# Having temperature control issues on my Dyna-glo verticals smoker.



## khigh402 (Jul 10, 2016)

I'm having trouble keeping my temperature low. I'm getting a consistent 250 but it won't go lower. Let's make sure I have this right, if I close the vent on the fire box my temp should go down. Vice Versa if I open that vent it should become warmer. If I open my chimney vent it should cool and if I close the vent it should warm. Why is this thing not responding?


----------



## khigh402 (Jul 10, 2016)

I just had a 30 degree drop in temp. But I think the charcoal was burning down. Do you guys load ur smokers up to start?  I just used I started chimney full


----------



## cliffcarter (Jul 10, 2016)

Khigh402 said:


> I'm having trouble keeping my temperature low. I'm getting a consistent 250 but it won't go lower. Let's make sure I have this right, if I close the vent on the fire box my temp should go down. Vice Versa if I open that vent it should become warmer. If I open my chimney vent it should cool and if I close the vent it should warm. Why is this thing not responding?


If it wants to cook at 250°, let it. BBQ cooks just fine at that temp.

Always control the temp with the fire box air intake and leave the stack vent wide open.


----------



## khigh402 (Jul 10, 2016)

This may sound dumb but do you add much charcoal if the temp drops?  Seems like if I add 10 pieces my temp spikes high


----------



## cliffcarter (Jul 11, 2016)

Are you using lump charcoal or briquettes?

Are they lit or unlit?


----------



## bbqwillie (Jul 11, 2016)

Are you adding all lit coals or are you using a minion method? Where is your firebox vent when you start your fire? What normally happens when this occurs is that people build to big a fire at the start and then can never get control of it. Start with a small fire and work up.

And like cliff said, it just may like to cook at 250. That's a perfectly acceptable temp to cook at.


----------



## khigh402 (Jul 11, 2016)

I don't know what a minion method is but I add unlit coals I believe my vent was 50% open when I started my fire


----------



## jjaekk (Jul 14, 2016)

Here is what I can say; 

I have an offset non wide body, and have about thirty cooks under the belt with it. Temp can be funny. I use a water pan on every cook with it and place it on the lowest grilling rack. I have had the most success with it when the pan is a lost he whole size of the rack, this seems to regulate best.

I use a maverick digital and place the probe on the rack nearest the thermometer in the door (which I have replaced with a better one. Sometimes I will still see some disparity between the two but I think that it is due to the slower response time f the in door model.

Methods I have used;

Light a three quarter full Webber chimney of briquettes, fill bottom of basket with lump (seems to work ok) temp usually around 235 to 240) but can be annoying if they light the bottom to fast.

Fire brick place in the middle of the Box  to create a maze and then about 10-15 light briquettes in the front left corner. This provide a pretty consistent long burn but is not something to use with this smoker in cold weather. Always make sure your using almost boiling water in the water tray or it will take forever to heat up. Using this method you Get about five and a half hours before you have to add more fuel.

I usually use wood splits for smoke that are long enough to span the fire box so they are not in direct contact with the coals or I use some large chunks placed along the maze.

Type of briquettes or lump make a big diffence, some pure hard wood briquettes I use burn way hotter than say kingsford or other brands (I just suffered through this tonight with some different briquettes) 

That being said it is a great smoker for poultry because you an get it hotter. But it takes a bit of practice to get the 220-240 for long periods of time. For the price it is awesome and if you want it to be easy get an electric model etc.

If you have any specific questions let me know, I'm will to share my experiences.

Cheers,

Kevin


----------



## khigh402 (Jul 14, 2016)

Thank you so much for the ideas. When I seasoned my smoker I did not use a water pan I simply used kings ford. I never meant to really "play" with it but once I got going I decided to try to control temps and ran into the problems. I have sealed my doors using nomex tape today that should help. I also will smoke using a water pan. Have you ever tried filling the basket with coals then pulling 30-40 off the top lighting them and placing them back on top. A buddy of mine that used a pit barrel smoker suggested I didn't have enough charcoal in there so I had to keep adding more when I added more the temp spiked for awhile then fell as the coals died. I was thinking of trying his way. I would like to find logs or larger pieces of wood to use. If only seen the bags of chips at our local stores like Lowes. I think bigger pieces would smolder longer then soaked chips. I guess I have a lot to learn still. I think I was expecting temp changes faster using the vents as well I think I need to slow down and piece this together. But again thanks for the knowledge and information I greatly appreciate your time. Let me know what you think about the full basket technique.


----------



## archi-nutt (Feb 16, 2017)

I have the same model and have done one dry run and two cooks. If I have more than 10 briquettes alive this thing is at 290 and it was 35 degrees outside. I was able to get god results but that needs new coals ever 30 minutes (12 hour cook....got old). A half full box puts me sky high. 

My smoker is completely stock

Reading these posts I am realizing I was naive in thinking sealant is to keep heat and smoke in.....but that doesn't explain my heat problem. I am coming to the realization that it is more about controlling how much oxygen I let in. 


Is this right?













IMG_8422.JPG



__ archi-nutt
__ Feb 16, 2017


















IMG_8446.JPG



__ archi-nutt
__ Feb 16, 2017


















IMG_8450.JPG



__ archi-nutt
__ Feb 16, 2017






Stoked about dialing this in. The food was sooo good


----------



## garyo (May 5, 2017)

I have the same smoker I need to put in 1 handful of lump coals and wood chunk every 45 mins.  If I fill up to much it gets really hot then burns out.


----------



## big sid (Sep 2, 2017)

Good afternoon. I have a question about the smoke stack. If the lever is all the way down,is the stack " open" or "closed". I'm having a very difficult time keeping temperature 250°.


----------



## bbqwillie (Sep 2, 2017)

Big Sid said:


> Good afternoon. I have a question about the smoke stack. If the lever is all the way down,is the stack " open" or "closed". I'm having a very difficult time keeping temperature 250°.


Put the lever in the full down position and look down the stack. Is it wide open or fully closed?


----------



## Biggy1 (May 14, 2019)

Has anyone smoked any homemade sausage on the dyno glo , if so how do you regulate temp from 100* to 180* for 4 hrs.  ?


----------

