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18 replies

Problems with 2 stage PB smoke

M maxqMember
I've tried 2 staging meat in the FEC using manual settings but never using presets. Thursday night I loaded up 6 pork butts and returned Friday morning to find issues simular to Grux's...13 hrs later the butts (8# average) were temping 147-149.

What I did--
Turn on master
Set cook temp for 180
Set cook time for 8 hrs
Set Mode from COOK to HOLD
Set hold temp to 240

According to Fast Eddy, the butts should have finished up around the 13 hr mark. Upon my return the following morning, the cabinet temp wasn't 240 by any means (forgot to check the temp read-out...was in panic mode) There were some burning red pellets in the firepot but very few.

I'm guessing one of two things happened:
1. After 8 hrs at 180 the smoker dropped to 140 hold.
2. The temp never moved off the 180 mark.

I gave Bill a shout at Cookshack and he confirmed my presets to be correct. Any guesses what went wrong?

I did get the butts finished but they took 18 hrs start to finish Frowner
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M mountainmanMember
That is exactly what I did Friday night except I put a 16lb packer in mine at 9:00 PM. I checked at 6:00 AM and all was well the packer finished at 11:00 AM and the burnt ends followed about 2 hours later, all as expected with no problems.

Am interested in learning whats happening.

BTW my FEC-100 has NO extra venting hardware it is just like it left Cookshack.
M maxqMember
quote:
Originally posted by cal:
I have a question Chris, was your firepot half full of pellets also?



No. There were burning pellets in the bottom of the pot...like a handful.

Just gotta call from Coach. He said the problem resulted from switching the mode from cook to probe (I thought it was hold, but it's not) The correct procedure would have been: set temp 180, set cook time 8 hrs, set hold temp 240 and leave it in default cook mode.
FM Former Member
Maxque,

I think my fire may have been smoldered from the rapid load of pellets that were dumped in it while trying to hit 250.

FE says ~12 hours to get done? ..... lets just say that around the 16-17 hour mark I was still pulling off pork butts.

Not sure what Im going to try next. Maybe four hours at a low temp themp bump it up while using some sort of smoke stick?
M maxqMember
Theoretically the firepot combustion should have kept up with the additional pellets. Did you alter the MODE setting during your smoke (reset it from the default of COOK)? That's where I went wrong.

I'm going to run a test today doing the following:
set the cook temp to 180
set the cook time for 1 hr
set the hold temp for 240

I'll watch the temps for the 1st hour & 2nd hour. At the 60 minute +/- mark the swing should jump from 180 to 240. Will report results later today or tomorrow.
FM Former Member
quote:
Originally posted by MaxQue:
Theoretically the firepot combustion should have kept up with the additional pellets. Did you alter the MODE setting during your smoke (reset it from the default of COOK)? That's where I went wrong.

I'm going to run a test today doing the following:
set the cook temp to 180
set the cook time for 1 hr
set the hold temp for 240

I'll watch the temps for the 1st hour & 2nd hour. At the 60 minute +/- mark the swing should jump from 180 to 240. Will report results later today or tomorrow.


That is exactly what I did.

Cook Temp - 180*
Cook Time - 8 hrs
Hold Temp - 250

I set my alarm to go off shortly after the 8 hour cook time was over so I could check on it. When I got out to it, the smoker temp was at 150, and it was 10 minutes into my hold time.

With the fire pot only being half full with pellets, the temp down only 30* from my cooking temp, and only being 10 minutes into the hold, I am ASSUMING that is when my fire went out.

Even if it was for that short amount of time, I dont understand why it took so long to finish the cook?
FM Former Member
I called Bill at Cookshack and he said to make sure the holes in the fire pot are 3/8".... I guess there is a batch that went out that had smaller holes drilled.

He told me to go ahead and drill them to 3/8" if they were not. He said it would not void the warranty if I had to do it.

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