to fire management, and different fuels will mess up your program too. Thats the fun about trial and error!

 

[richtee]

Wow. Sweet analogy! POINTS!

 

[capt dan]

Thanks Rich, who ya pullin for on the ice tonight, UM or MSU?

 

[k5yac]

Not really trying to promote my post, but since I just made some mods (learned about them here at SMF) to the same smoker I thought you might be interested in reading about my results. http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=13334

A few simple mods and you'll enjoy the SnP a lot more. More stable temps and a lot less work to keep em where you want them for a longer period of time. I had to tend to the fire pretty regular before I did this stuff, much less so now. I think the big one is extending the stack down to the grate level. Simple and very effective.

 

[richtee]

Blue is my choice..but that Lerg brother in net for Sparty is good...din't see the game watched the NHL All Stars Skills and Young Guns game.

 

[3montes]

Thanks for that link to your mod thread. Excellent looking Q! You have the old style SnP just like mine. I couldn't see your baffle set up though. Do you have a pic of it or can you give a description of what you did?
Thanks for the info