Temperature Problems

[tmoore]

Got my new BS for Christmas, seasoned it for 4 hrs w/hickory& mesquite.  Cooking some cornish hens now (4)and have had the element on full for going on 3 hrs along with the smoke generator and temp is still at 225, wont get any hotter.  I marinaded the birds overnight and used the marinade in the pot. Birds were cold and so was the marinade.  Outside temp right now is 34 here in MI. Is this normal or do I have  bum unit?  Help!

[SMOKEHOUSE ROB]

tmore welcome to the forum [:)] sounds about right with the temp being 34 out, the vent on top how much do you have it open ?

[owrstrich]

tm...

i seldom smoke above 200 deg... so i dont know what it is capable of at 34 deg... but these are some things that folks do that keep the temp down...

are you using an extension cord... if so... you may not be getting all the juice from the wall to the element if the cord is lite gauge...

are you going by the dial thermometer on the door... if so... those are not very accurate... you can take it off and calibrate it in boiling water...

is your vent 100% open... if so... go with 1/3 open...

is you bs in the wind... if so... sheild it from the wind...

are you opening the door for peak... no peaking... unless you take the bridge to canada and find yourself at the million dollar saloon... there peaking allowed there... at least thats what i hear...

you got to eat the beast...

owrstrich

[nodak]

tmoore, I am doing my first butt and it's in twenties here, and I experienced same thing with cold meat.  I have vent open maybe 3/8" and afterwhile when meat warmed up I had to turn it down.  I also put one and half bricks in it too help recovery time.  When these guys say low and slow they mean it. I preheated mine @ 6:30am CST put in at 7:45 still not done cooking.  By time I FTC was hoping for midnight for what started out as supper.  Now looks like breakfast, anyone have breakfast plans???

If it tastes remotely good, I will be breaking the bank and buying the raptor/compititor pkg.  The commander even told me too, Think she was tired of me fussing all day and not getting much else done around the house.

"If you're not living on the edge, You're taking up way too much room, so get the he-- out of my way."

[owrstrich]

mighty mike nodak...

i learned the hard way too... thats is why im always talking about the long ftc... it really does freak me out... that ftc...

i almost always start a smoke at night... if its brisket or pulled pork for dinner... im starting at 6 or 7 pm... smoking at 200... low and slow until it hits the target internal... then ftc...

if it comes out of the smoker anywhere between at 9am to 3pm im good for dinner...

other short smokes like bacon checken rolls and prime ribbs and tri tips and pork loins and such will start 5 or 6 am... and ftc until grubb time...

just a though on adding ftc time to total time and as a buffer between done time and grubb time...

more later...

owrstrich

[SMOKEHOUSE ROB]

tmoore ,owrstrich is right about the 200 temp, but and i do say but, as far as doing whole birds you will want a higher temp so you wont have that rubber skin,

[JJC]

Welcome, Tom--lots of good advice here as you can tell.  The importance of letting your meat spend a couple hours at room temp to wamr up bnefore putting it in the BS can't be overestimated.  I have done a rough calculation that the mass of heated BS components is about 5#.  That means if the pre-heated BS temp is, say, 215F and you put 5# of meat in the BS at 35F, the "equilibrium" temp will be 125F.  If you put 20# of 35F meat in a 215F BS, the equilibrium temp will be closer to 70F. On thne other hand, if you let 20# of meat warm up to 55F before putting it in the smoker, the equilibrium temp is 165F.  While the calculation is very crude, the point is that putting cold food in the BS will add lots of cooking time and conversely, warming up the food before putting it in the smoker is an underrated step in determining the overall cooking time, IMHO.

John
Newton MA

[owrstrich]

i dont like that rubber skin either... thats why i have a oxy acetylene
rig built into my slicer...



will it be hot...

owrstrich

[Oldman]

You got to understand about owrstrich...he fell off of the turnip truck as a child and hit his head....

Olds

[tmoore]

Thanks to all for your advise.  Birds finally came out at 8:30p.m. (4 1/2 hrs) looking awfully well done, however the insides were perfect. I only had the vent cracked about 1/8 and never, never peeked.....well o.k. maybe once, but that was many years ago at Killarny's, or was it the Beanery?  Anyway, I can see I'm gonna have fun with the BS and this forum.  Thanks again![:D]

[Arcs_n_Sparks]

Tmoore: Welcome to the forum. You just need to get a little closer to Fermi and you won't have any heating problems. [8D]

Lots of good advice here, and we look forward to your postings.

Arcs_n_Sparks

[Oldman]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Tmoore: Welcome to the forum. You just need to get a little closer to Fermi and you won't have any heating problems. <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote"> Naw come on down to the Storm State (Florida.) We are running our A/C at the moment.

Olds