levi27123
Knows what a fatty is.
Do you add wood when the temp drop 10 degrees then adjust the damper or when the temp is lower say 25 degrees ?
Maintaining temps on a offset ?
- Thread starter levi27123
- Start date
peeps
somebody shut me the fark up.
Set a target temp for the cook, say 275°F (+/- 25°F)
Get the pit to 300°F and put the meat on. Let the temp gradually fall to 250°F and put another split on. I use large preheated splits, so this would bump me back up to about 290-300°F. When it drops to 250°F again, repeat.
Timing and temp variations will depend on your cooker size, meat load, split size, etc...so play around with various temps and split sizes and see what works for you.
Get the pit to 300°F and put the meat on. Let the temp gradually fall to 250°F and put another split on. I use large preheated splits, so this would bump me back up to about 290-300°F. When it drops to 250°F again, repeat.
Timing and temp variations will depend on your cooker size, meat load, split size, etc...so play around with various temps and split sizes and see what works for you.
revkab
is one Smokin' Farker
Part of the fun and part of the sacrifice of an offset is the constant tinkering with the temp. That's also the price you pay for having a cooker that will give you some really amazing results.
I would say that it depends on how you stoke the firebox. The usual advice here is to burn the smallest fire that will give you the required temp (and pretty thin blue smoke). That being said, you got to get to know your smoker and how fast it burns up your fuel. Toss in a split or two before your fire gets too low, or you will have to risk dirty smoke to bring the temp and the fire back up. Use good, dry, well-seasoned splits. I like to keep a supply sitting up on top of my firebox (put a couple of angle iron pieces underneath to keep the wood from catching on fire) to preheat and to drive off moisture.
But again, get to know how fast or slow your cooker burns. If you maintain your fire well, you can simply do a little tweaking with your air supplies to adjust your temp. (Use a good remote thermo to give you an accurate reading of the inside of the cook chamber. I use a Mav 732(3?) )
oldbill
is One Chatty Farker
Well over time you'll get to know your cooker and how frequently to add wood, as every cooker is different and some are a little hungrier than others. With that said however, the first and most important thing to do is to establish a coal bed to thoroughly heat your pit and maintain temps.
Here's my fire building method which will give you a good head start in getting the coal bed established and though you may want to tweak it here or there to better fit your pit it's a good foundation to start with.:-D
STARTING A FIRE IN AN OFFSET
The best way to run your offset is to build a good, hot wood fire and develop a thick bed of coals to thoroughly heat the pit. Leave the exhaust dampers wide open and adjust the temps with your intake damper. Here's my fire building method...
Open the doors and all of the dampers to the pit. Start with an 8 to 10 lb bag of LUMP charcoal, filling a chimney with about half to light and pour the rest into the firebox. When your chimney is thoroughly lit, pour the lit coals on to the mound of unlit coals in the firebox, put a couple of wood splits on top and allow them to burn down to begin generating more coals. When the wood splits have fully ignited and are ashed over, shut the doors and leave the dampers fully open to allow plenty of draft as the pit heats up.
Once the temp climbs to about 25 degrees or so above where you want to cook at, begin adjusting down on the intake damper until you have dialed in your cooking temp and then once the first two splits have sufficiently burned down to coals add another wood split to begin a routine of a split every 45 minutes to an hour. This way you are constantly adding to the coal bed and your temps are staying pretty much consistent. As long as you add your splits when they are needed your pit will practically run itself and though there will be SOME fluctuation in temps when opening the firebox door and when the newly added split catches on, the pit will recover very quickly. You'll be cooking in a ZONE. If you want to cook at 275 for instance, work to maintain a zone of 50 degrees and maintain the temp in an area between 250 and 300. The temp will fall to between 250 and 275 when the pit is ready for another split and then the temp will rise to between 275 and 300 as the split ignites but eventually the temp will settle in to the 275 that you have the intake damper set for. Again, as long as you're adding your splits regularly your pit will pretty much be on auto pilot and you'll never have to worry about losing your temps or dirty smoke.:wink:
P.S. Again, it's important to make all temp adjustments with your INTAKE damper only, the exhaust should remain wide open throughout the cook.:-D
Here's my fire building method which will give you a good head start in getting the coal bed established and though you may want to tweak it here or there to better fit your pit it's a good foundation to start with.:-D
STARTING A FIRE IN AN OFFSET
The best way to run your offset is to build a good, hot wood fire and develop a thick bed of coals to thoroughly heat the pit. Leave the exhaust dampers wide open and adjust the temps with your intake damper. Here's my fire building method...
