Have wanted a smoker for awhile and the kids got tired of waiting and bought me a Master Forge charcoal smoker. I fired it up as soon as I unpacked it, burned off the mill oil as suggested by MF, and tried a 6.4 lb Boston butt. Used about 10 lbs of briquettes and most of a 350 cu in bag of hickory and had trouble maintaining a 250 degree heat. Tried cracking the door, shifting the briquettes, adding more charcoal, etc. After more than 11 hrs I gave up trying to hit 190 as the meat temp only got to a bit over 160. As most of you probably know the meat was not cooked and I am trying to figure out what I did wrong. As I cleaned up this morning I measured about 2.5 inches of ash in the charcoal pan which, I think is too much? Can anyone out there give some rudimentary guidance to a rookie? Thanks in advance
Slojake
Slojake