New Spicewine running hot...

[Yakfishingfool]

Anyone have any additional comments to add. I did some fatties yesterday and she came up to temp and then blew through it. Settling in the 270's. Too warm for my liking. I'm using the ring, using a full load of coal and chimney. I vented down the door as soon as temps got around 210, noted some air suckage around the gasket, may have to tighten the door latch a bit. Also, I have a small, 1/2inch hole in the front left corner as you look at the unit in the floor. Is this normal? Could be a drain hole, may need to seal that. I think I just got too much air getting in. Even closed stack and door vent and still chugs 260's. Scott

 

[G$]

I will say, if you do let it get too hot, it is tough (darn near impossible) to bring back down, as you have seen yourself.

Not sure why yours kept climbing if you shut all the vents down around 210 - except that I have no " 1/2inch hole in the front left corner" - and all my fire box and smoke box doors seal tight.

 

[chinesebob]

You may have to adjust the catch's on the door to make sure the seal is complete. Is this your first burn? Where did you put the meat - top or bottom? top is usually a little hotter.

My first smoke after I seasoned her she was really hot but after that she was perfect.

 

[Mo-Dave]

I don't think there should be a hole in the inside floor and a 1/2 whole would defiantly allow to much air I would think. On my Lg Sw I start shutting everything down when it reaches about 200 degrees, if I don't, it can get to hot real quick and yes it will take a long time to bring it back down.

I start by shutting everything down completely then back off on the stacks about 1 turn and just cracking the intakes. I don't trust the door gage so I use a Maverick remote. Yes check you latches, if you can pull the doors open without them, then they need adjusting, don't forget the fire box latch. I still have some air leak issues on mine but they are starting to seal and as Jay has said he does not make them to be air tight. Get some cheap coal and just run that with no food or wood until you get things right. Hope this helps.
Dave

 

[BBQ_MAFIA]

Also, I have a small, 1/2inch hole in the front left corner as you look at the unit in the floor. Is this normal?

I don't have the hole on my Large.

 

[spicewine]

There should not be a hole in the cooker, but knowing the previous owner, it wouldn't surprise me.

 

[chinesebob]

I missed that earlier where the hole was. ADD MOD.

 

[tony76248]

One of the drawbacks to the Spicewine has been high heat issues. Jay can tell you the secrets to correcting these problems I am sure. Just like any cooker, you need to experiment a bit and learn the idiosyncrasies of the smoker. I would definitely plug the extra air hole though, it will mess with your controlled airflow. I don't own a Spicewine, but with my Stumps, I know without controlled airflow, you have no control at all, therefore you minimize your ability to cook consistantly.

I think an important thing to remember is, try to stay consistant with what you are doing and make small tweaks, this will maximize your ability to find perfection.

 

[Yakfishingfool]

OK guys, agree with everything your saying so far. So first, going to plug that hole with a bit of foil. Should solve that issue. Checked the ball valve and it seals well, going to loosen the door catches and move them in slightly to force the door to a tighter seal. Hopefully that will resolve the "whistling Wind" sucking sounds I hear. Then will run some more coal through Roberta and see what she does. Doing ribs Saturday and while I feel confident I can compensate for the slightly hotter temp, would like to have better "control" of the situation.

Anybody done an after market addition to the doors to insulate them? Scott

 

[tony76248]

I might suggest applying a felt seal where the gasket is, in addition to the gasket, therefore the gasket will seal against the felt. I have used this method on a stick burner and it worked great. You can even apply it with elmers glue, that way if it doesn't work, just peel it off. I initially got the idea from the BGE forum when I was restoring a Komodo earthen cooker. You can buy a yard of felt at wallyworld for about $3. It doesn't get much cheaper than that. The alternative is replacing your seal completely and that might not get it done as well. Believe me, this works on all of the applications I have used it on so far.

What is the history behind this Spicewine? Why did the guy sell it to you? Afterall, it can't be that old.

 

[Jorge]

Scott, just for grins take a tape to the gasket and let us know how thick that gasket is. Check the points where you have leaks and a few other areas to get a good sample. I suspect other Spricewine owners would be willing to measure theirs as well. Just to make sure that your gasket hasn't been compressed to the point that it isn't sealing, at some point.

