- Sep 17, 2010
- 27
- 10
Did my first smoke in the unit yesterday. I'd rate the results as okay. Food was tasty but not to the level I've gotten with other units.
I searched here & I've read the pages of threads......still think I'm missing some stuff.
Two main problems I had were smoke & temp control. I could not get the unit to produce ANY smoke below a dial indicated 250 (digital 260ish near the vent). Chips (dry) wouldn't do anything. I bent the tabs on the vents & tried everything combination I could think of - from fully closed to fully open. Getting a static temp was nigh on impossible - it was constantly rising & falling. This was okay for the ribs & ABTs but I can't even begin to see work for pork shoulders & brisket (yeah, I ain't sitting there for 12hrs). Holding a constant temperature required a constant up a bit, down a bit, up a bit, down a bit.......................... Maybe I'm just expecting too much? I'm used to a set it & forget it unit that can hold a given temp for extended periods?
I actually had the best result running it dry during the seasoning, just ran chips w/o any water pan. Had it on low & it stayed pretty much at 225 w/ some smoke.
So my question is - how to do folks run them?
Vent positions?
Chip/chunks?
Dry/wet?
Pre-heat for how long?
Flame seems right, only yellow at the tips................but the auto ignite never worked. Food was fine...............as the pics show.
ABTs, step one:
ABTs & beans in:
Ribs in:
ABTs out:
Ribs out:
I searched here & I've read the pages of threads......still think I'm missing some stuff.
Two main problems I had were smoke & temp control. I could not get the unit to produce ANY smoke below a dial indicated 250 (digital 260ish near the vent). Chips (dry) wouldn't do anything. I bent the tabs on the vents & tried everything combination I could think of - from fully closed to fully open. Getting a static temp was nigh on impossible - it was constantly rising & falling. This was okay for the ribs & ABTs but I can't even begin to see work for pork shoulders & brisket (yeah, I ain't sitting there for 12hrs). Holding a constant temperature required a constant up a bit, down a bit, up a bit, down a bit.......................... Maybe I'm just expecting too much? I'm used to a set it & forget it unit that can hold a given temp for extended periods?
I actually had the best result running it dry during the seasoning, just ran chips w/o any water pan. Had it on low & it stayed pretty much at 225 w/ some smoke.
So my question is - how to do folks run them?
Vent positions?
Chip/chunks?
Dry/wet?
Pre-heat for how long?
Flame seems right, only yellow at the tips................but the auto ignite never worked. Food was fine...............as the pics show.
ABTs, step one:
ABTs & beans in:
Ribs in:
ABTs out:
Ribs out:
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