JMJ,
I went to BBQ Island today and talked to Mike and the crew. Like you said they are very helpful. Your smoker was out front. Mike used yours and theirs to show me what I need to do to keep the fire going. Mike really knows his Good Ones and he always has something on the smoker. If every Good One Dealer is as knowledgeable and hands on as him the customer base will really benefit. Anyway I picked up some Good One lump and some other items and will use my new found knowledge this weekend on a brisket and some fatties. Thanks for your help....Randy
Open Range temp and fire regulating questions
(47 posts) (6 voices)-
Posted 8 months ago #
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Randy, good to hear. I picked up my grill today, will use it this weekend. Let me know how it goes for you.
Posted 8 months ago # -
Ranch how did the cook go?
Posted 8 months ago # -
Thom,
I have done several cooks since my last post. I have the fire figured out now. I think that I let the video on the website lead me into believing that I could do as they instructed, you know set it up and go fishing for four hours, and found that, for me, it wasn't that cut and dry. I'm still having a problem with uneven temps while cooking. As an example. I did a turkey breast on Christmas Day. I used my probe thermometer and never opened the box for 4 hours until the bird hit 167. I was loading my car and missed my normal take out temp of 162. Luckily I checked all around the bird before serving it because part of the meat that was opposite the fire box was only 142 degrees. I rotated the bird and finished it off but by now the other side was dry. I've had the same problem with chickens and have read other posts with similar experiences. I read your post about the digiQ, I'm familiar with those and the stoker and I had been considering trying one. I assume it will help with air circulation in the smoker as well as the firebox. Is that correct? Anyway I'm still learning this smoker and will continue to keep a positive attitude. Thanks for your interest.
RanchPosted 8 months ago # -
A Guru system
Yes feeding air to the fire when needed to maintain a more constant temp
Hot spots can be your friend once you know your smoker well :)Maybe I will see you at a future AZ class or contest
Posted 8 months ago # -
Thom,
I was thinking that even though this is a small smoker I would do a biscuit test to better learn my smoker. I'm doing three pork butts tomorrow. I'll rotate them mid cook for a more consistent result. I'm aware of your credentials, are you thinking of doing a class here?Posted 8 months ago # -
I have organized classes But I do not feel I am ready to lead one
Let me win a few more Grand Championships :)
Now Chris Marks has plenty of wins to his name
and he will be in AZ this spring doing his classYes the biscuit test would give you some good information on heat flow
OK does everyone know what we are talking about ?
Posted 8 months ago # -
I do not know what biscuit test is. I used my smoker today I had better luck than before. used less charcoal. I still could not get the temp to rise without propping the
lid open. I had a consistent 250-275. I had the damper open 1/8-1/2 top spinner open
about 1/4 inch front spinners open 2-3 turns. Is this normal, should I be able to raise the temp. My dealer told me 2.5 turns was wide open, if this is so how can I raise the temp. Is there a way to gauge how much charcoal to use. i have no way to weigh it.Posted 8 months ago # -
Big John,
You should not have to prop open your lid to get to temp. Did you ever check your thermometer like JMJ said to do? Unless you already have one, I would get an oven thermometer and put it on the grill to make sure you are getting the right readings from the lid. I can easily get to 350 and run at 325+ for several hours whe needed. In learning to control my fire I found that I might have to set mine at 4 or 5 turns some times and 2 or 2.5 other times. I've learned not to focus on how our smoker is advertised to operate, just to give it what it needs in each burn to run best. Does that make sense? It sure made my life easier. I'll let Thom explain the biscuit test if he'll be so kind..RanchPosted 8 months ago # -
I'm interested in the biscuit test too, please share. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that it involves putting biscuits around the smoker box and looking to see which ones get done first?
Posted 8 months ago # -
Big John, I really think your thermometer might be broken. I cooked on Christmas day and didn't even have coals coming up to the grate mounts. There was not a lot. When I wanted to raise the temp, I opened the damper to the notch (the 11 o'clock position) and my temp went up to about 310F. Top spinner was 1.5 turns, firebox spinners were about 1.75 turns. I had even less coals last weekend and when I opened the damper to the notch I held 280F for the last hour of a cook.
I am still having fire issues though, I can't keep the whole box lit. I lost the left side of my fire on my last cook. I need to figure that out.
Posted 8 months ago # -
Yes The biscuits are cheaper than briskets :)
So you put the biscuits all your zones inside
This will tell you if you have hot spots
The primary use of this test is to tune a large offset style smoker
Chris tells me the last newsletter contained a nice detailed summary of GoodOne fire buildingPosted 8 months ago # -
Thom, yes it did. But no matter how I get that firebox glowing red all the way across, i'll always lose one side of the fire. It will die and I can't figure out how to prevent it.
Posted 8 months ago # -
JMJ, I have been experimenting with my Goodone.(when we have decent weather). From what I have been finding is that the further the damper is open the more it will block the heat and airflow, so actually 1/2 is about wide open. Also the top spinner on mine seems to change temps quite a bit by changing it even 1/8turn. I open it 1 and a quarter to 1.5 turns. Also the front spinners are advertised to be wide open @ 2.5 turns.
I can open mine 4 and actually get more fire. Have you tried to prop the lid open?
I know this sounds silly but sometimes that is all I can do to increase the temp. I also helps to even the burnPosted 8 months ago # -
Big John, when I open my firebox lid my smokerbox temp drops. I don't have any problem maintaining temp in the smokerbox anymore. With a fully lit fire to start I can get the smokerbox at 250F with the damper BARELY open. When I say barely, I mean the damper lever is probably somewhere between 1/8" to 1/4" from the closed position.
The issue I have is keeping the entire firebox lit all the way across. Gonna cook something again this weekend, i'll experiment more. My last cook was short with chicken legs and some beef tenderloin steaks. Still, in the less than 2 hours that I had these cooking, I did lose one half of the fire. One side glows red, the other you can hold your hand over.
Posted 8 months ago # -
JMJ, I dont mean to prop the firebox lid open all of the way. I just mean about 1/2-1.5 inches open. On mine if the fire is not burning even or if I need more heat, I can prop the lid open a slight amount and within a 1/2 hour my temp has went up at least 50 degrees and the fire is glowing red all the way across the length of firebox.
Posted 7 months ago # -
Oh, no I haven't done that. Would hate to have to do that, but maybe i'll take a stab at that next time...definitely when the fire seems to die on one side.
Thanks
John
Posted 7 months ago #
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