Open the doors and all of the dampers to the pit. Start with an 8 to 10 lb bag of LUMP charcoal, filling a chimney with about half to light and pour the rest into the firebox. When your chimney is thoroughly lit, pour the lit coals on to the mound of unlit coals in the firebox, put a couple of wood splits on top and allow them to burn down to begin generating more coals. When the wood splits have fully ignited and are ashed over, shut the doors and leave the dampers fully open to allow plenty of draft as the pit heats up.
Once the temp climbs to about 25 degrees or so above where you want to cook at, begin adjusting down on the intake damper until you have dialed in your cooking temp and then once the first two splits have sufficiently burned down to coals add another wood split to begin a routine of a split every 45 minutes to an hour. This way you are constantly adding to the coal bed and your temps are staying pretty much consistent. As long as you add your splits when they are needed your pit will practically run itself and though there will be SOME fluctuation in temps when opening the firebox door and when the newly added split catches on, the pit will recover very quickly. You'll be cooking in a ZONE. If you want to cook at 275 for instance, work to maintain a zone of 50 degrees and maintain the temp in an area between 250 and 300. The temp will fall to between 250 and 275 when the pit is ready for another split and then the temp will rise to between 275 and 300 as the split ignites but eventually the temp will settle in to the 275 that you have the intake damper set for. Again, as long as you're adding your splits regularly your pit will pretty much be on auto pilot and you'll never have to worry about losing your temps or dirty smoke.:wink:
P.S. Again, it's important to make all temp adjustments with your INTAKE damper only, the exhaust should remain wide open throughout the cook.:-D
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AlwaysSmokey
is Blowin Smoke!
I watch the fire. Basically I keep a small, flaming, marshmellow fire in the fire box and add splits as they burn off. Of course this is on a well established bed of coals. My temp is maintained by the steady small fire and the opening or shutting of the intake on the fire box. My cooking chamber only fluctuates + or - 10. I like to think of it like a camp fire just a smaller scale. My temp does not dictate when splits are added, the fire does. Just feed the fire as each previous split is approaching the coal stage. meaning, it can be busted up with a poker if you wanted to (burned up). Catch it just before you loose flame to avoid a nasty smoke situation. Each stick burner is gonna have it's own personality and learning what works for yours isn't hard,.. it does require some patients though. Good luck bub.
Friedturkeyspam
Knows what a fatty is.
I bought a fairly large horizontal offset about a year ago. The 24" Diameter 2 foot long firebox seemed like it needed big splits just by looking at it. After my first cook I realized a small fire, not much different than what I used to run in my Bandera was all I needed. I leave my exhaust all the way open and if things get a little too hot I generally prop the firebox door open with a small piece of wood to let some of the heat escape if need be. I had large heat differences in my cooking chamber when running the large fire, was contemplating adding deflector plates etc. I spoke with Craig Bell the builder of my pit and he said go with a smaller fire and things will settle down, he was correct, a small hot fire worked the best. I've since read it here in numerous postings. I also was 225 to 250 guy and have decided my pit runs 250 to 300 with minimal monkeying so I've gone that way. For the most part my BBQ cooks quicker and is less dry than when I was fixated on the 225 heat range.
What kind of offset are you running?
Mike
What kind of offset are you running?
Mike
dwfisk
Quintessential Chatty Farker
^^^ Solid advice here, not much to add but to summarize:
* don't freak if the temp varies from your target, I'm happy if I'm +/-25* my target
* dry pre-warmed splits added to a small hot fire; good coal bed is critical
* plenty of air in & out, I don't even have a damper on my exhaust and control wth the intakes
* let it run where it wants to (within reason), don't freak if it like to run at 275* rather that 225* or 250*; as you learn your pit you will be able to hit your target temps for most of the cook interval between adding splits.
* don't freak if the temp varies from your target, I'm happy if I'm +/-25* my target
* dry pre-warmed splits added to a small hot fire; good coal bed is critical
* plenty of air in & out, I don't even have a damper on my exhaust and control wth the intakes
* let it run where it wants to (within reason), don't freak if it like to run at 275* rather that 225* or 250*; as you learn your pit you will be able to hit your target temps for most of the cook interval between adding splits.
SmittyJonz
somebody shut me the fark up.
I Concur.
QDoc
is one Smokin' Farker
Most pits of this type have three to four heat zones you can determine by observing some scattered biscuits. I believe it is a mistake most of the time to overload and have your meat cooking at different temps. Learn to use these heat zones to compliment your fire management. I am speaking of a large Lang 84. A small Bandera should only be used to cook maybe 15 lbs of product.
