Help please.

[Sfiddler]

Hi,
Just finished my build and made some corrections and am still having trouble with temp on my 275 gal. Rf smoker. I am frustrated and could use pointers. All my inlets and out lets are to spec by the calculator.

Thanks.
Steve

[Weldun]

Hang in there, I'm sure some of our RF members will be along shortly to offer up some suggestions but in the mean time a little more information on your problem and what you've tried to correct it may put them in a better position to help.

[Sfiddler]

Ok. Well I have made the throat opening larger since some of the RF guys did try to help figure out the problem as I was using my old thread about the build. But I am having trouble getting beyond 225 to 250 degrees. Pretty sure I am just managing to do or not do something in the process of getting it fired up. But any suggestions will help.

[Big T]

What type of wood are you using and how old is it ? What type of fire basket do you have ? Have you watched the video on building a fire in a RF ?

[Sfiddler]

Not using a fire basket made a rack. And yes I have. Granted my smoker is much larger so I figure at least double the wood

[Sfiddler]

As far as I can understand I am obviously not gonna get to temp with everything open . Just may need a start point for inlet and chimney

[Sfiddler]

Also will be using hickory tomorrow have been using oak and not sure how old

[Big T]

I know that older wood doesn't put out the BTU's or flavor of a well seasoned wood so that can cause issues. I would try to keep all of the coals in a pile and add the new splits on top of the coal bed. I have found that while cooking my intakes are usually in the 20%-40% open range depending on the load and weather conditions. Some guys always run the chimney baffle wide open but in my experience I have found that closing down the chimney a little bit can decrease the CC temps by slowing the rate at which the hot air is drawn out of the FB. Seeing as you built it by the pit calculator specs I would think that it's either old wood causing the problems or you just haven't figured out what adjustments to make, yet. Either way I would say don't be discouraged because it's just a matter of time before you get it dialed in. When I built my first RF I probably done 8-10 test fires, making adjustments of the stake and intakes before I ever cooked anything.

[Sfiddler]

Will try closing off intake and.leaving the chimney open. Should I measure chimney from outside or to where it protrudes into cc?

[mp4]

You'll measure your chimney height beginning at the top of the cook chamber.

[Dirtytires]

I’m going to throw my 2 cents in but if my smoker wouldn’t go over 250 I’d be one happy camper. If I have to cook above 250 it gets moved to the grill. To me, it looks like everything is working pretty well tho I do agree that age of wood has a lot to do with performance. Once mine hits 3 years old I can tell the difference.

[Sfiddler]

Would like to get to at least 275° for doing chicken.

[Stewart]

My wood is in the 2/3 yr season range. That being said I run my stack wide open and control my temps by the FB inlets. I can get wild swings in temps by this method. Of course outside weather and air temps are a factor. Just my 2 pennies

[Sfiddler]

Got it figured out . Thanks to all of you for your suggestions it helped alot.

[Big T]

That's good to hear! It just takes a little practice to figure out what adjustments to make. I don't think any two people run their pits the exact same way judging by all of the comments I've read over the years. You just have to figure out what works best for you and stick with it.

[Dirtytires]

Great advice...take detailed notes of what you did and how the smoker reacts. It seem silly but will be a valuable resource down the road.

[Rodcrafter]

So what did you do to get the desired effects?

[Sfiddler]

I followed Frank's video instructions but using more than he did in the video because my cc is much larger. Secondly I closed the intake to about 20% at that point it was at about 325 so I closed it just a bit more and the temp came down and held at 275 for a good while but wasn't feeding it enough to keep up once I figured that out it was all good.

[Dirtytires]

Learning to control a pit is half the fun. That’s what makes us unique...even tho everyone thinks they can do it....lol

[ajfoxy]

Good that you worked it out.

[Rodcrafter]

That's why they call us pit masters.