Having temp issues

[Nelsonvan21]

Okay so I finally did my first smoke last night! I smoked 2 whole chickens and a mac n cheese... the Mac and cheese turned out phenomenal but I undercooked the chickens..

I was having a hard time controlling the temp on my smoker. I couldn't get it over 215 degrees to save my life... also my water pan kept running out of water rather fast...

Any tips or tricks to fix these problems? I was running wood charcoal. Thanks guys!

 

[oddegan]

What smoker are you using?

 

[chopsaw]

Water was using up the heat .

 

[SmokinAl]

Where are you located, what was the outside temp, what smoker are you using?
With a little more info I think we can help!
Al

 

[johnmeyer]

If you have an MES, don't put water in the pan. You'll find hundreds of posts in this forum about why you don't need water, and why your smoking will come out better once you smoke dry.

 

[Bearcarver]

If you have an MES, don't put water in the pan. You'll find hundreds of posts in this forum about why you don't need water, and why your smoking will come out better once you smoke dry.

I was going to say that earlier today, but I noticed he said he was using wood charcoal.
Some smokers might need water.

Bear

 

[johnmeyer]

I was going to say that earlier today, but I noticed he said he was using wood charcoal.
Some smokers might need water.

Bear

Yes, I saw that, but didn't know what to make of it. Others in this thread have asked what smoker he was using. You quoted my post, and as you'll note, I did preface my suggestion that he omit water from the pan with "if you have an MES ..."

 

[Bearcarver]

Yes, I saw that, but didn't know what to make of it. Others in this thread have asked what smoker he was using. You quoted my post, and as you'll note, I did preface my suggestion that he omit water from the pan with "if you have an MES ..."

I know that John.
I wasn't putting your post down---My main point was the last sentence--->>"Some smokers might need water."

Bear

 

[Fade2Blacc]

Masterbuilt Pro dual fuel system. I do believe it's propane and charcoal... Seen it in another post he had made before.

 

[Bearcarver]

Masterbuilt Pro dual fuel system. I do believe it's propane and charcoal... Seen it in another post he had made before.

Yup---That's what I thought. I can't help him there---I only know everything about MES Smokers.

I have no idea what the other Smokers need, as far as water in their pans or not. And vents open or closed here & there.

Bear

 

[johnmeyer]

I looked at the Masterbuilt site, but I couldn't find any information on this smoker other than to say that it is an exclusive with Home Depot.

Home Depot does indeed carry it, but of course doesn't say anything about using the water pan.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Masterbuilt-Pro-Charcoal-and-Propane-Dual-Fuel-Smoker-20050412/202904343

 

[Fade2Blacc]

johnmeyer heres a review site regarding it's "features".

https://www.thespruce.com/masterbuilt-pro-dual-fuel-smoker-336156

It definitely has a water pan that sits directly above the burner. It's more or less a waterpan/chip combo

 

[johnmeyer]

johnmeyer heres a review site regarding it's "features".

https://www.thespruce.com/masterbuilt-pro-dual-fuel-smoker-336156

It definitely has a water pan that sits directly above the burner. It's more or less a waterpan/chip combo

I don't know what is happening with this forum software. I am being quoted above with a statement I never made in this thread (or any other). Also, my only link was to Home Depot, not "thespruce.com."

Weird.

 

[Fade2Blacc]

The forum loves you :D

 

[Rings Я Us]

It's water pan with water in it for sure.
You don't put water in your oven to cook chickens.. I would think a smoker would be the same moisture in it as an oven. I would just leave water out of the equation next time. It cools off the real heat .

 

[johnmeyer]

The forum loves you :D

Maybe, but I am loving it less and less. This is too bad because it has some of the best people of any forum with which I've been involved.

It's water pan with water in it for sure.
You don't put water in your oven to cook chickens.. I would think a smoker would be the same moisture in it as an oven. I would just leave water out of the equation next time. It cools off the real heat .

