New from Maryland....major fire control issues!!

[djcook]

Hey folks,

New to the forum but not new to the "Q". I recently purchased a OKJ Longhorn and I am having one hell of time getting the pit up to temp. The firebox has been sealed, gasket material around all doors, tuning plates installed and still no joy. I started a test burn this afternoon at 1:20 using the minion method, set the Digi Q to 275 and put the damper to full open. Here it is over 3 hours later and I can barley get to 241 and the fan is running wide open. In fact I have had to add more charcoal!!!

If anyone has any advise I could sure use it.

Thanks in adavance
DC

 

[SmokinAl]

Are you using just charcoal?

If so it sounds like you didn't start with a big enough fire.

I would start with a full chimney of lit charcoal & add a split on top.

From then on I would just add a split every 45 minutes or so.

I have a BBQ Guru port on my Lang, but honestly I can control the temps better with the dampers than the Guru can.

Try using the smoker without the Guru & see how you do.

Al