Hey there,
A few weeks ago I built my first smoker with the big poppa smokers kit. Since then I've used it twice to cook ribs and a few times with no meat just to get used to controlling it.
Last weekend I used it with no meat to test how long I could get it to go for using royal oak briquettes. After about 6 and a half hours the temp started to drop. Today I made ribs on it and this time I used royal oak lump. The basket was near full when I started and I was able to maintain 225 for about 4 hours. The last hour of the 5 hour cook it was down to just below 200.
Now from what I've read I should be able to maintain 225 for 15+ hours with this kit, so I'm wondering what I'm doing wrong? I realize there could be a lot of things affecting this, so I'll go through what I know.
I started it with a wax cube in the center of the full basket while it was out of the smoker. Then let the cube finish burning. Once the cube was out I put the basket down in the bottom of the drum then I put my make shift heat deflector in, which is just an aluminum pizza pan. Then I placed a stainless steel bowl full of hot water on the deflector and closed the lid with the exhaust fully opened. After the temp got up to 200 I closed the vents at the bottom to a half hole on either side. That stabilized over the next half hour or so at 225 and then i added the meat. After 2 hours I opened it so I could wrap the ribs. 2 hours later the heat had dropped down to just below 200 and there was still about a quarter of the charcoal left but I guess it wasnt burning very hot. I ended up finishing the cook because these were just ribs, but if I was going to do a brisket or ham I'd have to fill this thing up like 3 or 4 times.
So I'm wondering, are there any red flags here of something I'm doing wrong, or is it something else i havent mentioned?
Thanks
A few weeks ago I built my first smoker with the big poppa smokers kit. Since then I've used it twice to cook ribs and a few times with no meat just to get used to controlling it.
Last weekend I used it with no meat to test how long I could get it to go for using royal oak briquettes. After about 6 and a half hours the temp started to drop. Today I made ribs on it and this time I used royal oak lump. The basket was near full when I started and I was able to maintain 225 for about 4 hours. The last hour of the 5 hour cook it was down to just below 200.
Now from what I've read I should be able to maintain 225 for 15+ hours with this kit, so I'm wondering what I'm doing wrong? I realize there could be a lot of things affecting this, so I'll go through what I know.
I started it with a wax cube in the center of the full basket while it was out of the smoker. Then let the cube finish burning. Once the cube was out I put the basket down in the bottom of the drum then I put my make shift heat deflector in, which is just an aluminum pizza pan. Then I placed a stainless steel bowl full of hot water on the deflector and closed the lid with the exhaust fully opened. After the temp got up to 200 I closed the vents at the bottom to a half hole on either side. That stabilized over the next half hour or so at 225 and then i added the meat. After 2 hours I opened it so I could wrap the ribs. 2 hours later the heat had dropped down to just below 200 and there was still about a quarter of the charcoal left but I guess it wasnt burning very hot. I ended up finishing the cook because these were just ribs, but if I was going to do a brisket or ham I'd have to fill this thing up like 3 or 4 times.
So I'm wondering, are there any red flags here of something I'm doing wrong, or is it something else i havent mentioned?
Thanks