my first smoke with char griller pro

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badattitudes

Newbie
Original poster
Apr 3, 2010
5
10
well i done my first smoke this weekend and have some questions for you all. I cooked a 5# butt with some dry rub on it i used a chart found on this website that has cook time and temps on it. I ended up cooking for 3 1/2 hours till i reached an IT of 190* I tryed to keep a steady temp of 225 but it was all over the place. I had a charcoal base with 16" oak splits it's all i had. I did see alot of smoke coming out the back where the top and bottom meet. I had the smoke stack open all the way and the fire box was ranged from full open to 1/3. Do you have any advice for me sorry it was a bit lengthy!
 
First, what were you using to measure cooking temps? The therm on the hood of the CG is very inaccurate, plus it is measuring temps in the top of the cooking chamber instead of where the meat sits on the cooking grates.

I've never used wood splits in my CG. I use charcoal with wood chunks & am able to maintain pretty steady temps using a basket & a modified version of the Minion method.

Yes, there are leaks around the hood. I foil the bottom of the main chamber to make cleanup easier. I leave about 6" extra front & back. I roll the extra loosely back to the lip of the bottom section, then slowly close the lid. This forms a poor man's gasket to plug a lot of those leaks.

Give us some more details about your setup. There are several CG users here to help.
 
well It is stock right out of the box, I turned the ash pan in the main chamber upside down ans hung from highest point to act as my tunning plate. I was using a infared temp gauge taking temps at grill level. I plan on getting another digital gauge i can put inside at the grate to give me inside temp. I tried to find a charcoal basket at lowes and some other places but wasn't able to find one. I put my coals on top of the coal rack that came with the fire box. I will have to try putting some foil down to help with the leaks. I noticed the butt i smoked didnt taste like it got smoked in the middle but i could notice it around the first inch or so in.
 
Here's a pic of what I did with mine. It's the shiny strip in the smoker. Its the aluminum strip that people have on their floors to cover the edge of carpet going to linoleum. I riveted that to the bottom piece of the barrel and it snugs up against the cover when it's closed. Works great for me.
 
thanks 5lakes i like that idea i'm gonna try that. did you put a piece of angle on the outside of the main chamber was to help with smoke loss?
 
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