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View Full Version : crashed and burned on first Fatboy cook


rxcellentq
01-14-2011, 03:41 PM
Thank god the only judges yesterday where my family. We missed out turn in (5:30 dinner) by 1.5 hours. We tried our first cook in tthe new smoker (chicken of all things). It was 26 degrees and windy but I thought all that insulation would protect us. We could not get the temp up over 200 deg once the water went in the pan. Somehow I don't see cold smoked chicken catching on

aquablue22
01-14-2011, 03:43 PM
That's why you called it "Practice", you know try, try again!

bigabyte
01-14-2011, 03:47 PM
You'll get that cooker figured out soon enough.:cool:

msavard
01-14-2011, 03:52 PM
Interesting. I figured BWS would be easy to hold temps in...

gtr
01-14-2011, 04:00 PM
Don't sweat it - it's a continuous learning process - haven't used that type cooker but maybe forget about the water in cold weather? - could be way off base but just throwing it out there.

Groundhog66
01-14-2011, 04:04 PM
Don't get discouraged, there is always a learning curve.

Fishiest1
01-14-2011, 04:06 PM
You will do better next time.

What was the temp when you put the water in? Where all the vents open?

rxcellentq
01-14-2011, 04:17 PM
put the water in at 150 deg closed vent on one side 1/4 inch on other to start by the end we had both vents opened full. It was good to get knocked down a few pegs. This takes skill unlike the electric Masterbuild I used till now then I just had to set temp and time and walk away

jestridge
01-14-2011, 04:34 PM
HAve the water boiling when you put it in. or don't use any water , I never could figure why people use water anyway. BTW cold wind will kill the heat on most cookers

tigercc
01-14-2011, 04:36 PM
On mine, i will let the temps run up to close to the desired temp before adding water. i keep the vents at least halfway open until the fire can overcome all that cold water. Every once in a while i will overshoot on my temp but its not that big of a deal because i cook hot anyways.

1FUNVET
01-14-2011, 04:38 PM
At least you are not a virgin any more :thumb:

JiveTurkey
01-14-2011, 04:43 PM
My guess is that by adding the water at such a low pit temperature then closing the vents you made it more difficult for the fire to warm up the water therefore extending the cooking time and keeping your temps low. I cook with water in my spicewine but I won't touch my vents until my water and pit are up to temp. Live and learn!

Groundhog66
01-14-2011, 04:47 PM
Makes sense to me to just put the water in hot right away, then let the temp come up before you start closing vents. I don't have BWS, but it sounds like you can work it like a WSM as far as getting up to temp.

huminie
01-14-2011, 04:56 PM
I am a new Backwoods Fatboy owner and the one thing I learned real quick is that the cooker takes a long time to come up to temperature. In my WSM I was up to cooking temps in about a half hour, but with my Fatboy I need to plan on a good hour and 15 mins or so.

I add water from the get go, but I use hot tap water. You could boil, but I find that to be unnecessary. For air vents I keep one side closed and the other open about 3/4. In the cold you could open one wide open, or maybe even use both. It needs a lot of air in the beginning, but once it gets up to temp, you will want to close it down quite a bit. This is the stuff that will take practice.

Good luck and have fun!

chambersuac
01-14-2011, 05:04 PM
Well, at least you have some experience under your belt.
Other than missing dinner time, how was the chicken?

Fishiest1
01-14-2011, 05:05 PM
put the water in at 150 deg closed vent on one side 1/4 inch on other to start by the end we had both vents opened full. It was good to get knocked down a few pegs. This takes skill unlike the electric Masterbuild I used till now then I just had to set temp and time and walk away


Not a guru here but I don't start choking the vents till she is over desired temp as I figure the opening the door and putting in cool meat will cool the unit down anyway.

I sometimes will put the water in ahead of time if I know I am doing a long cook at night that wont start till 9pm and its dark otherwise I heat her up and then add water. I could be wrong (happens a lot) but I think it was an airflow issue and it didnt get hot enough at the beginning. That said, I live in FL and have not smoked at 25 degrees 45 at the coldest.

