Possible Solution to Low Temp in Smoker?

[DaveT261]

When I did my chicken wings yesterday the temp in my smoker was 220 degrees, when I opened the door and put my wings in (they sit for an hour at room temp) my temp dropped like a rock and did not get up past 180 and that took about 1 1/2 hours.  Has anyone ever preheated their meat in the oven prior to putting it on the smoker?  Granted you don't want to get them hot enough to start cooking but maybe hot enough not to draw out all the heat?  Does anyone think this is feisable? I have unmodified DBS.

[beefmann]

your temp drop is normal, depending on how much  weight you have  put in,,, i have pre heat my smoker to 225 for 30 mins, put in 15 lbs of tri tip ... it  took close to an hour to recover,,, also im running 900 watts

[buttburner]

take a brick or 2, wrap them in foil, then preheat them in your oven or on the grill.

then put them in the smoker, it will help hold the heat

[Habanero Smoker]

For wings that may not be a bad idea. It will not only "preheat" the meat, but you will loose some moisture as well. But you can also do the reverse; apply smoke then move them to the grill or oven.

Also it may be better to do two or three smaller loads, than one large load. I find if you use smaller load for wings, say around 2 - 3 pounds each load you will have better temperatures. Just I tried smoking/cooking 5 pounds at a time and the smoker was really struggling when I only had one element.

[DaveT261]

For wings that may not be a bad idea. It will not only "preheat" the meat, but you will loose some moisture as well. But you can also do the reverse; apply smoke then move them to the grill or oven.

Also it may be better to do two or three smaller loads, than one large load. I find if you use smaller load for wings, say around 2 - 3 pounds each load you will have better temperatures. Just I tried smoking/cooking 5 pounds at a time and the smoker was really struggling when I only had one element.

Actually I did the smoke/finished off in the oven and they were very good. I did around 5# of wings too.