Hopefully I can chime in here and help out with some advice to new users. The water is definitely the key to cooking at higher temps. If you want to cook above 250-275 (which is not a problem I have cooked at 375-400 before) go without water. If you want to use water add it after your food is on, pit is up to temp, and add it slowly and gradually so you don’t overwhelm it all at once. Remember though that water boils at 212 so anything above 250 or so will boil off the water very fast, and creates a lot of steam. One other thing you can try if you want water at those higher temps would be to put a foil pan in the water pan and put the water in the foil pan. If you can elevate it just a little so there is a small gap between the two it would be even better. This will boil off a lot less water (since it’s not in direct contact with the heat source) and at the same time not affect the temp nearly as much when cooking above 275. The water in the pan is going to be best during your low and slow smokes since the water is there not just to add moister but also to act as a heat sink and allow you to get the long burn times at low temps. We try to get the latch adjusted before we ship but it may still need some fine tuning when you get the pit. Keep the seals oiled with cooking oil spray (PAM) to keep them pliable, this will make them last much longer and they will seal better. Mine are almost two years old and still don’t need replacement, my latch isn’t adjusted all the way in and smoke dose not leak from the doors so there is still plenty of life left in it. This brings up another thought If you’re trying to get the pit to higher temps you will need to open up the smoke stack accordingly in order to increase the draft, If you’re not opening up the stack your temp won’t increase and you can get some smoke coming from to doors because it has to go somewhere and if the stack isn't opened wide enough it "will" go somewhere. Remember the input and output should be matched up to get that clean efficient burning fire. Under normal conditions it should take about 1 hour to get to temp, I just smoked a couple briskets on mine Saturday and Sunday and 1 hour from lighting coals it was at 225 (I don’t use a weed burner during my pre heating). 10 cfm fan will work but I like the 25 for quicker recovery times and faster pre heating times. I think the weed burner will cut your pre heat time way down and I see no reason not to do this. It takes about 15-20 minutes for your coals to get lite anyways so I see no reason not to use that time to get things preheated with the weed burner. Outside temperature does not affect the inside space due to the insulation but remember if its 40 outside when you start so is all the metal on the inside of the cabinet so this will take longer than it does when its 80 out. Once you’re up to temp then there won’t be much effect on the pit from the outside elements. On my web page and emailed to every customer is a set of instructions from start to finish that have been refined and simplified to get you the shortest learning curve possible. If you follow this as a guide you will yield the best results (I have run this unit a hundred ways and the instructions are how I run mine and have given us the best consistent results). That’s not to say it’s the only way and once you figure it out by all means experiment. You can also email or call me and I will be happy to share what others have found and alternate ways to arrange or mange your fire. I don’t mention it here because I want you to get down the basics first then we can go from there. Remember that the way this is built and designed is for stable and constant temps, and efficient fuel consumption. If it reached 250 degrees in 5 minutes it could go back to nothing just as fast. Always give yourself enough time to get the pit to temp, manage your water and stacks for different desired temps and you will have consistent results with no trouble. Please feel free to call or email us at any time I we are glad to help. One thing that sets us apart from our competition is just that we don’t compete so I have no secrets that I hold back I will happily share any and everything I know to anyone even if you didn’t be a pit from me.
Thanks
Chris Goodlander
Lone Star Grillz
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