Need help with temp. control

[Benreynolds264]

I have a Dyna Glo vertical charcoal smoker with an off set grill (signature series). Anyone else have one of these? I smoked for the first time this past week and had troubles controlling my temp. I know a lot of answers are "you just have to play with it" but I would like to hear some ways you get the temp right and how you do it etc etc. Any help is appreciated!

 

[Chasdev]

I owned and used one for years and tried to use oak/pecan to get a strong wood smoke flavor.
I found that the original temp gauge was not very accurate so I upgraded to one with a longer stem to get deeper into the cook grate area, I also added a digital probe close to whatever I was cooking.
At one time I had four digital probes running at the same time.
To answer your question, it's a charcoal cooker, not a wood burner so start with a small pile of charcoal and work up slowly to the desired temp, which I presume is 250/300 range?
Added wood should be smaller pieces to keep the temp from running away which of course means you have to add them every 15 minutes as they burn out or you will 1, lose control of temps, or 2, not get enough smoke flavor in the meat.

 

[Benreynolds264]

I owned and used one for years and tried to use oak/pecan to get a strong wood smoke flavor.
I found that the original temp gauge was not very accurate so I upgraded to one with a longer stem to get deeper into the cook grate area, I also added a digital probe close to whatever I was cooking.
At one time I had four digital probes running at the same time.
To answer your question, it's a charcoal cooker, not a wood burner so start with a small pile of charcoal and work up slowly to the desired temp, which I presume is 250/300 range?
Added wood should be smaller pieces to keep the temp from running away which of course means you have to add them every 15 minutes as they burn out or you will 1, lose control of temps, or 2, not get enough smoke flavor in the meat.

I did a rack of ribs. My initial temp was 250/255 and then I got it settled to about 225 but my last hour it was sitting 210/215 and for the life of me I could not get it back up. I also only had wood chips which I now know aren't the best for long cooks so ill probably grab some chunks. I'll definitely look into a longer probe. So you find it easier to work with a small amount of charcoal and then work it up?

 

[Chasdev]

It's easy to add a few more briquettes to raise the temp but harder to remove a few to lower it.
Chips are a great way to jump start a dying pile of coals and to get the new additions going faster but chunks last 15/30 minutes at least.
I would look for 6 inches long and four in diameter, or thereabouts.
Big chunks turn into coals and contribute to the heat rather than just adding smoke.