Any pit builders in the house?

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EngineeredBBQ

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I built an insulated cabinet smoker and am having trouble making in work for hot and fast during competition. I have a big temp temp difference it is at least 100 degrees colder on the top rack from the bottom rack. Heat rises so I wonder why it would be that big of a swing. I have tried a bunch of different ways to run this thing, It is happy when I run it at 225. Nice and even. the warmer I get it the bigger the difference. I am running a BBQ guru and I suspect that I have an airflow issue.
 
Man there are so many different things that can cause this, we are going to have to have more details, like where your exhaust is set at, physically on the pit and how much open. if you are running a water pan, how many racks/space you have, how much dead space you have between your firebox and your cooking cabinet, how loaded down you have it. Pics would also be nice and would help with coming up with an answer.
 
I know it can be a bunch of things that it could be, I just didn't write down a long post, I wasn't sure there was anybody on here that could help me figure it out.
 
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It looks real similar to my lsg vertical cabinet. Chris has a few videos on his site talking about how to cook on his pits, you might check them out. He says the water pan is used to cook the temps down and works as a heat sink. Mine has just a few degrees difference from top to bottom and is almost nothing after it has heated up and stabilized a couple hours into the cook. I cook with water in mine and a guru. I run my exhaust about half way open and the guru.
 
I'd suggest doing the easy and cheap stuff first.
Let the coals draw in what oxygen it needs to burn at the temps you want, not have a blower forcing oxygen across the coals.
You could preheat the inside of the cabinet with a weed burner. And try using your guru if you must.
Just to try to see if this makes a difference, extend your exhaust say 6" with aluminum flashing and a hose clamp just to see if a better draw will cure the uneven heat problems. If so, then add the square tubing once you know what height works best. No guru. Again just to test.
Like mentioned, there are a lot of things that play into even and controlled heat.
 
Another thing is how you load it up, if you put your big thick meat such as a brisket on the lower rack it will cause a big temp difference cause that piece of meat will soak up a lot of the heat.
 
Kaptain Kadian said:
It looks real similar to my lsg vertical cabinet. Chris has a few videos on his site talking about how to cook on his pits, you might check them out. He says the water pan is used to cook the temps down and works as a heat sink. Mine has just a few degrees difference from top to bottom and is almost nothing after it has heated up and stabilized a couple hours into the cook. I cook with water in mine and a guru. I run my exhaust about half way open and the guru.
Click to expand...

Cooking with water in it holds the temp too low, not the direction I want to go. I have watched his videos, if I cook way down at 225 it will cook pretty even top to bottom.
 
Smokin J's PIts said:
Another thing is how you load it up, if you put your big thick meat such as a brisket on the lower rack it will cause a big temp difference cause that piece of meat will soak up a lot of the heat.
Click to expand...

that is what I was thinking too, but it will do the same thing empty. I think I just need more airflow around the water pan/heat diverter.
 
ebijack said:
I'd suggest doing the easy and cheap stuff first.
Let the coals draw in what oxygen it needs to burn at the temps you want, not have a blower forcing oxygen across the coals.
You could preheat the inside of the cabinet with a weed burner. And try using your guru if you must.
Just to try to see if this makes a difference, extend your exhaust say 6" with aluminum flashing and a hose clamp just to see if a better draw will cure the uneven heat problems. If so, then add the square tubing once you know what height works best. No guru. Again just to test.
Like mentioned, there are a lot of things that play into even and controlled heat.
Click to expand...


I am going to tack on a longer exhaust and weld in a intake air diffuster pipe to make sure the air gets where it matters. I think that might be the problem.
 
Don't you already have to much draft? I'm far from an expert, but to me it would seem like you are losing heat out the exhaust. After you get it burning good have you thought about closing the exhaust damper some?
 
Chitown_hillbilly said:
Don't you already have to much draft? I'm far from an expert, but to me it would seem like you are losing heat out the exhaust. After you get it burning good have you thought about closing the exhaust damper some?
Click to expand...


No I can choke it down and the temp differential stays. I let it sit for 8 hours one day exhaust choked down and empty. Hot on bottom cold on top. and hot air should be rising.
 
EngineeredBBQ said:
No I can choke it down and the temp differential stays. I let it sit for 8 hours one day exhaust choked down and empty. Hot on bottom cold on top. and hot air should be rising.
Click to expand...

Like I said I'm no expert :grin:

You have checked or rotated your therms right? Not trying to insult you, but I know I've spent a lot of time trouble shooting something for it to turn out to be an obvious solution.

Again good luck, but If you can't get it to work I would be glad to take it off your hands :razz:
 
Chitown_hillbilly said:
Like I said I'm no expert :grin:

You have checked or rotated your therms right? Not trying to insult you, but I know I've spent a lot of time trouble shooting something for it to turn out to be an obvious solution.

Again good luck, but If you can't get it to work I would be glad to take it off your hands :razz:
Click to expand...

Yes checked temps multiple different ways and different spots.....it is all good, full of meat empty, pre warm with weed burner (which is basically worthless, it warms up within and hour anyways), waited longer for temps to "stabilize". always the same huge temp difference top to bottom.

I am going to cut the diffuser plate out for a test run too, get back to basics.
 
jestridge said:
Open your fire box door and see if the temp will raise
Click to expand...

getting it up to temp isn't much of a problem. It will run whatever temp I want it to. 300, 400, whatever, but if it is 300 at the bottom rack it is 200 on top, if it is 300 on top it is 400 at the bottom.
 
I think your firebox may be undersized for as big a smoker as you have.. You can't move enough air to get the top up to temp efficiently.. Smoker needs to be fatter so you can have more surface area to add heat.. This is my opinion.. maybe remove firebasket build fire on floor of firebox to experiment and see if this helps.. also you need to add another intake or 2 In my opinion.. the top of the smoker should be the hottest part of the smoker.. My latest build is 14 foot long and the top of the upright on the end of the 14 foot is only about 50 degrees cooler than middle grate in main chamber. We accomplished this by air movement.. massive amounts of air.. 4 6 inch intakes and 2 12" exhaust its all in air movement..
 
It looks really similar to my home built insulated vertical. I think you need more baffling between your fire and chamber. I have a series of plates (3-layers) about one inch apart vertically. They are offset so the heat is forced to snake up through them. On top of this I set a full steam pan filled with sand. You may need to choke the exhaust slightly.

I would start by filling your pan with sand. I think you have too much heat radiating right through your pan. Use your snake for charcoal. Keep the fire small/hot.

Gillette, WY? If you are doing the Laramie comp. come by and check out mine. We can talk more. What's your team name?

John - The Celtic Pig
 
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