Smoking temp consitentlly below set temp

[dtexley]

Hi,

I recently purchased a new old stock Smoke Hollow pellet smoker. I successfully smoked my first couple of meals right off but it took far longer than I was expecting from the recipes. In watching the temp it's running lower than the selected temp. I set the smoke to 2 hours @ 225f but after about 40 minutes it's constantly showing 160 to 180 degrees. With the lower temps it really slows the cook speed down.

I left the pellet poop speed (yes I noticed the moniker hung on this type of smoker) at the default. Our outdoor temp is hanging around 65-75 degrees lately. What steps should I consider to get that average temp back up between 200 and 225? Faster pellets, slower pellets? I've looked around a bit and not really foud a good answer so far.

Thanks!!!

 

[Kevin DeShazo]

The meat is going to absorb heat esp in the beginning, that may explain your lower temp, also is your thermometer accurate?

 

[schlotz]

No mention regarding what is providing you the grate temp reading? Is it a separate, calibrated thermometer or are you referring to a built in thermometer? What pellets are you using?

 

[dtexley]

The reading is from the builtin thermometer. I set it to smoke at 225 for 3 hours, reading goes up to about 280-300 at first with good smoke (after the start), slowly drops back down and after 45-60 mins its at 170 to 180 with the SP set to 4. Tried SP-3 and SP-2 last night and did get the temp up to 190-200 but I don't think there was as much smoke that way.

Maybe I'm understanding this wrong, the set temp is more for AFTER the smoke cycle? New to the smoking side of things. I don't have a separate thermometer to check the cabin temp, but I do have a good meat thermometer with remote. (I bought the built in meat probe as well, but that just arrived and had not used it yet.)

Pellets are apple wood that I bought at the local Wilco Farm store brand is Bear Mtn BBQ wood pellets. Seem ok, not a lot of ash when used.

I've been trying to find some videos or something for this smoker or the Masterbuilt variation just to try to figure out what to expect. The instruction book really doesn't really help with what to expect or how to tell if settings are appropriate for our temps.

 

[Kevin DeShazo]

First get a decent multi probe thermometer, most built in ones are ehh at best.

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

Good advice in the above comments.
You want to know what the actual temp is at grate level where the cooking happens.
What model number do you have?

 

[schlotz]

Never trust a built-in therm. They are notoriously inaccurate. Look for a good calibrated one that also comes with a grate temp therm & clip, which is different than a meat probe.

Personally, I use Thermoworks.

 

[dtexley]

Thanks for the advice about the thermometer, I'll get one. But that wasn't exactly what i was asking so I'll try again.

Model is Smoke Hollow ws30, the "old version" model with the pellet bin attached to the side.

For my questions lets assume that by some miracle the temp on the controller is correct.. hehe.

1. When priming the pellets how much do you allow to fall in the crucible? Two videos I found, one primed the crucible about half full the other stopped as soon as pellets started dropping.

2. If I set the cook time is 12 hours at 225f and set a 3 hour smoke time what should I expect for temps during the smoke time? Is it normal for the temp to run at about 170 to 190 on the monitor during the smoke time? Once the smoke time is over should I expect the temp shown to rise to around 225 and stay there?

3. How does the pellet speed affect smoke/temp? How do I know if I need to adjust it and what direction (faster/slower)?

I'd like to find some howto videos for using this unit or the similar MasterBuilt 330 or 340 since they seem to be close to the same unit.

Thanks to all that already commented and in advance and following!

 

[Kevin DeShazo]

Cant answer the pellet piece but when you first put the meat in and for a while the smoker temp will drop due to heat absorbtion of the meat. So for the first while the temp iinsde the smoker will drop and as the temp of the meat rises so will the temp inosde the smoker

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

2. If I set the cook time is 12 hours at 225f and set a 3 hour smoke time what should I expect for temps during the smoke time? Is it normal for the temp to run at about 170 to 190 on the monitor during the smoke time? Once the s

From what I understand, the temp is programmed at 180 degrees while using the smoke setting.

 

[dtexley]

From what I understand, the temp is programmed at 180 degrees while using the smoke setting.

I think this is correct as that is the behavior I'm seeing.

Answering my own Q #1, Don't put too many pellets in the crucible during priming or you can have an overheat error! Oops!

Also I learned that the hopper does not hold enough pellets for 10 hours of cook time as advertised. I woke up this AM to an empty hopper and cold smoker. I now know to fill the hopper to near overflow at the end of the smoke cycle before going to bed.....

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

If you have the manual available, it should cover how to adjust the SP setting for advancing and resting the auger.

 

[bill1]

dtexley--Most pellet cookers, when in Smoke Mode, are not using the "input" from the thermometer at all. They just run the pellet auger for a fixed dwell time x at a period of every y seconds. (The P settings allow you to control y and that's it.) The combustion fan also runs at a fixed speed (air flow rate) in Smoke Mode (although that speed seems to vary from brand to brand).

Now based on that air flow and constant average pellet feed rate, the cooker may reach a steady-state temperature of about 180 deg, so it might appear to be regulating to that temperature, but if the outside temperature or wind conditions change much, I think you'd find there's nothing magic (or guaranteed) about ANY temperature when in Smoke Mode. Only in Cook Mode does the machine try to regulate to temperature (as read by the factory thermometer).

So how stable (and accurate) is your cooker to the Set Point when in Cook Mode?

 

[dtexley]

Seems to be achieving a more stable temp around the temp expected, but it's hard to tell. Will have to invest in one of the thermo units that track temp I guess.