Kevin James
Full Fledged Farker
As the title suggests, I’m looking for some suggestions to solve a fire management problem in my reverse flow offset.
I’ll give the background of what is going on, but long story short, my fire is too tall and I need to figure out how to build a “small, hot fire”.
Background:
I’m running a Kat 24x48 reverse flow and it has been great for everything I have cooked on it over the last year and some change since I got it, except for one thing…. Chicken. I have been having significant problems with the skin turning a very nasty looking grey color instead of that nice golden brown that everyone strives for. I have tried EVERYTHING to fix this issue over the last 6 months, and I FINALLY think I have found the cause. It had nothing to do with too much airflow as the builder and some others suggested. And it also is not a firebox or stack size issue, as both are in line with the recommendations per the Feldon’s calculator for my cook chamber size. Also, the fire has always appeared to run clean as the stack put’s out nothing but clear exhaust, no, white, black, grey or even thin blue smoke, just clean exhaust.
What seems to be causing it is the fire is too tall, and the flames are licking the top of the firebox and I’m guessing that is causing soot to be pulled in to the cook chamber which is then depositing on the chicken skin, causing the greyish skin color. I’m fairly sure this is the issue because I did a couple test cooks that seemed to fix that issue and gave me the nice golden brown skin color, but caused problems keeping a clean burn and keeping the temp up in the chamber.
The first test cook I pulled the firebox grate out which sits about 3 inches above the firebox floor, and I put my V shaped fire management basket directly on the firebox floor. Running it that way the flames did not touch the top of the firebox, and I got the golden-brown skin color.
The second cook, I took everything out of the firebox and built the fire directly on the floor of the firebox. Again, this kept the flames from touching the top of the firebox, and I got the beautiful golden-brown skin color I’m looking for.
The issue with both of these tests is that there was nowhere for the ash to go, so there was a ton of ash build up which I think caused problems with the coal bed and made it really difficult for splits to catch even after being preheated, and it was a struggle to keep temps up as a result.
So, it seems the REAL solution to the problem would be to find a way to build the fire in the fire management basket sitting on the firebox grate, and still keep the fire small enough that it isn’t licking the top of the firebox, and hot enough that it doesn’t have problems running between 275 – 300.
Currently I am running all white oak split’s, the wood is sufficiently seasoned, and splits are between 3-4” diameter and 16 inch in length. I have also sourced wood from couple different venders to rule out the wood source as part of the issue. My next test will be to cut the splits in half length wise using an alligator saw which need to buy, to see if that helps, although that will likely result in needing to add wood twice as often which would be one 8” long 3-4” diameter split every 15-20 minutes.
Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I am determined to solve this problem one way or another!
I’ll give the background of what is going on, but long story short, my fire is too tall and I need to figure out how to build a “small, hot fire”.
Background:
I’m running a Kat 24x48 reverse flow and it has been great for everything I have cooked on it over the last year and some change since I got it, except for one thing…. Chicken. I have been having significant problems with the skin turning a very nasty looking grey color instead of that nice golden brown that everyone strives for. I have tried EVERYTHING to fix this issue over the last 6 months, and I FINALLY think I have found the cause. It had nothing to do with too much airflow as the builder and some others suggested. And it also is not a firebox or stack size issue, as both are in line with the recommendations per the Feldon’s calculator for my cook chamber size. Also, the fire has always appeared to run clean as the stack put’s out nothing but clear exhaust, no, white, black, grey or even thin blue smoke, just clean exhaust.
What seems to be causing it is the fire is too tall, and the flames are licking the top of the firebox and I’m guessing that is causing soot to be pulled in to the cook chamber which is then depositing on the chicken skin, causing the greyish skin color. I’m fairly sure this is the issue because I did a couple test cooks that seemed to fix that issue and gave me the nice golden brown skin color, but caused problems keeping a clean burn and keeping the temp up in the chamber.
The first test cook I pulled the firebox grate out which sits about 3 inches above the firebox floor, and I put my V shaped fire management basket directly on the firebox floor. Running it that way the flames did not touch the top of the firebox, and I got the golden-brown skin color.
The second cook, I took everything out of the firebox and built the fire directly on the floor of the firebox. Again, this kept the flames from touching the top of the firebox, and I got the beautiful golden-brown skin color I’m looking for.
The issue with both of these tests is that there was nowhere for the ash to go, so there was a ton of ash build up which I think caused problems with the coal bed and made it really difficult for splits to catch even after being preheated, and it was a struggle to keep temps up as a result.
So, it seems the REAL solution to the problem would be to find a way to build the fire in the fire management basket sitting on the firebox grate, and still keep the fire small enough that it isn’t licking the top of the firebox, and hot enough that it doesn’t have problems running between 275 – 300.
Currently I am running all white oak split’s, the wood is sufficiently seasoned, and splits are between 3-4” diameter and 16 inch in length. I have also sourced wood from couple different venders to rule out the wood source as part of the issue. My next test will be to cut the splits in half length wise using an alligator saw which need to buy, to see if that helps, although that will likely result in needing to add wood twice as often which would be one 8” long 3-4” diameter split every 15-20 minutes.
Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I am determined to solve this problem one way or another!
