temp rising for no reason

[clayton1986]

hi im new to the site (and smoking) and i no u prob hav had this question b4 but i was just smoking some lamb shanks and everything was goin well at a steady 250f untill about the 2 hour mark and the temp shot up to 350f, so i shut the vents down and no change. any help wud b great many thanks.

p.s i used the minion technique

 

[SmokinAl]

First of all welcome to SMF! You should go over to the roll call section & introduce yourself. Let us know where your located & what kind of smoker your using. With a little more info I think we can help you out.

 

[daveomak]

Was the therm reading correctly ???? Maybe it died..... Check it for calibration... Doesn't seem right that all the vents closed and nothing happened to the temp.... ???? Strange.... Let us know what you found out.... Maybe it will help others... Dave

 

[mdboatbum]

My guess would be that your water pan ran dry. Since you didn't post what kind of smoker you're using, We kinda have to guess, but I'm thinking it's probably one of the commonly available Brinkmanns. You mention the Minion method, so it's obviously charcoal, and the smallish water pan in the Brinkmann smokers will run dry in just about 2 hours. 

 

[clayton1986]

sorry im using a pro q frontier water smoker, its not the thermometers cos i checked them, and i didnt put water in the pan to start.

 

[SmokinAl]

Sounds like the fire got away from you. With the minnion method set up right about the same number of coals should be burning all the time. The only thing I would suggest is when the temp starts to go up shut the vents right then, don't let it get away from you. As you found out it's very hard to get it to come back down.

 

[clayton1986]

cheers many thanks think i need to hav another go and set the coals up better