Aussie BBQ Forum

First time using my offset smoker.

dumped 2 heatbead chimneys red hot added some wood chunks and cant get past 149f

i really didnt think getting the temp up would be a problem.

vent is full open on offset door.

any tips?

interesting, i had my charcols pilled in the centre of the offset smoker....

i just pushed them close to main chamber nearly touch the edge of the offset box and temp is currently rising and is at 160f.....

is that cheating?

also i noticed the vent in the offset is alot higher then the coals.... should the coals be raised?

Have you got your coals on some sort of raised grate? Or just on the bottom of the firebox? Need them raised for air flow and ash to drop away.

im using heat beads and its raised about an inch off the bottom of the box and a few inches away from the opening into the main chamber

Vent is also fully open on chimney too? Got a piece of timber you can throw on and burn? See if that raises the temp.
Possible the temo gauge is faulty? If its easy to unscrew, put the pointy part in boiling water and see if it goes to 100c (can't remember the f amount. 212 or something? )

vent is open more wood will raise it?

As long as the timber is burning, not smouldering.
You want the chunks to smoulder for the smoke, but the timber to burn.
What type of offset?

chargriller offset.

so i just added some more hickory chunks and temp is like 210f

should i add some normal cheap wood in there to get some head and a little bit of hickory for flavour?

Are you cooking something or a test run? A piece of timber burning will raise the temp. The Hickory you want to get burning, then move them so they just keep smoking. The char griller will take practice. Have one myself and it's almost a full time job with the fire.
But I'm an absolute noob with mine. Only used it a few times.

I can't post back much more tonight, as I'm at work on my dinner break. But when I use mine, a bed of heat beads ir charcoal, and then I kept a piece of timber on top burning. About, very roughly, a foot long and 2x4 inches.

Charcoal is hotter than beads.
Use charcoal or robot turds as a good hot base then small timber on top of that to get a good hot fire going, then start feeding it, you want a small hot fire! I don't worry about bits to smoulder and create smoke, if you have the right hot almost smokeless fire it will give you the desired effect over time.

Cheers
Chris

so once the wood catches move it a way a little?

just seasoning it so first time tonight.

how many chunks should be on at a certain time?

they are palm size i have about 4 peices

also throughout the cook when i add charcol or beads do i need to heat them up in the chimney start again or just put them in cold?

thanks!

So Chris I read in one of your previous posts which was gold....In a Kettle you control the heat by the amount of fuel. In a Kamado you control the heat by controlling the amount of air...
With a 30 year old webber kettle is there some info somewhere that can help me with the how many beads to put in for a certain temp?? A mate told me he has seen it in a weber book somewhere


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marmionmick wrote:So Chris I read in one of your previous posts which was gold....In a Kettle you control the heat by the amount of fuel. In a Kamado you control the heat by controlling the amount of air...
With a 30 year old webber kettle is there some info somewhere that can help me with the how many beads to put in for a certain temp?? A mate told me he has seen it in a weber book somewhere


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You can use air to control the heat in a kettle to a certain degree, but easier to control the fuel that is lit. The age of the kettle does not matter, they are still the same basic unit.



Download this PDF: http://tinyurl.com/kettleuser

When it asks you to save the file, remove the red part of the filename: choosing and using your weber kettle.pdf.9fb592e136083aecccda3f2d9097320f

Cheers
Chris

HannibalK1ng wrote:so once the wood catches move it a way a little?

just seasoning it so first time tonight.

how many chunks should be on at a certain time?

they are palm size i have about 4 peices

also throughout the cook when i add charcol or beads do i need to heat them up in the chimney start again or just put them in cold?

thanks!

Im also new to smoking and have been doing some research and would like to know if anyone can answer the above.

I have a small charbroil offset and from what I have learnt so far I will be adding 2 lots of unlit charcoal to the SFR smoker side and then dumping a half lot on the intake vent side for a longer burn. Problem is I dont have a charcoal basket yet so thinking I may make a temp one from chicken wire to give some separation from the wood chunks.

So anyway as Hannibal has asked above is there a set amount of palm size chunks to start with and maintain over the cook?