Airflow = even temps.

Here's a little write up since the most prevalent line of thought regarding stickburners calls for closing dampers down to a crack and charcoal base to start and maintain the fire. Adding dampers and tuning plates, even making reverse flow pits to get even temps.

Let's clear the air.

There is nothing wrong with any of that.

However,
I have found that I can achieve even temps. across my cooking grate by running a small hot fire and slamming it with massive amounts of airflow.

Oh,.. and I got a "new" pit area for Father's day. The wife finally let me have a portion of our massive porch. The old Q shack became my wood storage.



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So, we have the pit wide open and a small fire in the works. I srart them with paper or strips from the splits,.. or whatever seems to be working that day. However you get her going is your thing.. but a small wood fire is what we are after. Stick size is 6-8 inch length and wrist or a hair bigger width for my little patio cooker. The correct size split in relation to your pit size is very important.












Ok,.. now our fire is settling in nicely. Time to start pushing air around in the cook chamber. I am not closing the lid on it. Just the fire box to push the air. I used to wait for coals to form. I do not do that anymore. I cook on a live fire not a coal base fire. I eventually get a small coal bed after running for hours but nothing like I used to have when I cooked with coal heavy heat.



I let it push for awhile. But I think in as little as 5 min. the dead air should be pushed out. Shut the cook chamber lid and scoot up to temp. Feeding the fire a small split as the old one burns out.

Now, when new splits are added I do see a quick spike (just few degrees,.. 4 was the average on yesterday's ham cook) Of course as splits die, temps fall. But a well watched pit doesn't have a chance to fall far. Essentially we are running in our temp. range. Something that has been discussed many times by many pitmasters on this forum, so I'll just move along.



Here she is, humming right along at 225. This thread is not about cook temps. So save me the 225 sucks stuff. I run this pit hotter for different cooks. To each their own on that whole subject.

I like my fire box door wide open for the airflow during my cooks. I find that the dampers wide open works, but is still a little restrictive.
If a stick is added that is too large the temp will spike on the stack side. So I can close the door a little and slow the draw. Which heats the firebox side up. Of course taking the time to split and cut your wood to size negates that almost entirely. Also, on larger cookers this entire process should be even easier. I would love to slam air through a 500 gallon offset, but, I play with the toys I have.

Now the Pecos comes with a baffle to push the air down and aid with cook chamber temps. When I started experimenting I still had it in, and had a third gauge in the factory provided spot. An "upper shelf" location. But the Pecos does not come with an extra shelf. I plan to add one. When the baffle was in I could even get the upper area the same temp. But, that baffle throws the air flow down and under the meat and I wanted the air to move over the top,.. so out it came.





I am really loving the way this pit runs now, and the way it's being run. I ran the numbers through the feldon calculator and everything checks out. The stack is a little long, but still has great draw. The opening between the fire box and the cook chamber is half the size it should be and I plan on opening it up when I pick up some new grinding wheels Wed.

Anyways, I hope my rambling was helpful to some. And please understand ,.. this is not the only way,.. it is my way,.. and it works great. If you like the charcoal, or the baffles and tuning plates,.. that's awesome. Let's all just enjoy this thing called Q.

Regards,
Kevin

Right on ! Just wanted to share. My method is not the only way by any means... just another approach.

Regards,
Kevin

Thanks brother. Best father's day gift ever lol !

Also,.. I see I forgot to mention that this pit is level. Just kissing the bubble for a little fall to drain grease.

Regards,
Kevin

Right on landarc. I wish I would of had a teacher. Or even the ability to go back and teach myself what I know now back in 98. But,.. I guess that wish goes for more things than just Q.. lol... It's true,.. knowledge is earned in time.

But then again,.. the journey is such a blast !

Regards,
Kevin

lol,.. The box wasn't live in that older pick. The uds wasn't running in the other one either, But I gotta respect a brother lookin out for well being of the beer !

No beers were harmed in the making of this thread.

No problem Porcine, just some good ol' shop talk. :thumb:

EDIT: and of course now that the baffle is cut out the "top shelf" area is running much hotter than the lower grate. The air is now flowing up and over the cooking surface.

The primary reason I did not like that baffle was airflow direction. I noticed when I ran hotter the bottom side of my cooking grate was running hotter. So I began to investigate. Sure enough, on any temp,. the underside of the grate was running hotter. So for my style,.. heavy airflow and live fire with a light to non existent coal bed .. that baffle had to go.

But just to keep life interesting, I filled my uds basket, (before I cut out the baffle ), and proceeded to run a minion fire with a few wood chunks. Damper cracked open, exhaust still wide open. It ran fine, however, not nearly as long as my uds on the same amount of charcoal. It was hotter on the FB side, so I added the tuning plate back in. I slid it up to the baffle and boom,... temps leveled out.

I found that the results from running the pit with a bed of charcoal and feeding sticks worked just fine also. That is how I used to run. But with that method my temp. was controlled with intake shutting and opening. A style I used forever. Their is alot of radiant heat with that style and airflow isn't moving near as much. I did not usually run tuning plates when cooking like that, but , sometimes I slapped them in.

So, my take away is just that simple really,.. your method dictates your tweeks or pit choice from the get go. Something that has been talked about here on this forum since long before I joined. Just fun to finalize my style while comparing it to older ways I ran offsets. What a fantastic hobby. Or dare I say,..... "calling". lol
Anyways, that's the scoop.

It's dead even.

When I add a new stick it spikes a bit, 4 deg. or so for a moment and then settles back.
The air flow does not allow for pooling of thermal mass. But shut that firebox door a little and lessen the draft... that fire box side is gonna heat up like a popular strip club.

On the other side of the coin, if your fire is too big while pulling that much draft the stack side will heat up.

It's all about balance.
To run hotter I still run small fires, just feed a little different to maintain more heat. i.e. not letting my sticks burn all the way down before feeding the next. Basically no matter what temp I am looking for the basics have not changed at all. Heat up to that temp. and even edge over a bit. Throw on the meat, or clean the cooker, and maintain temp. through fire management. Tossin on sticks.

Awesome Brew n que, it's all about what works best for the individual pit master.

I will say one other thing,.. I was so nervous about removing that baffle that I purposely left enough around the edge that I could weld or bolt plate back if I found that removing it was a terrible idea. ....... which.. it wasn't,. but I was admittedly nervous about that part.

With the size I am running,.. I am feeding every 20-30 min. Sometimes I will have a denser piece burn longer, but on average my feed time increased. When I ran a charcoal bed and fed sticks it was more like 45 min.

EDIT :

However, I was not splitting my splits down as far either.

I will revisit the charcoal bed with high airflow and the smaller splits that I am running now. might as well.... lol....


EDIT #2

The older splits have always been small. I am just far more picky and cautious about which one's I throw in the fire and when.... at any rate... I'd like to try a small charcoal base just for comparison. Like I said, I used to run that style but far more closed down. I would like to think that once you have a method, you can interchange variables and still have the high airflow and clean fire.... we will see. But I honestly don't see why it wouldn't work.