How To Control Temperature On A Smoker

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For those of us who still melt with charcoal, temperature control is one of the about fundamental skills we need to master.

Many an apprentice pit master has fired up their brand new charcoal smoker merely to end upwards wasting perfectly good meat because they didn't know how control their temps.

Just don't worry. With a basic agreement of how temperature control works you'll be equipped with all the knowledge to get out and principal your pit.

And and so you can join the proud tradition of looking down on people who cook on the much easier gas, electric or pellet grills.

How to use Air Vents to Control Smoker Temperature

A steady smoking temperature is necessary for fully cooked, tender, smoked meats. For nearly low and slow cooking, that means we demand to know how to become our smoker to between 225 – 250°F then keep it there for 4 – 16 hours.

There is much more to temperature control than loading upward the firebox. Knowing how to make the most of your smokers air vents is central.

Most smokers have two types of vents, one at the lesser and 1 at the top, although smoker designs do vary. The bottom vent, located near, and usually under, your firebox is known equally your intake vent. The pinnacle vent, is your exhaust vent.

vents on charcoal smoker

Air comes in your intake vent. Warm air circulates from your fire box out the exhaust vent. Because hot air rises, your exhaust vent acts as a vacuum to draw air into the intake vent. When this hot air rises, it heats upward your smoker.

Meathead goes into more than detail into how the intake and frazzle work over on amazingribs.com

Meathead-Goldwyn

Meathead Goldwyn, Using the Vents to Control Temperature on Charcoal and Forest Burning Grills and Smokers

The intake damper is near the charcoal or forest and its chore is to provide them with oxygen. The intake damper is the engine that drives the arrangement. Shut information technology off and you lot starve the fire and information technology burns out fifty-fifty if the exhaust damper is open. Open up it all the mode and the temperature rises. On most grills and pits you command temperature mainly by decision-making the intake damper.

The exhaust damper (a.m.a. flue, vent, or chimney) has 2 jobs: (one) Allow the combustion gases, heat, and smoke to escape, and (2) pull oxygen in through the intake damper. This pull, chosen draft, is created by hot gases ascension through the chimney trying to escape.
The exhaust damper needs to be at least partially open at all times in society to keep combustion gases from smothering the fire like a wet blanket of CO, CO2, and other combustion products.

The Correct Way to Adjust Smoker Temperature

So nosotros know that the way to control your temp is by adjusting the intake dampers. Merely before you go opening and endmost them and overshooting the mark a word of caution. The best explanation we've heard for this comes from the folks over at Geek With Fire.

A smoker'south firebox and vent system tin exist compared to a big truck with a small engine. It is going to take some time to get the truck up to speed. All the same, once yous get up to speed, it is even harder to wearisome down due to gravity, momentum, and the size of the truck.

Simply like with a truck, a smoker takes a while to reach your desired temperature. Once your temperature begins to rise, information technology can go rapidly. When you lot do achieve that temperature, yous will have a difficult time going back down. This is called an overshoot. Y'all don't want to brand a habit of overshooting your target temp.

Monitoring temperature on a weber smokey mountain

It is important to remember to make minor adjustments Before you need to. This volition assistance y'all avert overreacting and overshooting the temperature you were trying to achieve.

Here are some factors to keep in listen when adjusting the intake damper

Make note of how fast your temperature is rise. The faster it is rising, the sooner you need to accept activity.
Want to back off your temperature? Adjust your intake vent to a more closed position. This will let less oxygen in to heat upwardly your smoker, causing the temperature to rise at a much slower rate.
Feel like your smoker just isn't hot enough? First, ensure you still accept plenty charcoal in your fire box. If you've been running your smoker for several hours a gentle stir may exist enough to get support to temp. Sometimes y'all just need to add more fuel though.
Avoid over adjusting your vents. When you make an aligning, requite it enough of time to work earlier adding another adjustment.

E'er do a 'dry run' on a new smoker

Our primary aim here is to not accident an entire pay check on ruined meat. The best way to exercise this is to make certain you lot take full control of your barbecue at all times. This means yous know exactly how to use a charcoal smoker and get it to a safe smoking temperature between 225 – 250°F, and how to hold it there.

It likewise means you know how to brand adjustments when things get wrong.

Malcolm Reed of HowToBBQRight recommends taking your smoker on a trial run earlier loading information technology up with meat. This makes a lot of sense. All smokers work a piddling differently. The time it takes for different smokers to reach your target temp varies.

While most smokers come with a built in thermometer, these tin can be up to l°F off the actual temp where your meat volition be sitting. This is why we always recommend using a dedicated thermometer to go along runway of your temps. Fifty-fifty during a dry run it'southward well getting in some practice.

You lot can have notes about how long it takes for your smoker to get up to temp. You tin and then pay conscientious attention to how your vents piece of work, and how adjusting them slightly tin result in large temp swings.

What to do if You See Thick, White Smoke?

Thick white smoke is an indicator that your forest isn't burning properly.

This tin can be specially problematic on a stick burning starting time smoker. Ideally, the smoke coming from the frazzle vent should exist thin and blue in colour. Thick white fume will impart an undesirable, biting flavor to your meat. Clammy wood is ordinarily said to exist the culprit when thick white smoke is present.

If you can help it, avoid using damp wood.
Adjust your intake vent to let more air flow.
An increase in air period will help ensure a hotter fire, therefore your forest will combust and burn down quicker.

How the weather can event your smoker temp

Conditions is always a gene when smoking. This can be an fifty-fifty bigger factor if yous are cooking with a cheap or poorly insulated smoker. A windy twenty-four hour period will cause more air to flow through the intake vent, causing a hotter fire.

Cold conditions outside can also cause you to loose more than heat through the walls of your smoker. Ever proceed more fuel on hand than y'all usually would.

Smoking isn't just a summertime activity though then you shouldn't let bad conditions put y'all off. Only be sure to account for current of air ideally by placing your smoker in a sheltered position. Yous may also want to close your vents off slightly more usual.

Turn your charcoal smoker into a 'set it and forget it' smoker with an automatic temperature controller

So far we've learnt how you can control the temp in your smoker past adjusting the air vents to achieve your desired temps.

While this tin achieve reliable charcoal-broil low and tiresome temps, you're going to go the occasional flare up. All it takes is a change in the current of air direction (especially if your smoker is on the leaky side) and you can experience a dangerous heat blitz.

Rather than baby sitting your smoker all day (and potentially all dark), some very clever people have invented a device to practice this for you.

These automatic temperature controllers piece of work past connecting to your smoker and then regulating the air menstruum to maintain a steady temperature. They take the judge work out of constantly adjusting air vents.

For those of yous who like to stay warm and comfy in side (or in bed) while your food smokes, these units are a life saver. The WIFI connection allows yous to continue an eye on the temperature and even adjust your desired temp on the wing. These units too come with more features that let you produce logs and graphs to impress your geekier barbecue mates.

Wrapping information technology up

After reading this guide you should feel confident using the vents on your smoker to command your temperature. At that place'due south no substitute for practice though! The all-time thing you can do is experiment with your new smoker in a variety of different conditions to get a feel for information technology.

If you lot are cooking on a Weber Smokey Mount in that location is a fantastic guide to all the factors that might be making your smoker run hot or common cold. Otherwise allow us know in the comments below if you take any tips or suggestions yous call back we've missed for controlling your temps.