Posted by JT Smoke on August 23, 1996 at 05:14:25:
In Reply to: Heat - or lack of? posted by Bert Beckman on August 19, 1996 at 08:34:34:
: I recently puchased a Brinkmann 'Smoke n Grill' upright smoker.
: I have used it twice now and have not had much success getting
: enough heat in it to make it register in the 'IDEAL' range on the
: included thermometer. I checked the thermome
ter using boiling water
: and @ 212 it sits almost in the middle. I am using a water pan, and
: have tried both lump and brick charcoal (Kingsford).
: Consequences are that although things get smoked the length of time
: it takes to get meat
s up to temp using a meat thermometer tends to
: leave the 'Quer' quite tipsy while the rest of the family has alraedy
: retired to bed (or even worse - gone to a fast food restaurant).
: Until I get this down pat the 'little woman' is discouragi
ng my
: plans at building an offset firebox cooker.
: I am wondering if anyone could offer any suggestions? I have thought
: about putting a hole in the top with some kind of damping device,
: but before I due that am I doing something wrong?
: Any help will be greatly appreaciated. (ps Being in Canada the outside
: temparture has been in the 60-70f range.
Don't put a lot of trust in a thermometer that reads Low|Ideal|High.
Get an thermometer that you can actually use. Try for
one that you can
read from the outside of the cooker. With an oven thermometer you have
to open the cooker to look so it wastes heat and lengthens the cooking
time. (Only to make you a bit MORE tipsy). The good thermometers aren't
usually wh
at you call "Cheap", but they are well worth the money. Also
try to position the thermometer as close to the cooking surface as possible
because there can be quite a difference in temp in just a small area
in some cookers. Hope this helps.......
.