Temperature at start up - what to do?

[whitetailfan]

This is going to appear a very basic question, but one that I have struggled with for some time now, and after my holiday, my answer has changed.

Many recipes call for you to pre-heat your smoker to a specific temperature, I will use 200deg in this example.  Once I have achieved a stable temperature of 200deg, I put in my meat, and then the temp drops to no where near 200 deg, because the meat cools the cabinet air temperature even if I have left out the meat to get to room temp.

<font color="red">Question:  Do you leave the temperature slide at its existing position and wait for the temperature to slowly climb back to where it was on the pre-heat?  <font color="blue">OR</font id="blue">, do you move the slider up to achieve the "cooking temp" that is called for in the recipe right away, then slowly back it off, as the meat temp begins to rise, allowing the cabinet temperature to climb?</font id="red">

I used to try and leave my slider where I knew it would stabalize at a certain temp - there are subtle notches along the slide and at about 3/4 of the way to max, my smoker will generally stabalize at 225deg +/- 10deg.  Lately though, I have been doing larger projects, 2 butts, or 2 chickens, and I have been nearly maxing out the slider to get the temp up to 225 for the whole cooking process.  I then have to back off the slider to keep my temperature in check.

If I use a pre-set slide position I have less watching to do because my temp will never get too high, BUT if I do that, then I am not cooking at the right temp which will take longer to cook (not be the recipe time) plus it leaves the cabinet temperature in the danger zone for possible food poisoning if I'm not cooking hot enough.[xx(]

What do you all do[?]  Thanks for the input[8D]

<b><font color="green">whitetailfan</font id="green"></b>
"Nice Rack"
Lethbridge, AB

[Bassman]

Whitetail,
It depends on how much meat I'm smoke'n. If I only have one butt or one brisket I'll leave the slider where it's at and let it come up slowly. If the smoker is packed full I will max the slider out to bring it up faster. IMO there would only be concern if it took a really long time to come up to temp and that would only happen when it's full.HTH[:D]

<i><font color="blue"><b>Jack</i></font id="blue"></b>

[BigRed]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by whitetailfan</i>
<br />This is going to appear a very basic question, but one that I have struggled with for some time now, and after my holiday, my answer has changed.

Many recipes call for you to pre-heat your smoker to a specific temperature, I will use 200deg in this example.  Once I have achieved a stable temperature of 200deg, I put in my meat, and then the temp drops to no where near 200 deg, because the meat cools the cabinet air temperature even if I have left out the meat to get to room temp.

<font color="red">Question:  Do you leave the temperature slide at its existing position and wait for the temperature to slowly climb back to where it was on the pre-heat?  <font color="blue">OR</font id="blue">, do you move the slider up to achieve the "cooking temp" that is called for in the recipe right away, then slowly back it off, as the meat temp begins to rise, allowing the cabinet temperature to climb?</font id="red">

I used to try and leave my slider where I knew it would stabalize at a certain temp - there are subtle notches along the slide and at about 3/4 of the way to max, my smoker will generally stabalize at 225deg +/- 10deg.  Lately though, I have been doing larger projects, 2 butts, or 2 chickens, and I have been nearly maxing out the slider to get the temp up to 225 for the whole cooking process.  I then have to back off the slider to keep my temperature in check.

If I use a pre-set slide position I have less watching to do because my temp will never get too high, BUT if I do that, then I am not cooking at the right temp which will take longer to cook (not be the recipe time) plus it leaves the cabinet temperature in the danger zone for possible food poisoning if I'm not cooking hot enough.[xx(]

What do you all do[?]  Thanks for the input[8D]

<b><font color="green">whitetailfan</font id="green"></b>
"Nice Rack"
Lethbridge, AB
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Whitetail!

I have often wondered about the same issue but what I have done to try and ease the problem is, the dual probe Maverick - one probe in the meat and one in the cabinet. Since I rarely load more than two racks, I depend on the internal temp of what I am cooking and don't worry about the time issue. I keep my slide in the same positon to reach 200 to 220 degrees and preheat then add on time with the probe temp as necessary. I am still green at this but it seems to work, especially on butts, ribs, smoked hambugers and brisket. I am sue more experienced BS users have a better method.

Good Luck!

BigRED

[MallardWacker]

White,

I crank it up to 225-250 for preheat no matter what I am doing.  You correct about the temp drop.  I usually move the slider up slightly to make it come up to temp faster then I do a bit of adjusting if needed.  Sometime more adjusting depending on how full the ol' BS is.

SmokeOn,

mski
Perryville, Arkansas
Wooo-Pig-Soooie

If a man says he knows anything at all, he knows nothing what he aught to know.  But...

[Chez Bubba]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by MallardWacker</i>
<br />White,

I crank it up to 225-250 for preheat no matter what I am doing.  You correct about the temp drop.  I usually move the slider up slightly to make it come up to temp faster then I do a bit of adjusting if needed.  Sometime more adjusting depending on how full the ol' BS is.

SmokeOn,

mski
Perryville, Arkansas
Wooo-Pig-Soooie

If a man says he knows anything at all, he knows nothing what he aught to know.  But...


<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Ditto.

http://www.chezbubba.com
Ya think next time I check into a hotel & they ask "Smoking or Non?" they would mind?