Shirley main chamber and warmer cook

[palmtreefrb]

I have never cooked in both the main chamber and warming cabinet at the same time. Main chamber will be a whole hog and warmer beans chicken etc.

I always run everything wide open when cooking in the main chamber. Ill open the main-warmer damper wide open. How are you all setting the main stack and warmer stack dampers? Both wide open?

It's a 24x56 Shirley

 

[pjtexas1]

are you running 1 fire or 2?

edit: when cooking just in the main cc i leave the warmer intake, warmer damper and warmer exhaust all closed because i preheat my splits in the warmer and need that heat to stay in the warmer. in my mind i am saving fuel as the heat is staying in the cooker.

 

[palmtreefrb]

are you running 1 fire or 2?

edit: when cooking just in the main cc i leave the warmer intake, warmer damper and warmer exhaust all closed because i preheat my splits in the warmer and need that heat to stay in the warmer. in my mind i am saving fuel as the heat is staying in the cooker.

1 fire only in the firebox.

 

[pjtexas1]

i have only played with it once and never done a cook that required both but here is my guess and hopefully someone smarter will correct me...

leave the main cc exhaust stack closed and exhaust everything thru the warmer exhaust stack. i would also leave the warmer intake closed and have the cc to warmer damper wide open. based on desired temp in each chamber play with the fb to warmer damper to achieve desired temps in both (should not need to be opened too much or you might have too much heat going straight up and out of the warmer). the warmer should run 200-ish when the main cc is at 300 with cc to warmer damper closed so if it is opened you might not need to do anything else as that will add extra heat to the warmer. with a few minutes of fiddling you should have it figured out.

 

[lantern]

i have only played with it once and never done a cook that required both but here is my guess and hopefully someone smarter will correct me...

leave the main cc exhaust stack closed and exhaust everything thru the warmer exhaust stack. i would also leave the warmer intake closed and have the cc to warmer damper wide open. based on desired temp in each chamber play with the fb to warmer damper to achieve desired temps in both (should not need to be opened too much or you might have too much heat going straight up and out of the warmer). the warmer should run 200-ish when the main cc is at 300 with cc to warmer damper closed so if it is opened you might not need to do anything else as that will add extra heat to the warmer. with a few minutes of fiddling you should have it figured out.

Nailed it!

 

[Bigr314]

Great post. I am very interested in how things work and turn out. Like the paper towel rack. I must add that to my set up.

What size hog are you cooking? Are you going to take the top rack out and put hog on it, then put the hog and rack back in on the bottom rack?

 

[palmtreefrb]

Great post. I am very interested in how things work and turn out. Like the paper towel rack. I must add that to my set up.

What size hog are you cooking? Are you going to take the top rack out and put hog on it, then put the hog and rack back in on the bottom rack?

Actually, that's a butcher paper rack.
I'll be cooking a 60lb hog. I'll be using the lower rack only as the top rack is wider on my unit and I don't think the door would close if used on the bottom.

 

[Jason TQ]

When we did a charity cook back in May I had 12 briskets and 20 butts in the main chamber and then did ribs in the warmer and a few in the chamber. Both stacks were wide open and it worked awesome. I played briefly with closing the main chamber to see if anything happened and I didn't notice a huge change. "Briefly" obviously isn't super scientific so I'd have to play with it more. But again it worked great with both open.

 

[Papa Don]

Following this one, love SF posts!

 

[pjtexas1]

Jason - what temps did the cc and warmer run at?

 

[Jason TQ]

Jason - what temps did the cc and warmer run at?

With all that food in there the main chamber was 300'ish and warmer around 260-270'ish. Oh, but this was with the damper from the firebox to warmer about 50% open. Not sure if that was a part of the equation.

 

[TuscaloosaQ]

Got your voice mail then looked here.... Ron Vasser cooked 31 butts in a cooker just like yours... He posted it on here... Maybe he will show up .. I know he had bothe exhaust wide open...whoops I stand corrected his was a cabinet model....

 

[shnmclr]

Nice looking cooker!

 

[Peterock4040]

The fact that someone asked if you are running 1 fire or 2 in your pit tells me that it's pretty complicated. A lot of bells and whistles on that thing....

 

[pjtexas1]

The fact that someone asked if you are running 1 fire or 2 in your pit tells me that it's pretty complicated. A lot of bells and whistles on that thing....

Maybe not complicated just that there could be a few ways to get the desired temps in both parts of the cooker. In a cabinet the cc is taller so I think the exhaust would need to be open on both so the airflow isn't disturbed. On a round cc that may not be as much of an issue. Also insulated or non-insulated fb would come into play also as the warmer runs at a higher temp without the insulated fb. I bet 3 of us could set it up differently in our sf and all get good results. I call that versatility and one of the main reasons I picked sf.

 

[ETOH]

Just something to consider. When i had my CC to warmer damper open AND the fire box to warmer damper open, with both exhausts open... I was getting a really hot area on the bottom rack closest to the fire box (inline with the damper opening slot for CC to warmer).

I found that by running the exhaust on the warmer full open and the exhaust on the CC open only about 1/2 way, it cut down on hot air from the firebox to warmer backflowing into the cook chamber and following the draft out the CC exhaust. < (that backflow was creating the hot spot). Wind has a profound impact on the exhaust draft when both exhausts are open.

When cooking in both here is what works for me:

Air intake on FB - Adjust as needed for desired temp.
Air intake on warmer - Closed.
Exhaust on CC - opened 1/2 or less depending on wind.
Exhaust on warmer - full open depending on wind. (If my smoke is looking clean sometimes i have closed the warmer exhaust a 1/4 to pick up an extra 10-15 degrees the warmer. <Be careful to maintain clean smoke.
CC to warmer damper - almost full open.
FB to warmer damper - just a crack (maybe 1/4) for increased temp.


If you open the warmer during a cook, it takes a lot longer to recover the temp compared to the main CC... No peeking and happy cookin' !!

 

[palmtreefrb]

Just something to consider. When i had my CC to warmer damper open AND the fire box to warmer damper open, with both exhausts open... I was getting a really hot area on the bottom rack closest to the fire box (inline with the damper opening slot for CC to warmer).

I found that by running the exhaust on the warmer full open and the exhaust on the CC open only about 1/2 way, it cut down on hot air from the firebox to warmer backflowing into the cook chamber and following the draft out the CC exhaust. < (that backflow was creating the hot spot). Wind has a profound impact on the exhaust draft when both exhausts are open.

When cooking in both here is what works for me:

Air intake on FB - Adjust as needed for desired temp.
Air intake on warmer - Closed.
Exhaust on CC - opened 1/2 or less depending on wind.
Exhaust on warmer - full open depending on wind. (If my smoke is looking clean sometimes i have closed the warmer exhaust a 1/4 to pick up an extra 10-15 degrees the warmer. <Be careful to maintain clean smoke.
CC to warmer damper - almost full open.
FB to warmer damper - just a crack (maybe 1/4) for increased temp.


If you open the warmer during a cook, it takes a lot longer to recover the temp compared to the main CC... No peeking and happy cookin' !!

Thanks for the detailed procedures. I will start with this and adjust accordingly.

 

[palmtreefrb]

One more question for you all. Rooter or Tooter closest to the hot side?

 

[pjtexas1]

ETOH - do you have a cabinet or regular cook chamber? really good info brother!

 

[ETOH]

Bit of a necro post here but I was working a two week rotation.

I have a cabinet model. Hip roof on the warmer (doubt the hip roof changes things)

Hope this worked out for you.