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How to Get the Smoker Up To Temperature

I have a big double-barrel smoker, and I have a hard time getting the big barrel/grill up to smokin' temp. It seems to want to hover just below 230 degrees. Any suggestions? I think it might be the way I am handling the dampers.

Tags: Smoker, temperature

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jon Ingersoll on May 26, 2009 at 6:47am

John Marut said:

Golden rule of smoking is low and slow. I also have a double barrel smoker and I use lump and wood for doing larg pieces of meat. First I use two chiminey starters to get a nice hot fire base. After I have a good fire base I add more lump and wait till it's going pretty good then I leave the smoke stack damper wide open. I then check the farthest side of the cooking chamber with my hand (sounds dumb but if you can hold your hand on it for more than 3-seconds your fire is not hot) open your damper on your fire box until you hit the 3 second mark. after that close the fire box damper but leave the smoke stack damper open when your cooking . Finding out how your smoker breaths is a trial and error proccess. Good luck and let me know how it works out for you.

Permalink Reply by Jon Ingersoll on May 26, 2009 at 6:49am

I have a thermometer on the right side of the big chamber, and I spent Sunday this last weekend smoking Pork, Lamb and Beef Briscuit. There were only a few times that the temp showed in the 210-250 range, and I did exactly the same thing you do with the two chimneys and lump and wood, etc. The meat came out OK, but I am worried about bacteria; cooking at the lower temps.

Permalink Reply by Jon Ingersoll on May 26, 2009 at 7:51am

I find that keeping the chimney open about 1/2" and opening the bottom damper all the way is the best for heat. I may try just using wood next time--I have access to KD hardwood board ends, and I have a sneaking suspicion that using Cherry or Hickory or Oak may work better than using the charcoal.

Permalink Reply by Jon Ingersoll on May 26, 2009 at 8:40am

Right--I don't like the flavor of Red Oak, but White Oak works well.

Permalink Reply by David Tinsch on July 2, 2009 at 9:06pm