Skip to main content

6 replies

Hot weather smoking and unburned wood?

D dwsMember
My SM025 resides in Phoenix where daytime highs have been near 110 degrees for weeks -- even in the shade. What I've noticed after several cooks is wood only partly burned and flavors somewhat less smoky than expected, perhaps because the heating element isn't running as hard as it would if ambient temps were cooler. (It *is* making contact with the floor of the wood box.) Anyone else ever notice this?
Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

R rangerdfMember
I live in Phoenix as well. I turn my 025 to 275 or 300 to start and once I get smoke from the top hole I turn it down to what ever temp I want to cook at. Seems to get the wood started and it continues to smoke better through out the cook. I honestly thought this was just the way my unit worked. I didn't think it was becasuse of the ambient outside temp but maybe it is???
D dwsMember
quote:
Originally posted by RangerDF:
I live in Phoenix as well. I turn my 025 to 275 or 300 to start and once I get smoke from the top hole I turn it down to what ever temp I want to cook at. Seems to get the wood started and it continues to smoke better through out the cook. I honestly thought this was just the way my unit worked. I didn't think it was becasuse of the ambient outside temp but maybe it is???


I guess we'll have to wait for cooler ambients to tell for sure, but -- in theory, anyway -- the heating element should cycle on more frequently for a given setting when it's, say, 40 degrees outside versus 110 degrees outside. I'm guessing this would produce more rapid (or complete?) combustion of the wood.
D dwsMember
quote:
Originally posted by SmokinMAINEiac:
Split your wood chunks into smaller pieces.

I live in Central Florida and the temps are in the 90-95 degree range at the present.

I split a one ounce chunk into 3 or 4 pieces.

Sometimes the wood turns to charcoal, sometimes it turns to ash.

Both results produce a good smoke flavor IMO.


Good advice, thanks. Will try it.
S smokinmaineiacMember
Oh ya, BTW I put the wood pieces in the wood box with the grain side down, not the standing up on their cross cut side. It would be kinda difficult to do otherwise. Wink

You could also start at 225* and bump it up to 250* or 275* after the smoker temp stabilizes just to get the pieces smoking again if they don't seem to be giving off enough smoke for you. Gotta use some tricks in this heat!

Add Reply

Post

Membership Required

We're sorry. You must be signed in to continue. Sign In or Register
×
Are you sure you want to remove from your Block List?
×
Loading...
×
When you block a person, they can no longer invite you to a private message or post to your profile wall. Replies and comments they make will be collapsed/hidden by default. Finally, you'll never receive email notifications about content they create or likes they designate for your content.
Note: if you proceed, you will no longer be following .
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×