It would certainly help to try smoking dry, especially since it turns out that it is basically the same smoking box that Masterbuilt sells with electric heat as the source. With the Maserbuilt Electric Smoker (MES), pretty much everyone in this forum advises to not fill the pan with water.

However, to be clear, that advice to not put water in the pan has absolutely nothing to do with low temperatures.

In fact, the more I've thought about this, the more my engineering instincts tell me that it is totally impossible that the evaporation from water could possibly hold the temperature down to the low 200s, especially since the heat source is propane.

 

[Rings Я Us]

The heat above water boiling is indeed only in the 200 degree range. In my smoker a water pan will block off 80% of whatever space is above the pan. The heat from boiling water is all about 210°. The heat that goes around my water pan is hotter. 250 or so. So what I have is... meat that is mostly getting wet or moist hot air in the center, and the edges of my roast or ribs are getting hotter dry heat that is blasting unobstructed around the edges of the boiling water and steam of the water pan.
In order for my roast or ribs to get even and more hotter heat , I need to put a full even heat diffuser between the heat and meat. I use foil on a rack or a drip pan that creates a very even heat distribution onto the roast.
A layer of foil on a rack.. with a bunch of holes in the foil to let heat hit the meat evenly. Or something to block all the heat causing it to go up and around all the meat .. but smoke still rotates up and gets coverage. Water pans rob heat and requires fuel to keep it hot. Empty pan gets much hotter .

 

[pops6927]

It is a Masterbuilt Pro dual heat (charcoal/propane) smoker. I'm placing this in Charcoal Smokers forum as the poster said he was using natural charcoal for the heat source.

 

[johnmeyer]

The heat above water boiling is indeed only in the 200 degree range. In my smoker a water pan will block off 80% of whatever space is above the pan. The heat from boiling water is all about 210°. The heat that goes around my water pan is hotter. 250 or so. So what I have is... meat that is mostly getting wet or moist hot air in the center, and the edges of my roast or ribs are getting hotter dry heat that is blasting unobstructed around the edges of the boiling water and steam of the water pan.
In order for my roast or ribs to get even and more hotter heat , I need to put a full even heat diffuser between the heat and meat. I use foil on a rack or a drip pan that creates a very even heat distribution onto the roast.
A layer of foil on a rack.. with a bunch of holes in the foil to let heat hit the meat evenly. Or something to block all the heat causing it to go up and around all the meat .. but smoke still rotates up and gets coverage. Water pans rob heat and requires fuel to keep it hot. Empty pan gets much hotter .

I think your science is a little fuzzy. Obviously water boils at 212F at sea level. However, you can have a pan of boiling water inside a 5,000 degree enclosure and even if it is a big enough pan that it doesn't evaporate immediately, it still won't cool the enclosure by much. The reason for this is that the instant water evaporates it becomes steam/water vapor. Steam can be any heat.

What you need to look at instead is what is called the heat of evaporation. The energy required to take water from liquid to gaseous form is actually quite high, so I certainly do not want to underestimate how much cooling could be done by a big bucket (or pan) of water in a smoker. However, with a strong enough heater, that energy would swamp the energy released by evaporation. This is especially true if the water is not atomized, the way it is in swimming pool coolers (they use a fountain to cool pools in Phoenix) or cooling towers. It the water is just sitting in a stagnant pan (no stirring), it doesn't evaporate all that fast, especially in a box that is only 50-75 degrees warmer (the set temperature the OP was trying to achieve) than water's boiling point.

 

[Bearcarver]

It's water pan with water in it for sure.
You don't put water in your oven to cook chickens.. I would think a smoker would be the same moisture in it as an oven. I would just leave water out of the equation next time. It cools off the real heat .

I'm actually out of this discussion, because it's not about an Electric Smokers----

Except to say I agree with Rings about not adding water to many smoker water pans.
And finding the owners manual does absolutely no good, because even the MES owners' manual says to put water in the water pan, and any serious MES owner/user knows putting water in the pan is a bad idea, and one of the problems is that it effects the heating of the unit.

Bear