Temperature maintenance.

[DanielOak]

Hello ,
I'm newbie here , and sorry if this is not the right place to post this .
I recently bought reverse flow pit and did my first try with pork ribs , the result was kind of good for me and my relatives, but i had a lot of problems .
First to get the right and high temperature , then to keep this temperature.
So i'm here to get any tip i can to my future attempts .
Thank you everyone , regards!!

[Rambo]

Welcome aboard

[OldUsedParts]

Howdy and Welcome to the Forum - - - - I'm sure that Members more knowledgeable will be asking you questions and helping you solve your problems soon so just hang in there. I'm gonna move this to a more appropriate Thread

[DanielOak]

Howdy and Welcome to the Forum - - - - I'm sure that Members more knowledgeable will be asking you questions and helping you solve your problems soon so just hang in there. I'm gonna move this to a more appropriate Thread

Thank you.

[txsmkmstr]

Welcome... and a few of those questions will be along these lines.

What size pit?
What type of fuel?
What was your target temp?
Where did you measure cook chamber temp?
What temp fluctuations did you encounter?

Details please.... and again - welcome to the fold.

[DanielOak]

Welcome... and a few of those questions will be along these lines.

What size pit?
What type of fuel?
What was your target temp?
Where did you measure cook chamber temp?
What temp fluctuations did you encounter?

Details please.... and again - welcome to the fold.

Hello,
The pit size is 16 inches ,
charcoal and Firewood of orange tree ,
my target temp was 240 F ,
I Have a temperature gauge on pit door ,
About temperatures fluctuations , i get 240 F once , but when i put the meat on it , my temperature ^did not exceed 200F .

[GTR]

"About temperatures fluctuations , i get 240 F once , but when i put the meat on it , my temperature ^did not exceed 200F ."

Where is your thermometer in relation to the meat? If the meat is directly below the temp probe, or perhaps touching, it will cause miss-readings.
Was the coal base big and hot enough to start the split?
How big around are the splits and how seasoned are they. Too green a wood is hard to ignite and even harder to get it to burn consistently.

I know it looks like we all just ask a ton of questions but they are necessary to get you the right answers.

[DanielOak]

"About temperatures fluctuations , i get 240 F once , but when i put the meat on it , my temperature ^did not exceed 200F ."

Where is your thermometer in relation to the meat? If the meat is directly below the temp probe, or perhaps touching, it will cause miss-readings.
Was the coal base big and hot enough to start the split?
How big around are the splits and how seasoned are they. Too green a wood is hard to ignite and even harder to get it to burn consistently.

I know it looks like we all just ask a ton of questions but they are necessary to get you the right answers.

I guess was close but not too much to touch the thermometer , i think the woods was no the problem, they had a good colors and sizes mediu to large , My coal base wasnt big enough but i do start the split the woods as well,

[GTR]

Try starting a coal bed 1.5-2 times what you normally start with. Toss on a split when they get white hot. Preheating the split and future splits on the "pot warmer" on top of the fire box will help them ignite cleaner and quicker. Once you reach temp load the meat as far from the firebox as possible. Control the air flow at the firebox vent not the stack. If temps don't want to recover within reason add more charcoal. Chimney lit charcoal that is. If you don't have a chimney starter that would be the first accessary to purchase. Running these Oky Joes can require much attention till you really get a handle on them. Last but not at all least take notes. Air temp, humidity, wind speed all play a part in steady temps. As many on here will attest, change 1 thing at a time. If you're taking huge swings changing too many things at once the learning curve will get real steep real fast.

[DanielOak]

Try starting a coal bed 1.5-2 times what you normally start with. Toss on a split when they get white hot. Preheating the split and future splits on the "pot warmer" on top of the fire box will help them ignite cleaner and quicker. Once you reach temp load the meat as far from the firebox as possible. Control the air flow at the firebox vent not the stack. If temps don't want to recover within reason add more charcoal. Chimney lit charcoal that is. If you don't have a chimney starter that would be the first accessary to purchase. Running these Oky Joes can require much attention till you really get a handle on them. Last but not at all least take notes. Air temp, humidity, wind speed all play a part in steady temps. As many on here will attest, change 1 thing at a time. If you're taking huge swings changing too many things at once the learning curve will get real steep real fast.

oh cool , thank you for that , i'll do another test next week with all this tips !!!

[Copasspupil]

Try starting a coal bed 1.5-2 times what you normally start with. Toss on a split when they get white hot. Preheating the split and future splits on the "pot warmer" on top of the fire box will help them ignite cleaner and quicker. Once you reach temp load the meat as far from the firebox as possible. Control the air flow at the firebox vent not the stack. If temps don't want to recover within reason add more charcoal. Chimney lit charcoal that is. If you don't have a chimney starter that would be the first accessary to purchase. Running these Oky Joes can require much attention till you really get a handle on them. Last but not at all least take notes. Air temp, humidity, wind speed all play a part in steady temps. As many on here will attest, change 1 thing at a time. If you're taking huge swings changing too many things at once the learning curve will get real steep real fast.

Right here is a simple to follow plan. This is a great group of knowledge right here. Let them know how it turns out on your next cook DanielOak

[Liam]

Welcome, here it is possible to find answers to many questions.

[Damon54]

Some very excellent advice here. I cook on a similar size , albeit thicker metal, offset and recently added an interior thermometer after some extremely long brisket cooks. I was astonished to see the Delta between what’s going on Temp wise at the top of the pit and what the temp actually is at food level. I now regularly see readings over 55 degrees different at cooking grate level. The main is a nice TelTru so I feel fairly confident in its accuracy.

[fxs6383]

Nice thread.

I myself just purchased a thermopro as my main pit has a gauge an the difference between the two is like 25 degrees.
I haven't calibrated the main gauge, but am thinking about doing so over the weekend just to put my mind at ease.
The thermopro temp is what I was working with more this past weekend smoking a pork butt and I felt good about it.
I also had my thermopro dead center at food level with the pork butt. I would say pick up a chimney as mentioned and look into a digital gauge
Also, the amount of fuel you add will also vary with results throughout your cook, but just keep at it! This is the fun part (learning your pit)

I have caught myself adjusting the smoke stack side to help lower down the temp before I got my thermopro gauge and I don't believe anything is wrong with doing so
Should you go this route at times just remember to try and maintain a nice clean fire and open back up once you get temp to desired spot and continue to work on the side vent

[allenayres]

I moved to a decent sized reverse flow offset this past year and had problems with temps as well. I discovered:

- I needed a much larger fire/coal bed than I was used to on my previous pits. I begin cooks with 2 chimneys of charcoal now (you may need less) and run wood afterwards.

- I understand the best way to run these pits is to leave the vents open (firebox and stacks) and adjust temps with size of fire. You will need to watch the temps closely and add as needed but your smoke is cleaner and not so sooty. That has been my experience, tho YMMV.

Tip: my biggest issue with starting the fire was lighting the chimney of charcoal, it getting completely red hot then trying to ease it into the firebox door without suffering 3rd degree burns on that arm. This past week I put a chimney of charcoal on the far end of the firebox then filled the chimney again, set it inside the firebox, added the firestarter and let it catch inside the firebox. Once it was ready I reached in and flipped it in place. Still not 100% safe but much better than trying to get it past the firebox doorway. All those BTU's coming off the burning charcoal went toward heating the smoker and not ruining my driveway while waiting for it to catch