Bandera heating

[Grumpy's Q]

Loaded up the Bandera with goodies on Sunday. Pickens were two Briskets, stuffed jalapeños, meat loaf and a couple of fatties. During cooking I noticed that the back of the chamber gets significantly hotter that the rest of chamber. Some of the difference I would attribute to the leakage around the door. I have the fire box and cooking chamber lined with fire brick. I to need to look into the door gasket as well. Does anyone have a suggestion on how to even out the heat?

[BBQchef33]

Dumb question, But u gotz the baffle installed.?

[Grumpy's Q]

Yes, I have the baffle, fire grate and bricks.

[Kevin]

Did you have the meat staggered in the smoke chamber? I've run into air flow restrictions with full packer briskets in mine. I just adjusted the positioning of the large stuff and the temperature variations straightened out quite a bit. If it was hotter towards the back, I think that would mean more air was moving in that area.

[Grumpy's Q]

I did have the different meats staggered. The bottem tray was the stuffed peppers. The back 1/4 of the tray got really chrispy the rest were fine. On the briskets the very back of the smoker was more done than the rest. I kept the temps in the 200 to 240 all day. I'm sure the taste will be fine, just want to even out the heat.

[BBQchef33]

ok, next question. Are you using a probe or oven thermometer in the chamber or trusting the door? And are you running WITH the waterpan?

The back left corner, bottom to lower center shelfs is the hotspot in mine, Enough so that i have to rotate the ribs if i have stuff that low. What ar the temperatur variations? The shouldnt be more than 10-15 degrees.

[Grumpy's Q]

I am using the water pan. So far all I have is the door thermometer. Will have to get probes soon. The clue was visually on the way the meat looked.

[Hawgsnheifers]

Here is what I'm doing to get those hot spots gone. First I bought a bigger water pan at Ace hardware. I think it holds a little more water but the lip around the outside is much wider. You have to kinda push a little to get it in the smoker but the larger lip keeps all the heat from going to the left side. I also put in a couple of steel sheets with holes. You can move them around a bit and help defuse the high heat areas. You can also put in a second set of these sheets a little higher up to further even out the heat. I also use a dual probe remote so I can see what the temp is at the top, and the bottom and then the door unit tells me what's going on in the center. after you use the remotes, you can just about guess from the top of bottom reading what the other two zones are going to be. Before I added the larger water pan and the sheets of steel, I had to keep everything about 4 inches from the left side because allot of the heat would hit the deflector, then under the regulat sized pan, then right up the left side. Burned up a few things on the first couple of cooks.

[bruno]

I have experienced the same hot area. I make sure I rotate the food to avoid over cooking.

One thing I have thought about doing, but have not yet, is to use the heat shield mod and putting holes into it to better distribute the heat.

[Grumpy's Q]

Originally Posted by Hawgsnheifers

Here is what I'm doing to get those hot spots gone. First I bought a bigger water pan at Ace hardware. I think it holds a little more water but the lip around the outside is much wider. You have to kinda push a little to get it in the smoker but the larger lip keeps all the heat from going to the left side. I also put in a couple of steel sheets with holes. You can move them around a bit and help defuse the high heat areas. You can also put in a second set of these sheets a little higher up to further even out the heat. I also use a dual probe remote so I can see what the temp is at the top, and the bottom and then the door unit tells me what's going on in the center. after you use the remotes, you can just about guess from the top of bottom reading what the other two zones are going to be. Before I added the larger water pan and the sheets of steel, I had to keep everything about 4 inches from the left side because allot of the heat would hit the deflector, then under the regulat sized pan, then right up the left side. Burned up a few things on the first couple of cooks.

Thanks for the suggestions? Do you know off hand what the diameter of the ace hardware pan is. What brand of temp Probe do you use? I'll give this a try next round!

[BBQchef33]

Something else done early on were 2 experiments with heat deflectors

in on we wrapped 1/4 to 1/2 of a shelf with foil and adjusted the foil to to different shapes. I think i remeber having mine set to block off the rear left corner.. others did the entire left side.

We tried a head shield simlar to those in klose verticals. it went above the pand and had the center removed above the water pan but left all fours side intact. Kinda a round cutout in the center of the foiled shelf. this made the heat go above the water pan and up the center.


I will try to dig up these threads from Yahoo.. I do rememebr i went as far as experimenting with a convection fan in the bandera to make those hot spots go away and finally realized that once i got rid of the door drafts withthe gasket, the temps even out enuf to live with.

[kcquer]

Oh for pete's sake, you re-engineers are driving me crazy overthinking this. Just pile a few more coals on the cold side of the cooker than you have on the hot side

[Grumpy's Q]

Boxing ain't the only sweet science.

[Hawgsnheifers]

I'll check out the diameter tonght and email you the info. The thermometer is the Maverick ET-73 dual probe. Amazon.com for $49.

[Grumpy's Q]

Originally Posted by Hawgsnheifers

I'll check out the diameter tonght and email you the info. The thermometer is the Maverick ET-73 dual probe. Amazon.com for $49.

Thanks for your help!