Good luck, you will love her!

rxcellentq
01-14-2011, 05:17 PM
do any of you run a fatboy dry? Backwoods says you shouldn't. We where afraid of overshooting our temp so we closed down the vents at 150 deg guess thats not such a big problem. You should see our notes they are funny. We started off with times and temps two differnet techniques on the chicken and plans to choose which path to take, by the end the kids filled up on mustard greens and rice while the wife kept saying she could cook thighs in 45 minutes at 350 in the oven.

OL' Timer
01-14-2011, 05:19 PM
I have a Jr and put hot tap water in at 200° and set my Guru to 250° as that is what I cook at. Takes 45 min to 250° with 15#'s of lump and a full chimney of lump to start.

rxcellentq
01-14-2011, 05:24 PM
"hunger makes the best sauce" so by the time they where cooked they dissapeared in a heartbeat. The meat was ok, moist even, the look was a train wreck and the flavor was way to smokey

chachahut
01-14-2011, 05:28 PM
Long time Backwoods user (started on a Fatboy) so here goes with my 2 cents...

1. Water in @ 150º is correct but you did not mention whether the water was hot or cold. Use hot water & you'll get that temp up - plus use less energy raising the water temp & put more energy to work heating the box.

2. Exhaust vent open or closed? Should be fully open when starting up. Close it down to about 1/4 open when you hit target temp.

3. Get a BBQ Guru or Stoker. I use Gurus but have been considering trying the Stoker. Essentially, you close one vent completely - put a fan adapter in the other - & off you go. Much easier to get to temp & maintain it. I did the whole manual vent dance for about two cooks before switching to the Guru. Makes like MUCH easier.

4. Where are you starting your fire? Front right corner iin front of vent or back left corner in front of vent. I've found front right works best for me when running manual & that's where I chose to place the Guru.

5. If you're going to be cold weather cooking - meaning the Fatboy is going to be cold enough when you start to store meat - I suggest getting a weed torch (http://www.harborfreight.com/propane-torch-91033.html). Fire is up & use it to heat the interior of the box while you're starting the charcoal. I took a 25º Backwoods Pro up to 235º this morning in 30 minutes with an air temp of 15º. The weed torch - after only 5-10 minutes of running it over the interior - left the box at 85º. The Guru took care of the rest.

Hope this helps.

rxcellentq
01-14-2011, 05:57 PM
We started the fire in the front left corner away from the open vent. We do have a Guru but wanted to learn how to use this thing first. I saw a post before about using a full chimney does everybody we started only a small corner using a tourch. We had done the same thing a few days prior with no water to season the unit and it came up to 350 in no time.

Fishiest1
01-14-2011, 06:12 PM
I put the chimney in the rear left, now you have me doubting myself!! :)

martyleach
01-14-2011, 06:23 PM
I always put in boiling water. It definitely speeds up the process. Hang in there, you'll get it!

chachahut
01-14-2011, 06:30 PM
I start in the front right by my Guru - or open vent. I use a couple of firestarters & some of an empty charcoal bag stuck into the briquettes in that corner. Blow torch to light. Usually up to temp - even without weed torch - in 45 minutes. Try starting near the open vent. More airflow will help the fire catch faster & create more energy to riase the box temp.

lionhrt
01-14-2011, 06:36 PM
One thing you are doing right for sure is taking notes that will help you in the long run and keep you from having to guess what you are doing right. I don`t have a BWS wish I did but I would suggest starting with no water and keep all vents open untill you get close to your temp then back them down a little at a time. Keep up the practice and let your wife know yes the chick could have been done in 45 but once you get it down it sure won`t taste the same.:-D

KnucklHed BBQ
01-14-2011, 07:15 PM
I'm thinkin the water was the issue - even hot water will act as a heat sink - you can take a 300* cooker and add cold water to the pan and your temps will drop quickly, as others have suggested, get closer to your target temp and then add the hottest water you can or start with hot water and expect to go wide open for a while to get to target temp.

