Help! 100 Fire last night. Cooking again

Im thinking 275 for 4 hours, wrap both go to 300?

Assuming the lack of door seals will allow you to hold even temps, your plan will work. Wrap and reset to 300 once you hit plateau.

Not knowing the weights of your meats, I can't say how long it will take. I used a similar temp on a 13.5 brisket and it took 9 hrs. to finish.

What caused the fire?

Wow, did a search in the interweb for fast brisket... I didn't know there was so much info out there about doing a "hot and fast" brisket. Unless someone chimes in I am goig to stick with the 275, wrap, 300.

Tanks for getting back MaxQ. The brisket is 14lb before trim. So from what you said I should be in the ball park. The butt and shoulder were about 3 lbs when I took them out this morning .

As for the fire, there was a LOT of burnt pellets on the floor of the smoker. I have been having trouble with the pot filling up to the top by the morning. I usually just empty it restart the fire and continue on. I was running a real low temp this time. Maybe the pot was way over filled and the fire fell out and caught the overflow pellets on fire. Then it spread to the fat on the drip pan. I foil the drip pan and it was cleaned before this smoke. There was some drippings on the floor but nothing that would have caused this. Also the meat was in the middle so there was no chance the drippings went down the walls.

So I don't know.

Cast iron or Stainless Steel Firepot? Have you pulled the pot to vacuum ash that surrounds the air holes?

I ALWAYS throw a handful of pellets into the pot after I clean it. The igniter will only work for a set period of time and if they haven't lit by the time it goes off then you have pelletfall (like a waterfall of pellets). Usually an issues of timing from the igniter and enough pellets or even airflow.

I have the SS pot. Pot pulled and cleaned often.

My igniter has not worked for years. I throw in a handful of pellets and light with propane torch. Unit was running for 3 hours before I went to bed.

The "Hot & Fast" did not seem to give the flavor i get when done slow.

Let us know how you make out with Tony/Bill @ CS. When you order a new gasket, consider adding a new igniter to the shipment.

Fires are a rarity in the FE and there is usually something that can be figured out, so pardon the questions.

Can you tell from any scorch marks was there a concentration of soot (usually the point of the fire).

If the pellet hopper was overflowing that means there wasn't a fire to burn the pellets. And if somehow the unit was restarted and the igniter started again, then they were just too full.

Were all the pellets in the pot burnt or some burnt on top and not on bottom?

Obviously it happened somehow because you said they were burnt. For there to be a fire, grease has to get near the flame and it be hot enough to ignite.

Most of the fires I've heard about were done at 300+ and somehow the great splashed into the fire (usually from a dirty or plugged grease drain on the inside (the tray and square part that drip the grease down).

When you say you foil the drip pan, are you talking the tray that runs left to right? There just no way for that grease to splash out. The culprit is usually the long tray that runs front to back, on the side where the grease accumulates. A lot of time when I've looked inside other FE's I've seen that tray full of chunks and grease.

quote:

Originally posted by Broncosaurs:
The "Hot & Fast" did not seem to give the flavor i get when done slow.

It won't. The pellets burner faster and cleaner and the food doesn't spend as long in the "smoke zone."

quote:

Originally posted by SmokinOkie:
The culprit is usually the long tray that runs front to back, on the side where the grease accumulates. A lot of time when I've looked inside other FE's I've seen that tray full of chunks and grease.

Good to know, I haven't really been checking that part too often. Usually just clean out the ash and change the aluminum foil on the diagonal grease tray every few cooks. Something I will check tonight when I get home and more often before cooks.

Best I can tell on where the fire started the pot had some semiburned pellets in the mid bottom of pot. Handfuls of burnt pellets on floor. Yes, when I said drip pan it is the tray running left to right. The catch tray and drip tray, the tray the pan drains into, are cleaned and foiled together. Years back I did forget to punch hole on catch tray, but not this time. I just don't have any ideas what started it. The set temp was 185 so unless the probe is off I don't think it was high temp till the fire. It was 6 in the morning and I was panicking so I didn't spend the time to look for the cause.

I do have one of the chrome truck exhaust pipes, elbow and a 1' tip on the outlet. The pipe turned blue from the heat. Is there a way to get the chrome look back?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Broncosaurs:
...
I do have one of the chrome truck exhaust pipes, elbow and a 1' tip on the outlet. [QUOTE]

Now I hear some details those can contribute to your issue. I've seen more issues after people add a exhaust extension than from those that don't have one. The unit just isn't designed to evacuate air through a pipe. CS I believe suggests add an exhaust inline fan (there was a post with a model I think) to help keep the airflow going.

Ya, before I added the stack I did some reading. It is a 7" diameter sweep elbow with a 1'long 7" tip. Any restriction of flow is made up for by the convection going up the tip. Also I have had the elbow and tip on for 4 years without a problem. So I don't think the tip was a problem for the cause of the fire. In fact it might have saved the house from burning down by keeping the flame contained and going up instead of out the exhaust which might have caught what ever was next to the smoker on fire.

Brad

I have cooked thru an exhaust pipe for years. I don't have any problems. I would be looking at other reasons. Sorry to hear you had a fire, but if you cook with any cooker long enough the odds are this will happen. I have been smoking food 15 years (give or take a few) and I have had this happen once. See you down the BBQ trail.

Do you use an AMAZEN SMOKER TUBE? That can catch fire.

Make sure the meat doesn't extend beyond the heat shield FRONT & BACK.
With brisket, fat runs down the slope of the point and if it misses the tray it collects in the bottom, then "poof"! I had it happen with ribs. Scrunch them up! Chicken at high temps is the worst!!!