sterling_bbq
Got Wood.
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2016
- Location
- Orem, UT
I just finished my UDS last week. I'm brand new to smoking. I have 3 1" holes about 2" from the bottom and 8 1/4" exhaust vents in the lid. I use ceramic magnets to cover the vents. My thermometer is just below the grill and is about 2" long. I've read that the outside of the barrel tends to be about 50 degrees cooler than the center but I have a 16" charcoal basket so I didn't think it would be that big of a difference.
I took it for a test run with no meat to season it (vegetable oil rubbed on the inside) and get a feel for temps. I did a hand test and didn't notice any difference in temp near the center and near the edge. During the test I kept all exhaust vents on the lid wide open. With one intake vent open the temperature held steady at 225 for 30 minutes. I to another vent off and it went up to 275 over the course of 15 minutes. Held steady there for 30 minutes before opening the last vent. Held steady at 350 until I closed all vents. Within 2 hours it was back down to room temperature. I was feeling pretty pumped. She held temp like a dream and was easy to control.
On Saturday I put 3 whole spatchcocked chickens on along with some brats as a last minute addition. I was aiming for 275 but even with all 3 vents wide open, it stayed at around 200. A few times during the cook I took the charcoal basket out and fanned the flames in an attempt to get the heat up. When I put it back in and closed the lid (without the meat) it would jump up to 250-300. As soon as I put the meat back on it dropped back down to 200. It took a lot longer but eventually the first chicken got to 165. I pulled it and the brats off. By the time the second bird was done about 30 minutes later, the temperature had risen to 250. When the 3rd bird was done it was up to 300. I shut it down and it was back down to room temp in a few hours. I imagine it would have gotten up to 350 if I let it keep running after I took all the meat off.
So what was going on? Do UDS generally run cooler with more meat on the grill? It can't be a ventilation issue. The gaps between the meat were significantly larger than my exhaust vents in the lid. Maybe the thermometer was too close to the meat giving it a lower reading than what the smoker was actually at? Any ideas? Anyone else notice this on their rigs?
Pics:
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B756pS5Kcem7bFE5d2kyZTF4UkU&usp=sharing
PS: The food turned out great. Way more than 3 smallish families could have possibly eaten but that's what leftovers are for.
I took it for a test run with no meat to season it (vegetable oil rubbed on the inside) and get a feel for temps. I did a hand test and didn't notice any difference in temp near the center and near the edge. During the test I kept all exhaust vents on the lid wide open. With one intake vent open the temperature held steady at 225 for 30 minutes. I to another vent off and it went up to 275 over the course of 15 minutes. Held steady there for 30 minutes before opening the last vent. Held steady at 350 until I closed all vents. Within 2 hours it was back down to room temperature. I was feeling pretty pumped. She held temp like a dream and was easy to control.
On Saturday I put 3 whole spatchcocked chickens on along with some brats as a last minute addition. I was aiming for 275 but even with all 3 vents wide open, it stayed at around 200. A few times during the cook I took the charcoal basket out and fanned the flames in an attempt to get the heat up. When I put it back in and closed the lid (without the meat) it would jump up to 250-300. As soon as I put the meat back on it dropped back down to 200. It took a lot longer but eventually the first chicken got to 165. I pulled it and the brats off. By the time the second bird was done about 30 minutes later, the temperature had risen to 250. When the 3rd bird was done it was up to 300. I shut it down and it was back down to room temp in a few hours. I imagine it would have gotten up to 350 if I let it keep running after I took all the meat off.
So what was going on? Do UDS generally run cooler with more meat on the grill? It can't be a ventilation issue. The gaps between the meat were significantly larger than my exhaust vents in the lid. Maybe the thermometer was too close to the meat giving it a lower reading than what the smoker was actually at? Any ideas? Anyone else notice this on their rigs?
Pics:
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B756pS5Kcem7bFE5d2kyZTF4UkU&usp=sharing
PS: The food turned out great. Way more than 3 smallish families could have possibly eaten but that's what leftovers are for.