 

[Yakfishingfool]

Can do on the measurements. This is a backyard smoker unit to the best of my knowledge, turned out to be a little too big for backyard use for the previous gentleman. He took good care of it. He did add a ring to the bast to lock it to the house, not sure where the hole came from, but it's a simple enough fix. May even drop a nut and bolt into it. It's an 07 model. Extra grates. All in good shape. clean enough to eat out of inside....or at least it was

The gasket looks to be in good shape. Not ragged or loose. it seems the bottom right corner of the upper door seems to be a slight gap. The felt idea is a good one and may solve the issue as a whole. Actually may try plugging the hole and doing a cook to see if I have better control. I'm not worried about air leaking in, if I can have control over the temps. I just learn to adjust, it's as mentioned earlier, just learning this smoker.

 

[tony76248]

I might add that in some areas on the door, you might apply several layers of the felt. Just cut it into strips of the desired width and add as required. Many times the doors and gaskets will not be square or flush after the first few initial cooks, this is caused by the heat distorting the metal and expanding and contracting issues. This will definitely occur if you get a high temp flare-up. Things can really get crazy then as far as distortion goes.

 

[MrSmoker]

Have you tested the thermometers? When i had my Spice Twins they would stay at 225/230 for hours and hours.So simple a caveman can cook on them. :wink: BTW i sure missed them yesterday when i did ten racks of BB.

 

[Solidkick]

If I have the correct picture........

Here's my opinion.......take a look at the gasket.....it appears soft and plyable....definitely not cooked on enough......next time you cook on it, try taking a spray bottle of vegatable oil and soaking down the gasket, then pull it up tight. This should help to seat the gasket and help it form up, creating a better seal.
I've had my cooker since about July, and I'm just about half way there myself...I haven't cooked on it near enough.....

 

[MilitantSquatter]

Yak - definitely address the hole and check the gaskets but there might also be a simplier answer to take into consideration.

Next time try adding less pre-lit coal to start and damper down sooner. You were only cooking fatties so there was little else to absorb the energy.

Thats why I like pre-heating with only lit and no unlit to get close to desired temp. Then as there's less pre-lit, I carry that over on top of the newly added ring of unlit and wood chunks.

 

[Yakfishingfool]

Boy lot's of good stuff here...

Going to plug hole with SS nut and bolt, butterfly nut to allow for water drainage with cleaning as ron intended....good mod.

The gasket isn't as new as in that picture. A bit more worn now. But will do on veggie oil.

Vinny, can you describe your start up for me. If I put just lit in, when I add unlit, the new unlit is on top of the lit. Unless I scoop it all out. I agree about trying a smaller chimney to start and creep up on the temp instead of blasting to it. Also going to work on the fire box vent as it's a bit "leakier" than I think it could be. again will do a change at a time and see how it goes. Thanks guys. Good stuff as usual. Scott

 

[MilitantSquatter]

Vinny, can you describe your start up for me. If I put just lit in, when I add unlit, the new unlit is on top of the lit. Unless I scoop it all out. I agree about trying a smaller chimney to start and creep up on the temp instead of blasting to it.

Here's what I do...

I usually start with about 1-2 chimney's (I prefer 2 to speed it up) of prelit spread out onto the charcoal grate. I let that go for 40 min or so with vents open. At this point chamber temp is usually right around 220 or so (this for me means about 200 on the door thermometer) and I then damper air vents down to just a crack on the upper stack.

Also at this point, I pull out charcoal rack and push over the remaining lit coals and add WSM ring. I then fill with unlit and wood chunks. Then I scoop out some or all of the already lit and add to the top of the unlit. (Depends how much unlit is left). If too much, I leave some on the outside of the ring to burn off. I then install Guru fan and let it do the work to push it the last bit to desired with the forced air. Without the Guru, you can accomplish the same by not dampering the top and bottom air vents as much.

The key is to not damper down once it's already at desired temp. I'd recommend doing this at least 20 degrees earlier. It will still get hotter even with less air flow for a short while. Then once you add the meat load it will settle quickly. If it gets too hot, the other option is to always scoop out some of the lit in addition to vent management.


Hope that makes sense.

 

[Stlbbqstore]

I am the original owner of this smoker and i just got off the phone with Scott (Yakfishingfool) and informed him that I had drilled the hole to drain the water after washing inside of smoker out and I plugged it with a small piece of 1/4" steel when cooker was in use. I had talked to him and other prospective buyers about this prior to the purchase. I had found that the air intake daisy wheel on front of smoker was causing temp problems and confirmed this with other SW owners


Jay, Your true colors are showing.

Posted by Spicewine

There should not be a hole in the cooker, but knowing the previous owner, it wouldn't surprise me.

.

 

[Yakfishingfool]

ok, Vinny, got it. the hole is a non issue, plugged. Will try a chimney or two to pre heat and then go with a smaller pile of lit to unlit. this should allow a more gradual temperature increase instead of a blast. thanks for all your help guys. Scott