smoker warm up?

[Bgcoop8784]

For the guy's/ gals with offset or reverse flow smokers, how long does it normally take for your smokers to get to running temp, or before you throw the food on?

[bbqwilly]

Im usually up to temp in 30 min.
I start a chimney of charcoal and throw it in when its ready. 2 logs on top of that and in 30 min im at 225-240.

[BBQ Bandit]

Depends if I turbo-blast and warm-up the chambers with the weedburner.
30 minutes with it; 60 minutes without.

[Bgcoop8784]

ok, I'm sitting at 30mins and I'm up to temp, my first run since I finished the smoker, using cowboy charcoal and a couple pieces of oak. now trying to cut the temp back where it runs at a steady temp. thanks

[Bgcoop8784]

hoping it's a good thing that my intakes are almost completely closed and my temp is still rising

[Bludawg]

Mine takes 45 min to an hr to stabilize, then it is a monotonous 1 split every 45 min.

[mikeleonard81]

Mine is an hour. It's a custom pit model that is made from 1/4 in. I dont think an hour is bad for all that steel.

[jcm2m9]

Mine takes about an hour....Oklahoma Joes Chuckwagon

[John Bowen]

About an hour early morning / late at night. If the sun is out about 45 minutes.

[oldbill]

Originally Posted by Bgcoop8784

hoping it's a good thing that my intakes are almost completely closed and my temp is still rising

If your dampers are almost closed and the temp is rising I'd say that your fire is too big. The problem there is that choking down on the intake damper too much will cause dirty smoke and creosote which means bitterness on the meat. Start with a small fire with maybe a half chimney of charcoal and a split or two depending on how large your pit is and let the wood burn until you can see that there is little smoke being produced indicating that the wood has fully combusted, the goal is to get an established bed of coals going and less smoldering wood. It's a lot easier to add fuel to a fire than it is to take fuel away after the fire gets too big. You should be able to keep your exhaust damper completely open and control the heat using only your intake damper. If you already have a fire going and you have to use both dampers to control the heat then open everything up and let the fire burn down for a while before putting on the meat or remove some of the fuel if possible.

[Cack]

My lang takes a solid hour every time, but I usually let charcoal do the load of warming up.

[oldbill]

Originally Posted by oldbill

If your dampers are almost closed and the temp is rising I'd say that your fire is too big. The problem there is that choking down on the intake damper too much will cause dirty smoke and creosote which means bitterness on the meat. Start with a small fire with maybe a half chimney of charcoal and a split or two depending on how large your pit is and let the wood burn until you can see that there is little smoke being produced indicating that the wood has fully combusted, the goal is to get an established bed of coals going and less smoldering wood. It's a lot easier to add fuel to a fire than it is to take fuel away after the fire gets too big. You should be able to keep your exhaust damper completely open and control the heat using only your intake damper. If you already have a fire going and you have to use both dampers to control the heat then open everything up and let the fire burn down for a while before putting on the meat or remove some of the fuel if possible.

I just realized that I misread your question! For some reason I read that both the intake AND exhaust were nearly closed . Sorry for the long winded response!

[ButtBurner]

Originally Posted by oldbill

I just realized that I misread your question! For some reason I read that both the intake AND exhaust were nearly closed . Sorry for the long winded response!

still very good advice.

[Big Johnson]

I have a 500 gallon Reverse flow and I'm an hour before I throw food on.

[Cack]

When I'm preheating mine, I open the firebox door, is that right or should I close it like I would while cooking ...?