Old Country Wrangler Smoker first cook and I need some help

[LostArrow]

Don't want to be critical , from experience I've learned only cook one rack ribs for first cook!
Ignor the thermometer till calibrated.
The cooker got too hot , next cook decrease the airflow in.
Easy problem , the much worse is not being able to get a cooker hot enough....that usually requires surgery.

[smokeasaurus]

I am going to try a water pan under the meat setting on the bottom of the barrel this weekend. I do not want to deal with heavy metal plates every time I gotta clean the pit. I had the butterfly vent barely cracked and the pit was at 225-250 then entire cook with periods of 200 degrees while the wood got started when refueling. The pit was under the covered patio. I had it all set up perfectly. For some reason the bottom of the barrel is getting all the heat from the baffle to the smokestack side.

Oh, and -1- rack of ribs it will be this time. 

[Jaxon]

Dang...I'm last one in again.

After lookin' at the pics and hearing your tale of woe, I am thinking its your thermometer placement.  The one I have in the lid, read 15* to 25* different from the Maverick I use at grate level.  I've never trusted the therm in the lid.

I got a small block of wood and drilled a small hole thru it - just big enuff for the oven probe on the mav.  I keep that probe close to the meat all the way thru the cook so I know what the grate temps are.

Early on, I got another Old Country thermometer and put it in the lid next to the handle so it would be at grate level.  It isn't long enough to reach well into the smoker, so it reads only 200* from start to finish, regardless of what the MAV. is reading.

Bottom line is...I think your ACTUAL temps at grate level are much higher than you think.

[smokeasaurus]

How do you run your probe out of the pit? The lid is so heavy I think it would damage the lead......................

[veryolddog]

I close the lid on top of the lead. Have been doing this since the get go. I don't slam it, but I lower the lid gently and the lid sits between the probe and the pit. Just a note, my lid is lined with a 1/2 inch wide strip of self sticking nomex insulation on the flange part of the lid. So when I lower the lid to the frame of the pit, the nomex gasket provides elementary protection for the lead.

Perhaps, someday, when I am feeling better, I may put in a port on the Chimney side of the pit just as I had installed on the YS 480.

Ed

[muebe]

Smoke if the probe wire is long enough you can run it down the exhaust stack.

Or through the hole that is left when you remove the defective temp gauge in the hood

[TentHunteR]

It could simply be a bad thermometer, but I was thinking along the same lines as both Jaxon & Veryolddog.

Like Jaxon, I learned to not trust the lid thermometer because there was such a difference between it and the grate temp.

Veryolddog's baffle idea makes a lot of sense to me. I had similar issues with the bottom of meat getting overcooked in my offset, especially the side nearest the firebox, until I figured out that the hanging charcoal shelf that came with my offset (which ran the length of the pit) could act as a baffle when hung in it's highest position. When in this position, it sat just a few inches under the grate and left a gap along the front & back lengths of the pit for smoke to come up.  All I did was use an inexpensive cookie sheet to direct the heat from the firebox down under the shelf/baffle.  And, WOW what a difference it made.

You can see it in this pic:


Unless the entire pit was just too hot, it eliminated the burning underneath and went a long way to evening out the temp across the pit.



I always thought if I ever get another offset, I'd have a pit-length baffle made that's something like this:



Hope this helps. That looks like a nice heavy pit.

[smokeasaurus]

Love the baffle idea. I am going to mount a Tel-Tru 1.5 inches above cooking grate level. Then I will start another fire and control my fire based on that thermometer..........will keep everyone posted...........and a big Thank You for all your help 

[Jaxon]

I am going to have to replace the useless thermometers I have installed in the lid next to the handle.  the shaft is too short.  there are some long-shaft therms out there that will reach closer to the center of the grates.
I'll google around a bit to see what I can find.

Can you send a pic of the Tel-tru?

[smokeasaurus]

I am going to have to replace the useless thermometers I have installed in the lid next to the handle.  the shaft is too short.  there are some long-shaft therms out there that will reach closer to the center of the grates.
I'll google around a bit to see what I can find.

Can you send a pic of the Tel-tru?

You bet
http://toolwizard.com/store/index.cfm/product/500/tel-tru-bbq-pit-thermometer.cfm

I ordered two, gonna put one in the previous hole I drilled which is lined up with the second grate. The next on will be 1.5" above the cooking grate off to the left of the handle.

I used a Tel-Tru for years with my Big Drum Smoker......darn good thermo.....I like the white background so this old buzzard can see the temp markings..........

[muebe]

Well you can't call that one "cheap".... $36

I assume the thermometer that came with your grill is a P.O.S. like the ones that come with TBE

[smokeasaurus]

Well you can't call that one "cheap".... $36

I assume the thermometer that came with your grill is a P.O.S. like the ones that come with TBE

Heck, no thermo came with it at all. I ordered the Old Country version for 16.00 no holler from Academy.......the only thing that thermo is good for is burning ribs.......

[squirtthecat]

Tel-tru's are the bomb...    We have them on our Backwoods beasties.   

Dead on accurate, even when approaching pizza oven temperatures.     

[Jaxon]

[/quote]

Heck, no thermo came with it at all. I ordered the Old Country version for 16.00 no holler from Academy.......the only thing that thermo is good for is burning ribs.......
[/quote]

I'd like to know what that therm was reading in the lid as you cooked...probably the same as mine reads...B T W, the temp in the lid is not as hot as the temp on the grates (duh) so that is why I want a them at grate level.

Thanks for the tip on Tel-Tru (might be a good sponsor for this sight).
I'll order mine today with a 5 inch stem so it will reach deeper into the middle of the smoker.

[veryolddog]

As I reported in the past, I have used a combination of thermometers to understand the flow of heat in my stick burner. I have used surface grill thermometers such as the ones in this picture below:



And, located them like this:



I also use on every cook the Maverick ET-732 connected to the left hand side of the pit on the surface next to the chimney.



The one that I watch the most is this one on the lid.



What I found is this:

1. For the right hand surface grill thermometer, it can report as much as 350 degrees.
2. For the middle surface grill thermometer, it reports the same as the lid thermometer which is very interesting.
3. The Maverick is always 20 to 25 degrees lower than the lid thermometer. I watch this inside the house to alert me to fluctuations up or down that I can get up and respond to outside.

So, I trust the Lid thermometer for reporting the heat. The name on this thermometer is Yoder, but when questioned, I was told that it is made by Tru Tel. And it has a long stem. I do not have a second shelf for the long stem to bump into.

If you replace the thermometer with the Tru Tel, I definitely think that you will get a truer reading. I still think that you need to distribute the heat more evenly throughout the pit. That is why I added the heat management plate. If I had purchased the Old Country, as I had given that a good look, I was going to go to a local welding shop and have them make baffle plates for the Old Country. When the baffle plates are only six to eight inches wide, they are not that heavy and depending upon what you are cooking can be placed in different positions under the pit grill grate.

That's my $0.02 worth. So, it is up to you, but you need to know and understand your own pit. If you need to purchase surface grill thermometers or a laser surface heat reader, then do it. You will then understand placement of the meat product and what is happening inside your grill. And, this will help you cook a better product.

Ed