BWS Smoker Party Question

[John Bowen]

I believe I mentioned before that I purchased a BWS last December and I am still learning it. I love the unit but I have been getting used to some of the quirks / differences between it and my big smoker.

One issue I have been experiencing is a dramatic drop in temp when I put my meat on. I fire up the BWS as normal – with water in the pan- to 230 degrees. Once there I put my meat on (by sliding the whole rack in with the meat on). Then the temp drops 40 or so degrees and takes forever to return to 230 and often runs up to 250 to 260. The temp drops some on my big smoker but not that much and it quickly returns to the target temp. Granted the rack is in the unit so I am just putting the meat on a hot rack. In both cases I let my meat sit out about an hour or so to get to room type temp.
I can adjust to this but I really don’t want to – I would rather it be more consistent than that.

Anyone else have heat fluctuations like that?

[Teamfour]

I have never had that issue with my Party. I do keep the racks in the smoker and place the meat on the hot racks but I doubt that would make a big difference. I am using a Guru and the temp rebounds in less than ten minutes. I do find that the sweet spot for my Party is 270 degrees and that is where I have learned to cook in that smoker.

[John Bowen]

I use the Guru as well but I shut it off when the temp drops like that as not to stoke the fire up too much. Sunday it took 30 min for the temp to rebound then it parked at 260.

Other than to monitor temp the Guru did nothing the whole day. I fired it up at 2:30 we ate at 7:30 and the smoker rocked on at 260 until 9:30 pm

[Teamfour]

What type of charcoal are you using? How much do you have the exhaust open? How much meat are you putting in the smoker? Are the racks completely full perhaps impeding airflow? Do you have a diffuser plate? Sorry for all the Qs, just trying to help.

[John Bowen]

Questions are no problem – I have a heat deflector, the exhaust is open half way and the temp fluctuation has happened when I cooked 3 racks of ribs and again this past Sunday when I cooked 6 full chicken breasts and two links of kielbasa sausage.
I find it easier to position the meat on the racks outside of the smoker and it seems to be quicker putting the meat in not letting all the heat out. I have the water pan ¾ full of water and the fire is started with water in the pan. I start the fire with two paraffin cubes on the far left corner and run the guru (right side) with the other side vent open until the temp reaches 200 degrees. I then shut the side vent and let the guru take it up to 230 degrees. I let it hold about 10 minutes and then put the meat in.
This is the same set up I use with my big smoker minus the water pan. I just added the heat shield and that is about the time this started. I use Chef Select charcoal – a mix of white oak and hickory – and 3 small chunks of cherry wood chunks.

[Smokin'Butts]

Trick I had to learn...don't use the guru to get up to temp. Let the smoker do the work by using the vents to control your fire. When it is up to temp then put the guru on. With the drop when you put the meat in your guru may be overshooting your target temp. When this happens you will have too many coals burning, this the higher temps. You honestly should not even be worried about the drop. That is normal and will correct itself if managed right. aiming for 250 you should expect to see fluctuations and 260 is negligible.

[Teamfour]

Originally Posted by John Bowen

Questions are no problem – I have a heat deflector, the exhaust is open half way and the temp fluctuation has happened when I cooked 3 racks of ribs and again this past Sunday when I cooked 6 full chicken breasts and two links of kielbasa sausage.
I find it easier to position the meat on the racks outside of the smoker and it seems to be quicker putting the meat in not letting all the heat out. I have the water pan ¾ full of water and the fire is started with water in the pan. I start the fire with two paraffin cubes on the far left corner and run the guru (right side) with the other side vent open until the temp reaches 200 degrees. I then shut the side vent and let the guru take it up to 230 degrees. I let it hold about 10 minutes and then put the meat in.
This is the same set up I use with my big smoker minus the water pan. I just added the heat shield and that is about the time this started. I use Chef Select charcoal – a mix of white oak and hickory – and 3 small chunks of cherry wood chunks.

Nothing out of the ordinary there except for using the Guru to bring the temp up as Smokin Butts stated. I use KBB and use one parafin cube to light the front right corner near the Guru. 30 degrees before the target temp I close both bottom vent and throttle back the exhaust vent to 1/3. I turn on the guru and it takes the temp to 270. This is with water in the pan from the beginning.

I would try lighting the front right corner next time to see if it makes a difference.

[Bamabuzzard]

I've got a BWS "Patio Unit" that has since been discontinued. I had the same problem but the remedy I've found was to open the firebox door about six to eight inches and the temp comes up nicely and in short time.

The patio unit's "sweet spot" is between 240-250. It was real hard to keep it under that.

[John Bowen]

Well thanks for the advice – the 250 / 260 is manageable but I tend to rub heavy with brown sugar and 260 is pushing it for me – gets a little too dark for my tastes especially on the top rack.
I will try walking it up without the guru and see what happens – again thanks.

[Bamabuzzard]

Originally Posted by John Bowen

Well thanks for the advice – the 250 / 260 is manageable but I tend to rub heavy with brown sugar and 260 is pushing it for me – gets a little too dark for my tastes especially on the top rack.
I will try walking it up without the guru and see what happens – again thanks.

Switch to Turbinado sugar aka "Sugar in the Raw". Can tolerate higher temps than regular brown sugar.

[palmtreefrb]

Five minutes for me this morning on my Extended Party with a Guru WIFI. As you can see in the chart below I opened it up at about 6:05 to add my brisket. 5 minutes later I was back up to temp.

[John Bowen]

Wow - Impressive

[Ron_L]

Originally Posted by Teamfour

Nothing out of the ordinary there except for using the Guru to bring the temp up as Smokin Butts stated. I use KBB and use one parafin cube to light the front right corner near the Guru. 30 degrees before the target temp I close both bottom vent and throttle back the exhaust vent to 1/3. I turn on the guru and it takes the temp to 270. This is with water in the pan from the beginning.

Stupid question...

How do you close both bottom vents? Isn't your Guru adapter mounted in one of the bottom vents?

[Teamfour]

Originally Posted by Ron_L

How do you close both bottom vents? Isn't your Guru adapter mounted in one of the bottom vents?

The right hand vent that the Guru mounts in will still open a third of the way even with the Guru adapter plate installed.

[Ron_L]

Originally Posted by Teamfour

The right hand vent that the Guru mounts in will still open a third of the way even with the Guru adapter plate installed.

Got that, but it won't close all the way with the adapter in place. So you're starting with it wide open and then closing it as far as it goes, right?