having trouble with my first smoke! temps

[rickw]

Yes, it is mounted directly under grate level.

 

[tndawg123]

hmmm. There doesn't seem to be a way to get a real solid reading. I originally had a 12" fry probe slipped at an agle through the bung hole. it wasn't air tight, but the tip was over teh grate. I was having trouble, for obvious reasons keeping the temp down. I have a digital probe and will try the wood block. Couldn't i just drop the probe through the vent pipe? Also I have no damper on my vent is that an issue?

here is my UGAly Drum

 

[tndawg123]

sorry let me clarify. I didn't mean the therm prob. I was refering to the electronic probe with the wire being dropped through the vent pipe.

 

[rickw]

Once you know how the drums runs, most if not all run 50 degrees hotter middle grate, then all ya have to do is smoke with the dial at 200F. Not that bad, really.

If ya use the digital therm I would do as Dave has suggested.

 

[ddave]

And if you use the digital therm for warm up, watch and make a note of where your side mounted therm reads at different stages of the warmup. After awhile, you'll get a feel for the warm up and you can go by the side therm and you won't need the digi for smoker temp. But you want the side mounted therm to be about an inch under the grate level.

I usually give my drum 30 to 45 minutes to warm up before I put the cook grate in. It seems to be burning cleaner after that time and I don't get a yucky taste on the grate from the less than optimum smoke that seems to be present during the warmup, and lighting off of additional charcoal as the drum comes up to temp. Not saying you have to do that, that's just what I do. Also, I cut back on the intakes pretty early during the warm up. I have NEVER had a problem getting the drum to come up to temp if I feel that it is a little bit low.

I have had LOTS of problems trying to get it back down if it tends to creep up a bit though.

Drums are a bit finicky but once you get used to yours, you'll be fine. You have to work with its quirks and personality. You can't "horse" it in one direction or the other temp wise. Make small adjustments and give them 20 minutes or so to take effect.

Dave

 

[tndawg123]

Thanks for all the help. Today i took all of your advice and i'm holding steady on all 3 therms at 240ish. My main goal is to do as little as possible during the smoke. Do most of you get it dialed in and leave it or does it require constant adjusment on the ball valve?

Just curious

TNDawg

 

[ddave]

I let it settle in and leave it. If my target is 240° and it settles in at 235° or 245°, I don't bother it. I just let it run. Especially if you are using a digital probe thermometer to track temps. They react so fast and there will be minor fluctuations as the smoke goes on. If you try to maintain too tight a range as measured by a digi, you'll be chasing temps all day long. Once it is warmed up and dialed in, I go by the thermo on the side -- with the temp conversion in mind of course.

Dave

 

[rickw]

What ^^^^ Dave said.