Alright...
I have a RD Special Marshall 20" Horizon Smoker
I have had it nearly 2 years now and some of you may say well then why would you post this?
I am just covering all my bases and making sure I am not missing anything.
I have smoked on it and had good product in general. I had seasoned it, tested it (compared probe temps to it's stock thermometers), cooked in it with decent results and am generally pleased with unit. Recently, however, I am wondering if I can not eek out a better results and as of late have had varying temps (I prolly did before but I am testing it more now to look at the cause of variations)
I have re-watched this and this as well as other vids speaking of maintaining a good fire.
I DO have the fundamentals down (IMHO) and I am a bit frustrated as to what I am getting with this unit.
I heat up 3/4 chimney briquettes, I start with a 3 log fire (12"-15" splits) I do NOT use the Firebox rack anymore and just keep the pile in the firebox.
get the temp up to usually 310F or so and then it can settle to 250-75F for most cases. I have recently used two probes (Thermoworks) to more accurately test the temps in middle and left end (opposite firebox) of the smoker.
I DO get decent temps but they have at times dropped or I barely get 10 mins before they precipitously fall
So of course I am sure most would then say that it's the oxygen to the fire and you would be correct but I cannot seem to find a happy medium. I have NEVER been able to close the Firebox door. Normally I have the door open roughly 2 inches and the intake fully open as the stock intake that they have created doesn't seem to give the fire enough O2 when it's closed. I used to put pile/logs in the end close to the cooking chamber and food but the temps then obviously are much higher closer and taper off at the opposite end (~30-40 degrees) Smokestack is 75% open btw (rarely mess with it as I haven't had to; perhaps I should? :help:
When I have the logs/pile in the middle the temps are fairly even across the chamber. I have put the logs closest to the intake opening and attempted to close the door but then it seems much of the heat escapes or it takes half the log to actually ignite (these are hot logs mind you) and then they are half burnt once they burn
So I come to all of you looking for help as I am sure I am missing something.
I get a more consistent smoke and fairly decent chamber out of my giant weber kettle grill using the minion method and knowing it can make the slight adjustments to keep the temps @ 240-60 x 4-6 Hrs.
Since I DO have this dedicated smoker however, I would like to utilize it as well to it's full potential (as I'm sure you all would understand) and feel like I'm not reaching it..
I would:
A) Like to narrow down the best arrangement to get consistent temps
B) Eek out at least 40 mins per log set by establishing the best airflow to the Firebox
Let me know and Thanks
I have a RD Special Marshall 20" Horizon Smoker
I have had it nearly 2 years now and some of you may say well then why would you post this?
I am just covering all my bases and making sure I am not missing anything.
I have smoked on it and had good product in general. I had seasoned it, tested it (compared probe temps to it's stock thermometers), cooked in it with decent results and am generally pleased with unit. Recently, however, I am wondering if I can not eek out a better results and as of late have had varying temps (I prolly did before but I am testing it more now to look at the cause of variations)
I have re-watched this and this as well as other vids speaking of maintaining a good fire.
I DO have the fundamentals down (IMHO) and I am a bit frustrated as to what I am getting with this unit.
I heat up 3/4 chimney briquettes, I start with a 3 log fire (12"-15" splits) I do NOT use the Firebox rack anymore and just keep the pile in the firebox.
get the temp up to usually 310F or so and then it can settle to 250-75F for most cases. I have recently used two probes (Thermoworks) to more accurately test the temps in middle and left end (opposite firebox) of the smoker.
I DO get decent temps but they have at times dropped or I barely get 10 mins before they precipitously fall
So of course I am sure most would then say that it's the oxygen to the fire and you would be correct but I cannot seem to find a happy medium. I have NEVER been able to close the Firebox door. Normally I have the door open roughly 2 inches and the intake fully open as the stock intake that they have created doesn't seem to give the fire enough O2 when it's closed. I used to put pile/logs in the end close to the cooking chamber and food but the temps then obviously are much higher closer and taper off at the opposite end (~30-40 degrees) Smokestack is 75% open btw (rarely mess with it as I haven't had to; perhaps I should? :help:
When I have the logs/pile in the middle the temps are fairly even across the chamber. I have put the logs closest to the intake opening and attempted to close the door but then it seems much of the heat escapes or it takes half the log to actually ignite (these are hot logs mind you) and then they are half burnt once they burn
So I come to all of you looking for help as I am sure I am missing something.
I get a more consistent smoke and fairly decent chamber out of my giant weber kettle grill using the minion method and knowing it can make the slight adjustments to keep the temps @ 240-60 x 4-6 Hrs.
Since I DO have this dedicated smoker however, I would like to utilize it as well to it's full potential (as I'm sure you all would understand) and feel like I'm not reaching it..
I would:
A) Like to narrow down the best arrangement to get consistent temps
B) Eek out at least 40 mins per log set by establishing the best airflow to the Firebox
Let me know and Thanks