Couldn't come close to 300 Degrees

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ajw068

Newbie
Original poster
Jul 19, 2015
4
10
So I'm a newb with this being only my 3rd smoke. Little backroad.... I have a Brinkmann Vertical smoker and use kings ford briquettes. I use the Weber fire starter chimney and fill that with coals.

I did a spatchcock chicken today and couldn't not get the smoker to get above 225. Most of the time it was around 210. Not sure what happened. Here's what I did.

Started the briquettes in the chimney until they were white. Dumped them in the bottom of smoker in the basket. Then added 4 chunks of Apple wood.
A pan of water in between fire and chicken. I kept both the bottom vent and top vent wide open.
It was about 60f outside and a little windy.

Any idea why it didn't get hot enough?
Should I be adding more coals?

I'm the end I had to put the chicken in the oven because of timing.
 
The wind will get you every time. Some here build small shelters around the smokers. The wind will vacuum the heat out. 
 
Last edited:
If it's the ecb style brinkman then yeah the wind really affects those cookers....and as was mentioned, the water sucks up a ton of heat, it's basically a big heat sink that will never get above 212 degrees. Try leaving it empty or full of sand, either way foil the pan for easy clean up. Also if I remember from back in the day when I had one of those, the coals sit in a big dish and ash over themselves, I used to put a grate in the dish to raise the coals up so the ash could fall away from the coals and not smother them
 
Last edited:
All good points thanks everyone. Now that I think of it, it was pretty windy. And as far as the water pan if I don't use it will certain meats dry out??


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
All good points thanks everyone. Now that I think of it, it was pretty windy. And as far as the water pan if I don't use it will certain meats dry out??


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
No the meat will not dry out. The water pan is used as a heat sink to keep temp fluctuations to a minimum. Play sand or lava rock will do the same thing but will let the temp get higher. In your case you may want to just leave it dry.

Hope this helps 

Al
 
All good points thanks everyone. Now that I think of it, it was pretty windy. And as far as the water pan if I don't use it will certain meats dry out??


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


No the meat will not dry out. The water pan is used as a heat sink to keep temp fluctuations to a minimum. Play sand or lava rock will do the same thing but will let the temp get higher. In your case you may want to just leave it dry.



Hope this helps 



Al

Thanks man I appreciate it! I will try that next time.
 
All good points thanks everyone. Now that I think of it, it was pretty windy. And as far as the water pan if I don't use it will certain meats dry out??


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


No the meat will not dry out. The water pan is used as a heat sink to keep temp fluctuations to a minimum. Play sand or lava rock will do the same thing but will let the temp get higher. In your case you may want to just leave it dry.



Hope this helps 



Al

Thanks man I appreciate it! I will try that next time.
 
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