little chief temperature is low

[billhiggs]

My little chief at best gets up to about 145 or 150, The manual says it should get to 165,  any suggestions??

I was thinking of adding a 60 watt light bulb just under the drip pan.

Would this extra 60 watts of heat, be enough to get to the 165 degrees??

Bill

 

[forluvofsmoke]

My little chief at best gets up to about 145 or 150, The manual says it should get to 165,  any suggestions??

I was thinking of adding a 60 watt light bulb just under the drip pan.

Would this extra 60 watts of heat, be enough to get to the 165 degrees??

Bill

Here's a mathematical approach to get a good baseline to make adjustments to your heating output to raise the chamber temp to where you need with incandescent lamps. I just looked up the Little Chief and the heating element is 250 watt. Incandescent lamps are only 10% efficient at producing light, the remainder of electricity (90%) is lost to heat. So, a 60 watt lamp would produce heat equivalent to (0.9 x 60) = 54 watts of generated heat, in comparison to a heater element. (54 / 250 = 0.216) or 21.6% higher heat output. Multiply this increase in heat output x current temp + current temp to get approx peak temp as (145[*] x 0.216 = 31.32[*]+ 145[*]) = 176.32[*]. Without knowing the thermal efficiency of the insulation, and without knowing the thermal loss through the door to cabinet joints, etc. at the higher temps, you can't really calculate this temp to an exact measurement, but that should give you a ball-park figure for similar ambient temps, wind and precipitation.

If ~176.32* (give or take) is too high for your process, say for smoking salmon, you could drop back to a 40 watt to get closer to your target chamber temps. Just follow the same calculations as above for the 40 watt vs 60 watt lamp to convert to the estimated peak chamber temp.

Keep in mind that ambient temps, wind and precipitation will greatly effect the chamber temps of any smoker when it is operated at full heat output (unregulated). A good way to protect smaller cabinet smokers from the elements is to house them in a cardboard or plywood box (just front and sides) with an opening on the bottom to allow for a draft through the smoke chamber.

For placement of the lamp, it needs to be away from the stock heating element a reasonable distance, or excess heat will cause a rapid burn-out of the tungsten element in the lamp. If the stock element is located in such a way that this cannot be accomplished, you may have enough space to put a foil tent over the lamp to protect from drippings an place it elsewhere, away from the element. Foil may also shield the lamp from the element's direct heat if placed nearby, say off to the side a bit...just some thoughts. Oh, don't forget to use high temp electrical wire passing into the cabinet, and ceramic or similar heat-resistant lamp socket, or it could suffer thermal damage and cause a short circuit and/or fire inside your smoker.

Hope that helps. Let us know if you need more assistance.

BTW, please drop by the roll call forum and introduce yourself so we can give you a proper "welcome to the SMF family!!!"

Eric

 

[billhiggs]

So I was on the right track?? hitting 165 would definatley be better than 140 I think.

Also am I on the right rack here??  the amount of pound in the smoker really shouldnt effect the maimum temp, only that it takes longer to hit that temp???

in other words empty or loaded the maxiumum acjieved temp should be the same, only the time to reach it would vary?

is this correct?

 

[forluvofsmoke]

Yes, when you add cold food, it will shock the smoke chamber temp. The more you add at one time, the more temps will drop and the more time it will need to reach stable temps.


Eric

 

[daveomak]

Bill, morning....  Back in the day when Little Chiefs were new on the market.... My buddies would insulate them to raise the temp.... They used the original cardboard box to cover them.... I don't know if you have the box, but try it....  I use a chunk of carpet cut to fit the 4 sides and top of my Totem smoke for an insulating blanket and raise the temp.....   Also, if using an extension cord, you might think of a larger gauge of wire on the cord to supply electricity to the smoker.....   Good luck.....  Dave

 

[billhiggs]

Well my light bulb idea seems to do the trick, temperature now runs a consistant 170 at full temperature.

My other question is, what is the ideal temperature as far as smoking and to assure bacteria is killed??

 

[forluvofsmoke]

Well my light bulb idea seems to do the trick, temperature now runs a consistant 170 at full temperature.

My other question is, what is the ideal temperature as far as smoking and to assure bacteria is killed??

Good deal!

I'm not experienced with salted, dry-cured or brined salmon smoking procedures (or for other fish), so I can't say what chamber temps most smoke theirs at. The fish forum (under smoking meats and other things) should have lots of Q & A threads and processes for fish, if that's what you're interested in doing.

As for low & slow smoking of most sizes and cuts of meats and poultry for BBQ, the recommended minimum is 225* sustained chamber temps in order to safely cook these foods. Unfortunately, that may be quite a stretch for the little chief, even with mods.

Jerky and fish are what the little chief is really designed for, and with the somewhat lower operating temps, it is probably very well suited for those applications. For my cured jerky, I smoke @ 100-120* for 20-20 minutes, then slowly raise temps to 150* or so to dry. That said, jerky should be no problem at all with the little chief.

Eric