Smoker temps

[lemans]

We all know that smoking happens between
225-250. So what's up with some pitmasters
Working at 300. ? I can't mantain that temp without baby sitting my pit constantly.
Am I in the minority or the majority?

 

[timberjet]

Any temp can be used it all depends on the type of smoke and what you are smoking. There are many hot and fast folks and low and slow people. To each there own I guess. I think it really depends on what equipment you are using as to weather or not you can do either with better results respective to each other. I use charcoal smokers and can not get good thin blue smoke unless I am running in those temps you related to. Now some of these guys have those big stick burner units that can do great things at 300 plus. I guess it all depends.

 

[cliffcarter]

We all know that smoking happens between
225-250. So what's up with some pitmasters
Working at 300. ? I can't mantain that temp without baby sitting my pit constantly.
Am I in the minority or the majority?

Baby sitting the pit is a bad thing?

I find that my Chargriller will cruise in the 235°-260° range using charcoal without much tending. Since I am one of those that does cook at higher temps for many cuts or types of meat I use a wood fire to get those higher temps, that means I am tending the fire when cooking on the CG.

When I cook butts on the Weber kettle the temp is 300°-325°, cooking at these temps does not inhibit the smoky flavor of the meat, that is determined by the amount of wood that you use.

You are in the majority here if you cook in the 225°-250° range IMHO.

 

[mdboatbum]

Do whatever works best for you. Then if you find something that works better, do that. I have learned a lot from this forum, the most important of which is that there are no "rules" outside of safe food handling. I tried 3-2-1 ribs at 225 but wasn't really happy with the results. So I started changing things. I tried pork butt at 225, was up all night and discovered that the "bark" everyone raves on and on about was not at all to my liking. Neither was a 12-20 hour cook. So I started changing things.
I tried chicken and turkey low and slow. Didn't like the texture or the black skin. So I started changing things.
Now, a few years into this oddysey, I have recipes and methods that produce the results I want fairly consistently. And almost none of them involve temps below 275. But that's ME.
If we all just stuck to the way our great grandparents did it, we'd be squatting beside holes in the ground with pigs stretched out on green sticks over them.

 

[themule69]

As said above their are no 

. I go from low and slow to over 700°. Take a reverse sear at 220° then to the screaming hot grill. I do briskets at 225° most of the time but if I don't have the time I will do 350°. Sometimes I want lots of smoke so I do 175° for a while then jump the temps up. Learn how much smoke you like then start playing with it. 

Happy smoken.

David

 

[noboundaries]

Being an engineer by education with a year of thermodynamics on my transcripts from decades ago, I remember just enough about heat transfer to understand how cooking/smoking actually works.  Bottom line, cold meat absorbs available heat.  Meat will absorb heat as long as the temperature of the surrounding environment is hotter than the meat, whether the environment is heated to 70F or 700F.  The amount of heat transfer over time depends upon the temperature difference between the meat and the heated environment; the smaller the difference the slower the heat transfer.  That's one of the reasons why reaching the last few degrees of a target internal temp of say 205F in a pork butt on a smoker takes so long when the smoker is set at 215F-225F.   

A smoker is just a smoky oven where the smoke particles in the heated air adhere to the meat and create a chemical reaction (another thread entirely).  Look up any oven recipe though for brisket or pork butt, traditionally considered low and slow meats on the smoker, and you generally see temperatures of 350F or so.  Over the decades, before I started smoking meat, I've oven roasted many a brisket and pork butt at those temps, often braising with liquids (also another thread entirely about increasing heat transfer).

Like Mdboatbum I've done the 17 hr, 225F smoke on a pork butt for the bark.  It was yummylicious, but not worth the fuel or the time involved when I can achieve practically identical results at 275-300F in half the time or less by using techniques I have developed with experience.  I still smoke some meats at 225F, lean beef roasts is one example, but find myself using 250+ for most other cuts of meat.  There is no best temp.  Finding what works best for you and your equipment, then serving friends, family, and co-workers is half the fun.             

 

[ristau5741]

I pretty much let the fire decide, using wood and charcoal,  I opt for ~225, but sometimes the fire has other plans,  I haven't done a real study on the exact ways to prepare the fire, eg, newspaper/no newspaper, use charcoal column or not, all wood, start with wood..add charcoal later to steady the temps, start with charcoal and slowly migrate over to wood, or using all charcoal. wood sizes, timing for adding more charcoal all can make a big difference in temps.  I pretty much get somewhere where I get a steady temperature range and got with that.

like Mdboatbum, I've done the 17 hour pork shoulder and the 7 hour pork shoulder...I'd prefer the 7 hour smoke.

I'm not one of those guys that smokes at 325 for 3.5 hours, baste, smoke at 250 for 6.25 hours, baste, (add more details and temp changes), foil and park until temps are reached, causes too much stress, although I don't get consistency, I'm only feeding myself, family and friends. and I do get great Q.

my advice would be to relax and go with the flow.