Backwoods temps keep dropping

butts a fire · Jun 16, 2008

I need some brethren help on this one. This same thing has happenned to me the last three comps which also happen to be my first three comps with the party.

In the morning after cooking all night with two pork butts and a packer and running somewhere between 235 and 250 all night. I go to put my ribs on three slabs of Babybacks smoker temp at 235 10:00 the butts and Brisket are in foil and cruising along then all of a sudden after I add the ribs my temps drop to 200 and I can't get them back up there looks to be plenty of fuel burning and it also appears to have plenty of room for airflow. Is there something I am doing or not doing I just can't seem to put my finger on the problem. Do I just need to stop thinking about it and get another smoker to up my capacity and just cook the ribs on there?

This is bugging the heck out of me and ruined a great tasting rib turn in this last weekend because the ribs were under cooked and tough.

YankeeBBQ · Jun 16, 2008

butts a fire said:
I need some brethren help on this one. This same thing has happenned to me the last three comps which also happen to be my first three comps with the party.

In the morning after cooking all night with two pork butts and a packer and running somewhere between 235 and 250 all night. I go to put my ribs on three slabs of Babybacks smoker temp at 235 10:00 the butts and Brisket are in foil and cruising along then all of a sudden after I add the ribs my temps drop to 200 and I can't get them back up there looks to be plenty of fuel burning and it also appears to have plenty of room for airflow. Is there something I am doing or not doing I just can't seem to put my finger on the problem. Do I just need to stop thinking about it and get another smoker to up my capacity and just cook the ribs on there?

This is bugging the heck out of me and ruined a great tasting rib turn in this last weekend because the ribs were under cooked and tough.

I don't cook on a Party I cook on a competitor but I always add charcoal to the fire before putting ribs on. I also sweep all the hot coals to one corner of the charcoal basket and make sure the ash falls through to the ash pan. Does your party have the solid bottom charcoal tray or a perforated one ?

butts a fire · Jun 16, 2008

YankeeBBQ said:
I don't cook on a Party I cook on a competitor but I always add charcoal to the fire before putting ribs on. I also sweep all the hot coals to one corner of the charcoal basket and make sure the ash falls through to the ash pan. Does your party have the solid bottom charcoal tray or a perforated one ?

The tray is the solid bottom one but I have an expanded metal charcoal basket that holds the coals above that. The basket will hold roughly 15lbs of briqs.

HB-BBQ · Jun 16, 2008

I have seen the same problem. I used to take my ash pan out of my party and bang it on the ground once to loosen the coals. Make sure to do this with the both doors closed of course (dont ask me how I know this

)
I would then add a half of a lit chimmey and about another half of unlit. Then put the ash pan back in, add food, top of the water pan and go. She would hold temps good after that for another 6-8 hours. It would take about 20 miuntes for the cooker to come back up to temp after adding doing all that. I would also leave all vents open after loading everything.

smokinit · Jun 16, 2008

HB-BBQ said:
I have seen the same problem. I used to take my ash pan out of my party and bang it on the ground once to loosen the coals. Make sure to do this with the both doors closed of course (dont ask me how I know this)
I would then add a half of a lit chimmey and about another half of unlit. Then put the ash pan back in, add food, top of the water pan and go. She would hold temps good after that for another 6-8 hours. It would take about 20 miuntes for the cooker to come back up to temp after adding doing all that. I would also leave all vents open after loading everything.

The ribs are eating the some of you tremal mass and there isn't enough coals going to compensate so adding more charcoal as you increase your load is always a good thing. A guru helps out alot also but when i max mine out i always give her a shot of fresh coals.

Stlbbqstore · Jun 16, 2008

Chad,

Just a process of elimination thinking going on here.
Could it be that part of problem is that you are not getting an accurate temp reading because the ribs are to close to the temp probe ?
This happened to me with the Chubby and when the ribs were about 1" or so from probe

KC_Bobby · Jun 16, 2008

I was able to run that Party at comps from 11 pm to noon the next day without problem, but I did dump the ash tray out when reloading with coals.

