- May 12, 2013
- 16
- 10
Hey everybody thanks for welcoming me and taking the time to help me get to the next level. Today i smoked chicken for the first time. i've smoked in the past but never with a SFB setup even though i've owned one for years i always grilled indirect in the main chamber for a slow and low kinda cook but today i broke in the SFB the correct way. the food was fantastic i know now i'm done grilling i'm doing a full conversion and eventually will build or buy a custom smoker. i do have a few questions mainly around my skin not being 'bite through' and i'm pretty sure i know the cause but i need your help with the solution!
1. Temp. my Char Griller would just not get up to 300 degrees at all at first. i believe it was a airflow restriction issue because even with it wide open it wasn't until i cracked the door to the SFB 1" did i get from 225 to 300 and that happened almost instantly. the airflow issue was due to ash i believe so how do people handle removing ash while still using it? will the 'minion' method help with this? i think i could just shake the box and make all the ash fall out helping with airflow. also i think i could rig it up so the box sits in the SFB but there is still room to remove the ash tray and dump it while cooking.
2. i loaded the SFB up with one unlit and one lit chimney of lump. i added some Western brand Apple wood chunks (not chips) the kind Wal Mart sells and i think they may burn a little fast due to size. at best the largest pieces were maybe the size of a small women's fist. using Larger log shaped pieces i would assume means less frequent need to add wood. based on the small sizes regardless of how many i add the thin blue smoke was non existent anymore within 30 minutes. 4 hours of smoking before i got 2 whole chickens and a pack of thighs up to 165 and i used 75% of a bag of wood. i just feel like had the pieces been bigger they would have burned longer maybe fixing this issue, am i right?
3. Water - i didn't crack my smoker open for 1 1/2 hours and when i did i noticed all the water was gone from all 3 pans i used. should i be adding enough water to make it the whole smoke somehow or should i be refilling them whenever i do open the smoker? i used 3 smaller ones and flipped my coal tray in my main area upside down and raised it above the opening from the SFB to help with tuning. i placed 2 6 x 8 pans on top of it right below the grate nearest the SFB to assist with temp as well. the 3rd one i put in below the coal tray right in the path of the opening from the SFB as close to it as possible again hoping all this would help with tuning.
1. Temp. my Char Griller would just not get up to 300 degrees at all at first. i believe it was a airflow restriction issue because even with it wide open it wasn't until i cracked the door to the SFB 1" did i get from 225 to 300 and that happened almost instantly. the airflow issue was due to ash i believe so how do people handle removing ash while still using it? will the 'minion' method help with this? i think i could just shake the box and make all the ash fall out helping with airflow. also i think i could rig it up so the box sits in the SFB but there is still room to remove the ash tray and dump it while cooking.
2. i loaded the SFB up with one unlit and one lit chimney of lump. i added some Western brand Apple wood chunks (not chips) the kind Wal Mart sells and i think they may burn a little fast due to size. at best the largest pieces were maybe the size of a small women's fist. using Larger log shaped pieces i would assume means less frequent need to add wood. based on the small sizes regardless of how many i add the thin blue smoke was non existent anymore within 30 minutes. 4 hours of smoking before i got 2 whole chickens and a pack of thighs up to 165 and i used 75% of a bag of wood. i just feel like had the pieces been bigger they would have burned longer maybe fixing this issue, am i right?
3. Water - i didn't crack my smoker open for 1 1/2 hours and when i did i noticed all the water was gone from all 3 pans i used. should i be adding enough water to make it the whole smoke somehow or should i be refilling them whenever i do open the smoker? i used 3 smaller ones and flipped my coal tray in my main area upside down and raised it above the opening from the SFB to help with tuning. i placed 2 6 x 8 pans on top of it right below the grate nearest the SFB to assist with temp as well. the 3rd one i put in below the coal tray right in the path of the opening from the SFB as close to it as possible again hoping all this would help with tuning.