SmittyJonz
somebody shut me the fark up.
:crazy:
Whistler
Full Fledged Farker
I've found on my pit maintaining a small hot fire is easier with smaller chunks, I usually cut the splits into roughly 8" chunks. Takes about the same amount of tending, smaller chunks mean feeding it more often but require less "poking" and the temp doesn't spike as much. If your pit has a large firebox, where you build the fire can be important as well, takes a little experimentation to find the sweet spot. Like has been said several times, a good hot coal bed is key. The fire box on my smoker came from an old coal furnace so it's pretty huge, it draws best if the fire is in the front 1/3 closest to the cooking chamber.
oldbill
is One Chatty Farker
If your cooker has a really wide range of temps from end to end, you may have a draft issue going on. Good airflow is essential to heat distribution in an offset cooker, especially with a reverse flow type of setup.
In a Lang 84 you have a proven design and plenty of thermal mass with a body of 1/4" steel, you should have pretty consistent and fairly even temps from end to end, so you may want to think about what could be interrupting your cooker's draft. Are you trying to use a charcoal basket or anything else that would obstruct airflow? Are your fires too big, forcing you to choke down too much on the intakes? Is your exhaust damper fully open?
Your Lang would probably benefit from the fire building method in my above post which emphasizes the establishment of a good, thick coal bed as the main heat source with less obstruction caused by a large load of burning wood, maximizing airflow and thoroughly heating the pit. Give it a shot next time and see if it makes a difference. :-D
Hagisan
Knows what a fatty is.
I'm in a similar boat as Friedturkeyspam.
Yes, I concur. If I want SIAFI, I use my WSM.
Happy Smokin'
Yes, I concur. If I want SIAFI, I use my WSM.
Happy Smokin'
QDoc
is one Smokin' Farker
I don't have any problems at all with the Lang. The hot spot on the lang is on the lower shelf next to the fire box. The coolest spot is on the upper shelf at he opposite end. On The Jambo the hotspot is next to the exhaust. Johnnie Trigg calls it his micro wave. The Bandera without tuning plates the hot spot is next to the fire box. Franklin has a video on placement of a Brisket in this small cooker.
SmittyJonz
somebody shut me the fark up.
I've never seen a Bandera in any of Franklin's Videos.
oldbill
is One Chatty Farker
Ok! From your first post it just sounded like you were having many different temps throughout the pit which I thought was weird for a pit that's known for it's more even cooking temps. Of course it's natural for there to be a slightly higher temp closer to the firebox (especially in a typical offset with no tuning plates) and different pits with different designs definitely do have their quirks.:grin:
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ICDEDTURKES
Full Fledged Farker
I have a cheap leaky chargriller... A cheap leaky offset will teach you alot about fire management. I probably do not know as alot on here but here is what works for me..
I run the air intake wide open.. I manage temp by the size of the fire.. I shoot for 250 most days but there are days it wants to run a little higher a little lower.. I try not to fight it..
Usually one split will keep me in the 240-260 range.. One thing I have noticed is when your split is about done your temp will spike a little like the log gets hotter before dying.. Once the temp starts coming down, I add another pre heated split on banked on the last one and poof its up in flames, temp stabilizes.
Today I am doing a couple butts on the COS.. Probably my last cook of the year and will turn to the akorn for the rest of the cool weather months..
Something I do from time to time including today when the temps ranged from 38 to 48 with no wind is use a "redneck auber"
I have one of those small oscillating fans... There will be times you may be late to throw a split on and struggle to get the "poof" or times for whatever reason you struggle to keep heat.. Turn it on low and it can correct these issues.
I run the air intake wide open.. I manage temp by the size of the fire.. I shoot for 250 most days but there are days it wants to run a little higher a little lower.. I try not to fight it..
Usually one split will keep me in the 240-260 range.. One thing I have noticed is when your split is about done your temp will spike a little like the log gets hotter before dying.. Once the temp starts coming down, I add another pre heated split on banked on the last one and poof its up in flames, temp stabilizes.
Today I am doing a couple butts on the COS.. Probably my last cook of the year and will turn to the akorn for the rest of the cool weather months..
Something I do from time to time including today when the temps ranged from 38 to 48 with no wind is use a "redneck auber"
I have one of those small oscillating fans... There will be times you may be late to throw a split on and struggle to get the "poof" or times for whatever reason you struggle to keep heat.. Turn it on low and it can correct these issues.
