Temperature Question

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No. If you want to smoke at 225, smoke at 225. If you want to smoke at 250, smoke at 250. Initially it may take more fuel to achieve your temps as the cold mass of meat will cool down the smoker. As the temp of the meat rises it will take less fuel to maintain temps. Weather also effects how much fuel is needed to maintain the temp you want.

One thing I would recommend is to get a good dual therm or quad therm remote digital therm. The stock therms that come with smokers are almost always off. Also temps can very, especially in vertical smokers from rack to rack. It's best to measure your temp right at the rack you are cooking on. Two good therm suggestions would be the iGrill2 or the MAV733, or 732. If you get a new therm
Always test in boiling water to verify its accuracy. It's good to test them every so often to make sure they are still accurate.
 
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No. If you want to smoke at 225, smoke at 225. If you want to smoke at 250, smoke at 250. Initially it may take more fuel to achieve your temps as the cold mass of meat will cool down the smoker. As the temp of the meat rises it will take less fuel to maintain temps. Weather also effects how much fuel is needed to maintain the temp you want.

One thing I would recommend is to get a good dual therm or quad therm remote digital therm. The stock therms that come with smokers are almost always off. Also temps can very, especially in vertical smokers from rack to rack. It's best to measure your temp right at the rack you are cooking on. Two good therm suggestions would be the iGrill2 or the MAV733, or 732. If you get a new therm
Always test in boiling water to verify its accuracy. It's good to test them every so often to make sure they are still accurate.

You were exactly correct. Meat is hotter and temps are where I want them. I don't remember my last smoke being that rough a start. It has been 225-250 for a lil over an hour. Will need to remember this for next time.

Thank you I was in real panick mode.
 
Hello fellow Smoke Vault'er, I have found that starting with a pan full of hot water seems to help if starting with cold meat.
 
Valanze,

With a gas smoker, it's real easy.   If you load it up with a bunch of cold meat, turn the gas dial up higher than you normally would.  As the meat warms up, move the dial down a bit to maintain the chamber temp you want. 

I adjust my dials/flame a couple of times throughout a cook.
 
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Valanze,

With a gas smoker, it's real easy.   If you load it up with a bunch of cold meat, turn the gas dial up higher than you normally would.  As the meat warms up, move the dial down a bit to maintain the chamber temp you want. 

I adjust my dials/flame a couple of times throughout a cook.

This is exactly what I ended up doing it was all last minute. I got such s late start I did not have the hour or so I let it sit fully prepped to come up to room temp. This was rookie mistake. I was trying to have it by 6PM which was dinner time.
 
This is exactly what I ended up doing it was all last minute. I got such s late start I did not have the hour or so I let it sit fully prepped to come up to room temp. This was rookie mistake. I was trying to have it by 6PM which was dinner time.
I think you read too much into that Valanze.  No need to let them come up to room temp.    If you are throwing 1 rack of cold ribs into a smoker, that's not much thermal mass and the smoker will come back up to temp pretty quick.   When you load 10 racks of cold ribs, or 60lbs of cold boston butts, it will take the smoker much longer to come back to target temp.  So, when loading that kind of thermal mass, I crank the temp up at the start.
 
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