New guy that needs some help

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pnutsyj

Newbie
Original poster
Nov 18, 2010
8
10
OK guys im new to the forum. I have built a big smoker roaster over the summer and have used in many times but i can not get a even temp over the cooking area (have a lot of cold spots) if i add more charcoal then it gets way to hot to cook on. like i said its big it right around 4 foot by 5 foot I have a lid on it with a stack and the cooking rack is 16" from the charcoal rack. any help would be great thank you.

Thank you Jon
 
Do you have any pictures of your smoker? That would help us out a lot. Is there a side fire box were your fire is or is there charcoal under the cooking grates? A little more info and a picture would go a long way and we can help you get this thing figured out.
 
If it is a SFB design, do you have a convection plate under the cooking grates to help distribute the heat more evenly over the cooking area?
 
No there is no fire box charcoal is right under the cooking rack (16"). ill get some pic up later today or tom don't have any at this time.

Thank you guys
 
Last edited:
What do you have to regulate the amount of air going into the bottom of the smoker? Are you keeping your stack wide open?
 
I have a draft on the bottom its 4"  and the stack is 4" as well and that's wide open
 
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First off welcome Jon to SMF. Your question needs more infomation to give you a good answer. Now if you cvould post some pictures(Q-view here) of your smoker/grill thingy it would easier for us to give you an answer. But if you would can you swing into Roll Call and introduce yourself  and we can give you the proper welcome.
 
I have a draft on the bottom its 4"  and the stack is 4" as well and that's wide open
If that bottom 4" draft is wide open, you need to make it so it is adjustable from 0 to wide open... Then start it out wide open, dump about ten lit coals into a basket of about 2 lbs of unlit coals. Watch your temp rise and when it gets around the 170 range, cut the flow by 2/3 or so. As the temp reaches 200, damper it down till almost closed. Monitor the temps and adjust from there. It tales awhile for any adjustment at the damper to register on the thermometer so do a little at a time and monitor for about fifteen minutes between adjustments. It's better to get a handle on the rising temp than to try to cool a fire once it gets above desired temp.. Good luck
 
 
Ok thank you ill give it a try and see what happens
 
If you can manage the temp with this amount of charcoal, then you can manage the temp if you dump 10 lit coals in a half a bag of unlit coals. It's known as the Minion Method. Poke around and do a little reading on that in the mean time..
 
thanks for all the help i did the Minion Method this weekend to make some chicken and it worked great thank you so much for the help
 
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