- Nov 19, 2019
- 11
- 9
Hey folks. I have this Kingsford Professional Ranchers Steer 41" smoker and so far it's doing good. But I need a little help with some fire management. My brother in law has an Oklahoma Joe and has the same issue.
Here's the scenario: build big fire to get cooker to temp. Have a good sized bed of coals but not enormous or anything. Start fire to develope a coal bed with about 6-7 fireplace sized logs. Way too big to smoke with but perfect for creating a coal bed. Once the fire is calmed down, coals are hot and temps are good I'll toss on the meat. As I go along I add small logs to keep my temps as steady as possible. But the issue is I end up (after some hours) loosing my coal bed. I can't add too much wood to the fire because my temps will get out of control. But that means I end up burning through my coals. Make sense? Surely I'm doing something wrong. Can someone help me out?
For reference: my wood size is 8-10" long. Some a tad smaller than and some a tad larger than a Coke can. It's not kiln dried. It's well seasoned not in rain but under my screened porch so it gets ambient moisture but not rain on it. I pre heat my wood on top of my firebox so it's warm when I toss it in. All my wood starts up immediately. I'm using hickory and cherry.
Here's the scenario: build big fire to get cooker to temp. Have a good sized bed of coals but not enormous or anything. Start fire to develope a coal bed with about 6-7 fireplace sized logs. Way too big to smoke with but perfect for creating a coal bed. Once the fire is calmed down, coals are hot and temps are good I'll toss on the meat. As I go along I add small logs to keep my temps as steady as possible. But the issue is I end up (after some hours) loosing my coal bed. I can't add too much wood to the fire because my temps will get out of control. But that means I end up burning through my coals. Make sense? Surely I'm doing something wrong. Can someone help me out?
For reference: my wood size is 8-10" long. Some a tad smaller than and some a tad larger than a Coke can. It's not kiln dried. It's well seasoned not in rain but under my screened porch so it gets ambient moisture but not rain on it. I pre heat my wood on top of my firebox so it's warm when I toss it in. All my wood starts up immediately. I'm using hickory and cherry.