Hey all,

I'm looking for advice on getting the temperature on the grate near the
firebox close to the rest of the grate. I can maintain roughly 225 on
the far side with no troubles, but at that temp, the first foot is way
too hot to smoke. It's great for wings or sausage, but I'd like to be
able to lay three big turkeys down without having to shuffle them off
the hot spot every few minutes.
Any ideas? Thanks for any advice.

ibk

On Oct 30, 1:43*pm, ibrokit > wrote:
> Hey all,
>
> I'm looking for advice on getting the temperature on the grate near the
> firebox close to the rest of the grate. I can maintain roughly 225 on
> the far side with no troubles, but at that temp, the first foot is way
> too hot to smoke. It's great for wings or sausage, but I'd like to be
> able to lay three big turkeys down without having to shuffle them off
> the hot spot every few minutes.
> Any ideas? Thanks for any advice.
>
> ibk

I don't know that you can do anything to baffle the heat from the mass
of a firebox other than distance. I suppose you could try some sort of
curtain/baffle set about an inch away from the firebox, but in no way
attached to it, or as little as possible anyway.
Never heard of anyone doing anything for this.

ibrokit wrote:
> Hey all,
>
> I'm looking for advice on getting the temperature on the grate near the
> firebox close to the rest of the grate. I can maintain roughly 225 on
> the far side with no troubles, but at that temp, the first foot is way
> too hot to smoke. It's great for wings or sausage, but I'd like to be
> able to lay three big turkeys down without having to shuffle them off
> the hot spot every few minutes.
> Any ideas? Thanks for any advice.
>
> ibk

Whoa -- never mind. Just saw some ideas a few threads up. Thanks anyway.

ibk

On 30-Oct-2008, ibrokit > wrote:

> Hey all,
>
> I'm looking for advice on getting the temperature on the grate
> near the
> firebox close to the rest of the grate. I can maintain roughly 225
> on
> the far side with no troubles, but at that temp, the first foot is
> way
> too hot to smoke. It's great for wings or sausage, but I'd like to
> be
> able to lay three big turkeys down without having to shuffle them
> off
> the hot spot every few minutes.
> Any ideas? Thanks for any advice.
>
> ibk

I use a New Braunfels Silver offset smoker. I get 50 degrees or so
difference between the firebox end and the far end of the cooking
chamber. I run 275° to 300° at the firebox end. I have no trouble
cooking what the hell ever I want. I just don't put birds close to
the firebox unless I build a real small fire just for that.
Otherwise
I rotate butts and brisket end for end about every four hours. I
don't know where you get that every few minutes comment from.
That could cut seriously into your beer drinking time.
So stuff cooks faster at the hot end. Big deal. Just take it off
when
it's done. Don't try to make it all get done at the same time.

If your turkeys are getting too hot at the firebox end, you have too
much fire going.. From what you say, when you have 225 at the
far end you'd have about 275 (maybe) at the firebox end. So what?
That's well within reasonable smoking temperatures.
--
Brick(Youth is wasted on young people)

Your grill is always going to be hotter on the end nearest the fire. Try
lowering the overall temp, and you won't run as much risk of overcooking
the bird at the hot end. I wouldn't think you'd need to rotate more than
once or twice.



--
Ask Me Why I support Stem Cell Research
http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/faqs.asp

Nunya Bidnits wrote:
> In ,
> ibrokit > typed:
>> Hey all,
>>
>> I'm looking for advice on getting the temperature on the grate near
>> the firebox close to the rest of the grate. I can maintain roughly
>> 225 on the far side with no troubles, but at that temp, the first
>> foot is way too hot to smoke. It's great for wings or sausage, but
>> I'd like to be able to lay three big turkeys down without having to
>> shuffle them off the hot spot every few minutes.
>> Any ideas? Thanks for any advice.
>>
>> ibk
>
> You might try lining the bottom or lower grate with firebrick. It won't
> change the fact that there will always be more heat closer to a fire, as
> that is basic physics. However it might even out the temps in the cook
> chamber somewhat. Note that if you make baffles, in many smokers you need to
> account for the redirection of the air flow. On smokers like NBBDs and other
> NB models, as well as many other offsets, there is a bigger problem with all
> the hot air rising to the top of the cook chamber. You can get up to 100
> degrees diff between a thermometer at the top, and one on the bottom grate.
> So the best baffles serve to redirect heat in a lower stream, and also you
> will get a benefit from extending the chimney in the interior of the
> cookchamber down towards the lower rack. You can do this by just taking a
> sheet of roof flashing metal and rolling it up, and sticking it down inside
> the chimney to make the extension.
>
> MartyB in KC
>
Good stuff, thanks. I'm using the Bar-b-chef at the moment, until I get
my hands on a larger smoker. It does the job for now, though, and has
most of the mods you mentioned.

Thanks,

ibk