Best wishes!

smokinit
01-14-2011, 07:43 PM
Long time Backwoods user (started on a Fatboy) so here goes with my 2 cents...

1. Water in @ 150º is correct but you did not mention whether the water was hot or cold. Use hot water & you'll get that temp up - plus use less energy raising the water temp & put more energy to work heating the box.

2. Exhaust vent open or closed? Should be fully open when starting up. Close it down to about 1/4 open when you hit target temp.

3. Get a BBQ Guru or Stoker. I use Gurus but have been considering trying the Stoker. Essentially, you close one vent completely - put a fan adapter in the other - & off you go. Much easier to get to temp & maintain it. I did the whole manual vent dance for about two cooks before switching to the Guru. Makes like MUCH easier.


4. Where are you starting your fire? Front right corner iin front of vent or back left corner in front of vent. I've found front right works best for me when running manual & that's where I chose to place the Guru.

5. If you're going to be cold weather cooking - meaning the Fatboy is going to be cold enough when you start to store meat - I suggest getting a weed torch (http://www.harborfreight.com/propane-torch-91033.html). Fire is up & use it to heat the interior of the box while you're starting the charcoal. I took a 25º Backwoods Pro up to 235º this morning in 30 minutes with an air temp of 15º. The weed torch - after only 5-10 minutes of running it over the interior - left the box at 85º. The Guru took care of the rest.

Hope this helps.

I wonder who taught you the weed burner pre heat trick:becky:. How is the new BWS working out for you. We need to catch up.

jestridge
01-14-2011, 07:44 PM
I feel for you, I know how it is when we plan something and it seem to go wrong especially getting wise cracks from the family, but I can asure you it will get better.

blues_n_cues
01-15-2011, 05:05 AM
@ least it was only chicken. good luck on the next cook.:thumb:

Spydermike72
01-15-2011, 06:01 AM
Very interesting. I agree that the water may have been the issue here. I have been cooking on a BWS for over 5 years and I cook a lot in the winter here in Michigan and I have never had a problem getting the cooker up to or holding temp.

I like the weedburner idea but I have never found it necessary, bring your cooker up to your desired temp (I add my water while my chimney is getting ready so the water comes up to temp with the charcoal or I add hot water). Add your meat and let it go. I dont use a guru and I only have to adjust my vents once or twice depending on the wind. I usually end up with both sides open about 1/2 - 1/4 inch and I get a good 4 - 5 hour burn out of a load of charcoal.

Practice will be your friend. Also good move on learning the cooker without the guru!!

btcg
01-15-2011, 10:34 AM
Thank god the only judges yesterday where my family. We missed out turn in (5:30 dinner) by 1.5 hours. We tried our first cook in tthe new smoker (chicken of all things). It was 26 degrees and windy but I thought all that insulation would protect us. We could not get the temp up over 200 deg once the water went in the pan. Somehow I don't see cold smoked chicken catching on


Okay,

I cooked last weekend in temps that were only a few degrees warmer (my first cook on the BWS), and had success.

Next time:

Put the water in first.

Fill the charcoal holder as full as you possibly can - don't stack, as in a pure minion cook - just pour them in, and you need at least 2 -3 layers of charcoal.

Start one corner, and when you're sure it's going, insert the holder into the BWS.

Now... you wait.

It took my BWS about 30-40 minutes to come to temp. Then, you add your meat.

The guru took over, and it held my temp consistantly over the duration of the cook: 13.5 hours.

I got 8.5 hours before having to reload my charcoal holder.

My guess... you didn't have enough charcoal.

Homebrewed Q
01-15-2011, 11:57 AM
All good info as I'm about to start my first Fatboy cook here shortly. Only 50 degrees or so here, so I won't have the outside temps to deal with. Good thread, sorry you had problems but it is practice, which is what I'm doing today, practicing chicken and ribs.