Lyfetyme Smoker—How do I cook on this evenly?

[brazosdog02]

I kind of gave up trying after having three heavy offset smokers similar to this one. All different brands, all of them have exactly the same problem. I don’t even know that it is a problem. I attached a picture of my temperature probes. I cannot get this smoker or any of my smokers much closer than about 100° apart between the left and the right side. These two probes are no more than 12 inches apart. That’s a huge temperature gradient. I’ve tried tuning plates and all that and never had any success whatsoever. Now I need to put on two pork butts, and I’m not sure how to manage this with temperatures that are 100 200° difference between these two points.

What the heck is the trick on these things? I’ve been smoking meats on these for a couple decades and never really figured it out.


I’ve gone through homemade tuning plates, commercial, tuning plates, controlling temps with wood, using both the damper and the stack and fiddling with that in all manner of configurations, and I might be able to get 50° difference between these two points, but it’s gonna be pretty much impossible to even that out anymore. I always see pictures of people that have 10° differences between both sides of the pit, and my engineering and physics brain tells me that is physically impossible, considering where the fire box is, but it seems to be possible, but I don’t know how to do it.

I just put a third probe in between these two and the temperature is going from left to right over 14 inches is 205° 235° 265°.

That seems pretty extreme over less than 2 feet which kind of sucks because this is a 40 inch long tube. I wish I could use a lot more of it.

 

[brazosdog02]

here it is with meat. It’s been running for over an hour. It’s all evened out and pit is heat soaked. Grate probe on left side 260 grate probe on right side 404.

 

[SmokinEdge]

When was the last time you checked calibration on those therms?

 

[brazosdog02]

When was the last time you checked calibration on those therms?

I don’t know. I make sure they all seem about the same when not on the smoker and when I swap them they stay the same.

 

[Redicans]

How big is your fire? Is it possible to move the fire away from the cook chamber a bit? 404 degrees on that probe is very high. Makes me think it could be to big of a fire. In my offset I maintain a fairly small fire to keep temps in 200-250 range and add more wood if I need to increase temps but my initial fire is not that big. Usually start with a half chimney of charcoal and add 1-2 small splits as needed to keep temps. I am using a Chargriller grand champ. My cook chamber is 40x20. Just my thoughts and maybe something to try. Good luck!!

 

[SmokinEdge]

I don’t know. I make sure they all seem about the same when not on the smoker and when I swap them they stay the same.

Check each one in boiling water. The water boils at 212F at sea level and decreases 2* per 1000’ of elevation climb. So find your elevation and test in boiling water. Doing an additional ice water test is good to check the low end. Ice water should settle at 32*F

 

[jcam222]

With many stick burners you just learn to work with the temp variation. May e with a smaller fire you get to a left of 225 and right of 300. You end up rotating the meat if you need to fill to full capacity. Sometimes when doing multi meats it's even an advantage such as doing butt on the cool side and wings on the hot side.

 

[brazosdog02]

How big is your fire? Is it possible to move the fire away from the cook chamber a bit? 404 degrees on that probe is very high. Makes me think it could be to big of a fire. In my offset I maintain a fairly small fire to keep temps in 200-250 range and add more wood if I need to increase temps but my initial fire is not that big. Usually start with a half chimney of charcoal and add 1-2 small splits as needed to keep temps. I am using a Chargriller grand champ. My cook chamber is 40x20. Just my thoughts and maybe something to try. Good luck!!

It's possible. I try to build a ROARING fire at first so I can get a big wide bed of coals, and then I just nurse it along one stick at a time.

I just have a very hard time getting a small fire to get my grate temp to 250 or 300. So, I build a bigger one, and then, well, this is probably the result. I use 2-4" splits. Maybe i need to break them down even more.

Or I could just learn to use the smoker.

I might need to toss the grate thermometers, leave the food probes. And then just learn to keep the gauges around 350. That will put my grate temp somewhere in the 225-250 range. I have NEVER had meat ruined and I have never had anyone complain. One of my good friends that owned a well respected restaurant doesn't fool with all these probes. They throw the meat on, I don't even think the gauges function. If it feels too cool, they add more fire, if it's too hot, they let it die down. His opinion is that I worry too much....smoke at 250, 350, 400....flare ups...none of that matters. Just get the temp about right and take the meat off when the bone pulls and call it a day.

My meats are finished now. They look fine. LOL. I put the big butt on the hot side, fat side down, and the smaller on the left. The bigger one finished first, with the smaller one being about an hour behind. No big deal.

 

[Redicans]

It's possible. I try to build a ROARING fire at first so I can get a big wide bed of coals, and then I just nurse it along one stick at a time.

I just have a very hard time getting a small fire to get my grate temp to 250 or 300. So, I build a bigger one, and then, well, this is probably the result. I use 2-4" splits. Maybe i need to break them down even more.

Or I could just learn to use the smoker.

I might need to toss the grate thermometers, leave the food probes. And then just learn to keep the gauges around 350. That will put my grate temp somewhere in the 225-250 range. I have NEVER had meat ruined and I have never had anyone complain. One of my good friends that owned a well respected restaurant doesn't fool with all these probes. They throw the meat on, I don't even think the gauges function. If it feels too cool, they add more fire, if it's too hot, they let it die down. His opinion is that I worry too much....smoke at 250, 350, 400....flare ups...none of that matters. Just get the temp about right and take the meat off when the bone pulls and call it a day.

My meats are finished now. They look fine. LOL. I put the big butt on the hot side, fat side down, and the smaller on the left. The bigger one finished first, with the smaller one being about an hour behind. No big deal.

Are you using a a fire basket at all? My smoker came with one but I recently purchased a V shaped basket and it has helped a lot. It helps condense the coal bed and keeps the temps nice and even.

If the food is coming out good and everyone is happy you're doing good! Your friend sounds like he has the right idea. When I first got my offset I was obsessing about all this stuff. Now I just let it ride and go mostly my how things look and feel.

 

[Redicans]

Or I could just learn to use the smoker.

Yes that is the best, Hahaha!!