BigBobBQ
Babbling Farker
I have a patio offset and I try to keep a zone somewhere around 250-300 on my thermo. I usually cheat on starting my fire with a 3/4 chimney of charcoal to get a good small bed of coals started. I add a couple of splits. I keep an eye on the temp and when it starts dropping I add another split. My splits are probably 12"-16" and in the 3" range. I found the smaller diameter splits burned better and cleaner in my pit.
DaveAlvarado
is Blowin Smoke!
When I started cooking on a stickburner, I had to tap into my inner BBQ Yoda.
My WSM procedure--start a charcoal fire using the minion method, catch my temps on the way up, hook up the PartyQ when temps are close to what I want. The result was dead-on accurate temps--I might as well have been cooking in a charcoal-fired oven.
My stick burner procedure--fire up a chimney of charcoal. When it's fully lit, dump it in the firebox and wrangle that into a pile. Put 4 sticks in, making a little log cabin. Temps will jump up to around 300F-350F depending on outside conditions. Doesn't matter, this is the pre-heating fire. When those sticks get a fair bit burned down and temps have dropped to around 250F, I put on another stick or two and put the meat on. I then add a stick every 30 minutes. What temp do I cook at? Whatever it's running at. It'll generally be between 225F and 325F. Again, depends on outside conditions. Windy or cold cools the smoker off some. The key is keeping a clean-burning fire. I care a lot more about the quality of smoke coming out the stack than I do about the temp of the cooking chamber.
The key is being able to adjust your recipe for the temps you're actually getting. I've done enough experimenting with low & slow vs. hot & fast on my WSM that it's no big thing for me. I can cook at 325F as easily as at 225F. It's just a different mindset--the more you trust your cooking skills, the less you have to care about your pit temp.
My WSM procedure--start a charcoal fire using the minion method, catch my temps on the way up, hook up the PartyQ when temps are close to what I want. The result was dead-on accurate temps--I might as well have been cooking in a charcoal-fired oven.
My stick burner procedure--fire up a chimney of charcoal. When it's fully lit, dump it in the firebox and wrangle that into a pile. Put 4 sticks in, making a little log cabin. Temps will jump up to around 300F-350F depending on outside conditions. Doesn't matter, this is the pre-heating fire. When those sticks get a fair bit burned down and temps have dropped to around 250F, I put on another stick or two and put the meat on. I then add a stick every 30 minutes. What temp do I cook at? Whatever it's running at. It'll generally be between 225F and 325F. Again, depends on outside conditions. Windy or cold cools the smoker off some. The key is keeping a clean-burning fire. I care a lot more about the quality of smoke coming out the stack than I do about the temp of the cooking chamber.
The key is being able to adjust your recipe for the temps you're actually getting. I've done enough experimenting with low & slow vs. hot & fast on my WSM that it's no big thing for me. I can cook at 325F as easily as at 225F. It's just a different mindset--the more you trust your cooking skills, the less you have to care about your pit temp.
oldbill
is One Chatty Farker
I think that you would benefit from focusing on building your coal bed from the very beginning and allowing that to be your primary heat source. Learn to look at the coal bed as what truly heats the pit, while an occasionally added wood split is there to maintain it and provide smoke. Good airflow over a hot coal bed is what will give your offset consistent temps and you won't have to worry about wether your wood splits are flaming enough to heat the pit, which also gives you the advantage of being able to cook with your firebox door shut, so that instead of the cooker running at what ever temps it feels like doing that day you'll have more control over the pit's temps by simply adjusting your intake damper. Establish the coal bed, feed it a split every so often to maintain it and let the pit run itself!:wink:I have a cheap leaky chargriller... A cheap leaky offset will teach you alot about fire management. I probably do not know as alot on here but here is what works for me..
I run the air intake wide open.. I manage temp by the size of the fire.. I shoot for 250 most days but there are days it wants to run a little higher a little lower.. I try not to fight it..
Usually one split will keep me in the 240-260 range.. One thing I have noticed is when your split is about done your temp will spike a little like the log gets hotter before dying.. Once the temp starts coming down, I add another pre heated split on banked on the last one and poof its up in flames, temp stabilizes.
Today I am doing a couple butts on the COS.. Probably my last cook of the year and will turn to the akorn for the rest of the cool weather months..
Something I do from time to time including today when the temps ranged from 38 to 48 with no wind is use a "redneck auber"
In an offset the coal bed is the "foundation" of it's fire and just like in a house, so goes the foundation,... so goes everything else!:grin:
