Please teach me about tuning plates and finally a little food PRON...

[THoey1963]

OK, I let her season for about 5 hours and then it was time to check the main smoke chamber for evenness and to cook something as I was starving. When I went to Restaurant Depot, I wanted a bunch of cheap biscuits, but they didn't have any. They did have a case of 40 raw Croissants that they were going to throw away because the case had been crushed. They sold them to me for a greatly reduced price, so I took them.

I put five of them on each rack (four corners and one in the middle) and let them roll until they looked done on the outside. I wasn't planning on eating any of them, well, unless they turned out alright. None that I saw did, they were still doughy in the middle, but I was mainly looking for color.

In the following picture, each row top to bottom is a shelf from top to bottom of the cooking chamber. The order of them from each row from left to right is rear left, rear right, center, front left, and front right.

As you can see, the front left croissant on every shelf was more done than any other from that same shelf, so I am hotter in the front left corner than anywhere else. Also, the back left is hotter in the lower section of the smoking chamber.

So, my question is, how do I adjust my tuning plates to balance that out? From the earlier thread, this is a picture of how I have my plates at this time:

By now, I am farking hungry. Did a lot of work today and somehow I missed a meal or three. I had a package of Eckrich 4 Pepper Sausage and and a JD Spicy Sausage and a block of Habanero Jack Cheese. I was too lazy to do a pretty Fatty like Jeanie, so I just cut a slice down the middle, stuffed a couple slices of the cheese inside, and then reshaped it to close it up. Threw a little of my pork rub on it. I threw them all on the third rack from the bottom around the middle area.

This is about the time that my coal bed decided it was done for this cook. I was able to keep her flaming for a while longer, but after an hour or so, I was stumbling long at 200*. By this time, the sausages were done. Tender, juicy, smokey, and spicy.

The Fatty took another hour to get up to temp.

I let it rest for a little bit and then sliced it open. Got a little bit of smoke ring there.

So, that was my dinner last night. Some sausage and a couple slices of Fatty. Fatty sandwich will be my lunch tomorrow while I prep and cook 7 racks of ribs...

 

[dport7]

Bet you're not hungry now, the food looks great.
I think you need to adjust your plates is small increments till you get it where you want it and you'll learn the hot spots.

 

[dwfisk]

I think you are actually pretty close and you are definetely getting heat moved to the left side of the cook chamber (away from the firebox). Like dport7 said you just need to play with the spacing until you get where you want to be.

Those look like 4-6 inch flat stock cut to the depth of your cook chamber?
Are there only 3 and how wide is your cook chamber, I'm thinking another plate or a couple made witn 2 inch flat stock might help.

Might try larger openings in the center to let more heat move up in the middle of the cook chamber.

 

[ButtBurner]

I would want to see a better pic showing the entire length of the cook chamber before recommending anything

I cant really tell from that pic all I see is the plates

 

[amv81]

If you look at the Q and A section of lonestargrillz website it has a paragraph on how to start tuning your smoker, from your photo looks like you might be close on the spacing Chris suggested, but like dwfisk said you might need a couple more

 

[oldbill]

One thing that can give you problems with tuning plate adjustments is how level the pit is. If the pit is listing to one side in any direction it will change the airflow of the cooker quite a bit. The good news though is that the tuning plates will definitely work for you, it'll just take a lot of fine tuning until you dial it in.:wink:
Great looking fatty BTW!!!:thumb:

 

[THoey1963]

The smoke chamber is 24'' deep x 30'' wide x 36'' tall. The tuning plates are 5.75" wide. This first picture is how the plates were, the second is opening them up a little by the firebox side.

Oh, OldBill might have a point. Try as we might, the pit is not 100% level, but it is pretty close. It is slightly lower on the firebox side than the smoke chamber side, and it is slightly lower at the back of the pit then the front of her. We are talking less than half an inch in both directions.

 

[pjtexas1]

I had assumed they had been setup by LSG or would at least include a pic and specs on spacing. Maybe Oldbill or SSV can post pics and how far apart theirs are. I have 0 experience with timing plates but know that a 1/4" can make/break them.

 

[THoey1963]

The web page has the following:

Q-How do I tune my new smoker?


A-You will have 2-8 plates with your pit depending on size. Standing in front of the pit you would place the first plate all the way to the right next to the fire box baffle. Second plate will have a 1/4''-3/8'' gap. Third plate will have a 1/2''-3/4'' gap. Fourth plate will have a 1''- 1 1/2'' gap. Any additional plates will roughly double the space of the plate before it.

This is your starting place. You will need to place one oven thermometer on the bottom grate to the right side and one on the bottom grate to the left side. While you're seasoning the pit is the perfect time to tune it. Wait about 2 hours after starting your fire so everything has heated up and evened out, open both doors and check both gauges you placed inside. If it's hotter on the fire box side your gaps are too big, if its cooler on the fire box side your gaps are too small. Make very small adjustments accordingly and wait about 45 mins before checking again, if necessary repeat until it's even.

Using water in the bottom of the pit will help further in tuning the pit and making the chamber more even in temp not just left to right but top to bottom (top will still be hotter than the bottom rack since heat rises)

Once you have the plates were you like them it is helpful to mark their position with an engraver, chisel, screw driver, etc. This way when you take them out to clean, grill, or set the pit up for multiple temp zones you will know where they go back without repeating the tuning process.

You can also slide all the plates together to the fire box side which will give you a cooler zone near the fire box this side will receive less smoke which is perfect for delicate items like fish. Remove the plates completely and you will have multiple temp zones which you can cook at simultaneously.

I'll just keep looking for hotspots and adjusting...