Chad, what coals are you using? When I used WG I wouldn't fill up the original tray with ash, but when using Rancher I had to dump it out after about 8-10 hours of smoking. I never used Kingsford in there and Royal Oak would generally be OK too.

Does that sound like it could be the problem?
Are you adding in a lot of cold water at the same time as the ribs?
Are you adding lit or unlit coals (and when)?

KC_Bobby · Jun 16, 2008

Ron brings up a good question too. Have you double checked the temp with another probe? Hate to get you thinking about an adjustment then finding out the temp is right on.

BTW, didn't you win ribs in Pleasant Hill with that Party?

TN_BBQ · Jun 17, 2008

I agree with the others.

1. Clean out your ash pan & add more coals (almost like starting over)
2. Make sure your thermometer isn't too close to cold meat.
3. Top off the water pan with hot water.

butts a fire · Jun 17, 2008

KC_Bobby said:
Ron brings up a good question too. Have you double checked the temp with another probe? Hate to get you thinking about an adjustment then finding out the temp is right on.

BTW, didn't you win ribs in Pleasant Hill with that Party?

That is what I thought could have been the problem but I had a couple different probes in there on different racks giving me roughly the same reading.

I am thinking Ash could be the problem although there was not an abnormal amount there after I finished cooking even after adding another chimney in an attempt to get the temps up.

Yep this is the same party that I won ribs on in Pleasant hill that morning I had to empty the ash pan and throw on more coals to get the temps back up after they bottomed out.

I am going to run a couple practice cooks with Lump to see how I like it I have used it in there for short cooks and really like the burn time I get then so if I can get a good burn and not have the problems with ash I think that may be the ticket.

jrb03 · Jun 17, 2008

The problem is a combination of ash buildup, a dying fire, and more mass being added to the cooker. I experience this too on my Party. I often cook a butt and brisket overnight, and when I get up in the morning I add ribs and turds to the smoker. I find that I have to cleanup the ash, stir the coals, and add more lump. I imagine this is even worse with the amount of ash briqs have. It may look like you have a good amount of fire left, but the ash is choking out the fire making it hard to keep up with the extra meat you just added.

TN_BBQ · Jun 17, 2008

I too have a BWS Party.

Do any of you guys have your ash-pan on "rails" or does it sit on the bottom of your smoker? I'm not referring to the coal box, but rather the ash-pan (i have both).

Any case, I'd like to raise my ash-pan off the bottom of my smoker so it slides out easier (i have to lift it over a 1 inch lip right now). Other than welding some rails (like the cooking grates and diverter pan) do any of you guys have any ideas? Another option is to put some angle iron underneat to form an A frame support.

KC_Bobby · Jun 17, 2008

The angle iron A frame support you mentioned is what I've seen others do and they they seemed to like it. How often do you need to dump the ashes? Personally I didn't really see the need to do it when I had a Party. Dumping it was as easy as putting on some welding gloves, grabbing it, dumping it and putting it back in.

jrb03 · Jun 17, 2008

The need to dump ash is only a problem on mine when I have been cooking 12+ hours already and want to cook several hours more. I do the same, use some welding gloves and dump the ash pan and shake out the coal pan, add more lump, and back in the cooker.

Porky · Jun 18, 2008

I do the same with my Party, it isn't much of an issue to dump the ashes. Does anyone that has the firegrate/coalbox on rails get more than 5-6 hours out of a load of lump/rancher briqs?

TN_BBQ · Jun 18, 2008

I wonder if having the ashpan sitting on the bottom of the BWS will cause the metal to fatigue sooner?

I think I might go the angle iron "A" frame route until I can get somebody to weld something in there for me.

I don't suspect it'll extend my cook time, but it should make it easier to slide the coal pan in and out.

KC_Bobby · Jun 18, 2008

I don't think the falling ash is that hot, at least doesn't retain much heat. I don't think it's any hotter then the overall smoker at that point.

But the angle iron certainly wouldn't hurt.

My party had the ashpan that sat about an inch off the bottom, but I still added another sheet of sheet metal to make the bottom thicker - as a presentative measure.

Backwoods temps keep dropping

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