exhaust vent question

[rvial]

What difference does having an exhaust vent on top of the lid as opposed to having the gap around the lid make? I understand the reasoning for the charcoal grate and the sealing any air leaks arouhd the door and the vent mods on bottom.

 

[thinblueduke]

I have a hunch that when smoke comes out from around the lid, it's still virgin smoke.  It hasn't made contact with any food, it just hugs the wall of the smoker and heads straight out through the gaps.  If it's forced out the top instead, it's probably got a better chance of actually smoking something before it escapes.

I'm working on closing the gaps on mine right now, as a matter of fact.

 

[bobank03]

 
I have a hunch that when smoke comes out from around the lid, it's still virgin smoke.  It hasn't made contact with any food, it just hugs the wall of the smoker and heads straight out through the gaps.  If it's forced out the top instead, it's probably got a better chance of actually smoking something before it escapes.

I'm working on closing the gaps on mine right now, as a matter of fact.

that's exactly correct. And if you seal around the lid and add a vent, the vent must be fully open while smoking. I actually build my fire on the right side of my ecb and put the vent on the left side of my lid so that I can be sure it is flowing properly. 

 

[bobank03]

You can experiment with this by venting the lid and sealing the opening around the lid with aluminum foil. the difference is amazing in both smokiness and the ability to keep somewhat higher smoker temps

 

[rvial]

Thanks for the replies! I was thinking also that with no vent in the lid, that any of the smoke that did make it into the lid would also get trapped and grow stale, or am I way off in thinking that?

 

[bobank03]

Hey rival;

Actually it gets worse than stale, more like acrid and it will absolutely ruin the taste of your food. I found that until I sealed around the lid and put the vent on the dome, I couldn't keep decent temps and used a lot more lump charcoal. Now I do 1/3 to 1/2 pan and get almost 3 hours. If I am doing ribs I do a full pan, but I do the minion/snake method were the charcoal burns in a circle. 

Before I did all the mods I was going through a pan in about 2 hours. And the temps were too high or too low. I did usually get decent smokey food, but i had to constantly watch the ECB to make sure it was cooking ok (which mostly it wasn't).

 

[rvial]

Going to Home depot next weekend I hope, Bern meaning to mod it for a while but haven't gotten around to it.

Using the ninion method I can get abiut 6 hours out of a full pan, temp run a little high though. Going to cut back on number of lit coals i start with also

 

[bobank03]

One of the ecb discussions has a nice pic of a good minion pan using a can in the center. I'm doing baby backs and thighs tomorrow so I will do a list on thatand iI will try to remember to take a pic of my pan to add to it.

 

[bobank03]

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/content/type/61/id/319258/

Found it. It is in the post called TBS in the air... a couple down in the forum. Nice pan @ronEB

 

[rvial]

Nice. I have just been sracjing rhe charcoal up aeounthe perimeter of the charcoal pan and then dumping the coals into the center.

 

[rvial]

Stacking. stupid phone

 

[bobank03]

Yeah, I wasn't sure what language that was... I usually do just one side of the pan, dumping the lighted coals from the chimney on the end , but it depends on the length of the smoke. One side of the pan will get me three hours, no problem. 

I am doing 2-2-1 baby backs today so I will need 5 hours out of my pan so I will be doing something similar to what is in the pic from ronEB. I will do a post of my cook today and try to remember to take a couple of pics of the pan. 

I only start with a half chimney or slightly less, that helps as well.