meat cooking to fast

[dog1234]

Good Moring Smokers.

I have been soming since early spring, and still not satified with my outcomes.

I haveeeeeeeeeee well one question.....

Just about all my smoking projects get to the IT 40% faster than stated in all the thresds i have read. (WHY????????????)

Information:

I have a home made reverse flow smoker. It 16" OD, 3/8" wall 20" long. Has a fire box on side. I used the calculator you guys recomended to use for fabricating the fire box, stack, and others.

I tested my guage on smoker and it around 213 in boiling water. My digital meat guage is at 213 in bioling water also.

I try to keep heat in smoker at 225 to 245 while smoking.

Not sure what to do?

Below is a pic of smoker. It was not complete at this point. I have moved the stack to the side of the fire box and lowered it the the grate height.

 

[plj]

Nice looking smoker, but I dont know the answer to your question.  If the smoker temp where the meat is remains in the 225-245 range, the best uninformed guess I can venture is maybe you are using smaller pieces of meat??

 

[cliffcarter]

Just about all my smoking projects get to the IT 40% faster than stated in all the thresds i have read....

Why do you think this is a problem? I'm sure many people would like to get done 40% faster.

 

[JckDanls 07]

have any pictures of the inside ? How close is the RF plate to the grate ? how big is the opening at the end of the RF plate (end of plate to side wall of chamber) ?

 

[phillytexsmoked]

Looks like a nice smoker from the pic. Is the thermometer at grate level? It does look like you know what you're doing....but if you're still having this problem, pat yourself on the back and consider yourself an engineer of super efficient smokers!

 

[lght]

what are you using to determine the temp of the smoker?  I found my old offset would be 20 degrees HOTTER in the location where the meat actually set over where the thermometer was placed.
 

 

[dog1234]

Ok guys I think I found the problem. I purchased a second gauge to put near the grill surface. I am smoking a brisket as I type this message. The gauge attached to the lid of my smoker states 155 degrees, this gauge is mounted in the lid at approxamently 5 to six inches above the grill.

The second gauge set 1.5" above the grill is at 231 degrees. It is set in a patato on the grill. Thats a huge temp difference RIGHT???????

When the gauge on the lid was at 230 the grill gauge was at 309......

What do you guys do about this situation?

 

[cliffcarter]

Ok guys I think I found the problem. I purchased a second gauge to put near the grill surface. I am smoking a brisket as I type this message. The gauge attached to the lid of my smoker states 155 degrees, this gauge is mounted in the lid at approxamently 5 to six inches above the grill.

The second gauge set 1.5" above the grill is at 231 degrees. It is set in a patato on the grill. Thats a huge temp difference RIGHT???????

When the gauge on the lid was at 230 the grill gauge was at 309......

What do you guys do about this situation?

Ignore the man behind the curtain...er, ignore the therm attached to the lid, I always do, my setup is like yours, a probe stuck in a potato.

 

[dog1234]

Cliff.....

I am extadic at this time. My brisket has been on for 6 hours and it at 154 and holding. I think for the first time ever I wll get to experience the plateau in smoking brisket. I can imagine in the past my smoker was so hot it plasted through the plateau and ever looked back.

I think from now on I will use two. My grill is at 210 to 218 and the temp on the gauge on the lid is holding around 175. Thats 35 to 40 degrees difference.

Can't wait to see this to the end...............

 

[mdboatbum]

It's funny, many on here, myself included, are eschewing the old tried and true rule of low and slow in favor of varying degrees of hot and fast. Without knowing it, you've been leading the charge all along. My one question would be how did the meat turn out before you figured out the "problem"? Were you getting the results you wanted, just in a shorter time? Or was the end result not satisfactory? I'm glad you figured out the temp discrepancy, as in my opinion, knowing exactly what's going on temp wise is the most important part of bbqing. Without knowing your temps, there is no way to repeat prior successes or avoid repeating prior mistakes.

Before I got my probe thermo, bbqing as well as cooking in general was all guesswork and hope. Now, while I may not be any better of a cook, at least I'm consistent.

 

[dog1234]

Mb

The end result was good, but not great........... I thought it was kinda dry.

The wife and friends thought by brisket and butts were good. I would add stuff to make them moist after I sliced or pulled them. Now I am hoping to have them SUPER moist right of the smoker. We down here in South Louisiana pride ourselves in GREAT home cooking........ I have mastered many other cajun ways of cooking. Now its time to master the smoker

My brisket has been on for 6 hrs. and it at 158 IT. Its useally nearing 200. Man I am pumper.....

 

[dragonmaster194]

Good work on finding the solution dog, Hope your end result is what you have been looking for!!!!  Keep on keeping on, Steve

 

[supercenterchef]

...waiting on the QView!!...