smoking in the wind

[bigwalk]

Hey all,

  I am about to fire up the smoker and the wind is quite "refreshing" today. I have a Brinkman vertical gas smoker. Do I need to worry with the wind, will it mess with the temp? What could I do to fix it all? Thanks!

 

[the dude abides]

Where do you live?  Is it cold out?  Yes, the wind can wreak havoc on a smoker. 

 

[bigwalk]

North GA. It is about forty degrees out with nice gusty breezes

 

[the dude abides]

Just try to get it to an area with a little wind as possible.  Or try and create a wind break of some form.  Turn your vents away from the wind.  Good luck.

 

[Bearcarver]

How hot does that little chimney vent on the top get?

If it's doesn't get too hot, how about a box a few inches bigger than that vent, with a whole bunch of holes cut in it.

That would break up the wind, so it doesn't suck the heat out, yet allow the smoke to continue on it's way.

Just a thought---I use something similar on top of my MES vent.

Bear

 

[SmokinAl]

I don't have any experience with a propane smoker, I have a WSM & as we speak I have my smoker going in about 20-25 mph winds. OK it's about 55 out which is just a tad warmer than you, but I just keep the top vent open full & shut the bottom vents all the way down. Just leave one a little bit open on the side away from the wind. It's holding 225 easily. I wouldn't recommend shutting down the top vent because you may get a build up of creosote on the meat. You need to get the air flowing out the top freely. Maybe today it would be better to use your MES . I have one of those as well & the wind doesn't seem to bother them much. Good luck & let us know how it turns out.

 

[Bearcarver]

Here's what I did with my MES 40:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/thread/99467/mes-wind-problem-solution

Bear

 

[bigwalk]

Thanks for the input. I dont have any vents on the bottom to control airflow. It is open all the way around the bottom with the propane burner mounted. I wrapped alluminum foil around the base and left enough to still pull enough of a draft to burn cleanly. I think it did the trick. I am holding pretty steady, so I think I am ok. On another note, where can I find out what all of these acronyms that everyone uses describing things? It looks like greek to me!!

 

[mballi3011]

Now you can build a wind break out of just about anything from a sheet of plywood to a regular sheet off the bed too. So I would keep in mind what theses folks told you and see what uyou have laying around to create a windbreak.

 

[SmokinAl]

Thanks for the input. I dont have any vents on the bottom to control airflow. It is open all the way around the bottom with the propane burner mounted. I wrapped alluminum foil around the base and left enough to still pull enough of a draft to burn cleanly. I think it did the trick. I am holding pretty steady, so I think I am ok. On another note, where can I find out what all of these acronyms that everyone uses describing things? It looks like greek to me!!

Here's a list of most of them:

Acronym	Definition
2-2-1	Method of Smoking Baby Backs - 2 hours smoked - 2 hours wrapped - 1 final hour unwrapped
3-2-1	Method of Smoking Spare Ribs - 3 hours smoked - 2 hours wrapped - 1 final hour unwrapped
5 Day eCourse	A 5 day email course on how to smoke meat
ABT	Atomic Buffalo Turd - A stuffed smoked jalepeno pepper
BCC	Beer Can Chicken
BDS	Big Drum Smoker
BGE	Big Green Egg
BSKD	Brinkmann Smoke King Deluxe
BWS	Backwoods Smoker
CBP	Cracked Black Pepper
CCSV	Camp Chef Smoke Vault
ECB	El Cheapo Brinkman
EVOO	Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Fatty	A 1 pound chub of breakfast sausage turned into a smoked delicasy
GOSM	Great Outdoors Smoky Mountain Smoker
KCBS	Kansas City BBQ Society
MBN	Memphis BBQ Network
MES	Masterbuilt Electric Smokehouse
OTBS	Order of the Thin Blue Smoke
PHD	Post Hole Digger
SFB	Images of Smoked Food.. usually makes you drool;-) Side Fire Box
SMF	What Most of Us Endearingly Call The Smoking Meat Forums
SnP	Smoke n Pit
TBS	Thin Blue Smoke
UDS	Ugly Drum Smoker
WSM	Weber Smoky Mountain - Smoker