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NEW (to me) FEC100 Owner - love it for first BIG cook

J jasonjaxMember
I bought a 2010 FEC100 from Queniverous. He was even kind enough to deliver it to me in JAX FL from Tennessee on his way south of me.

I did my first major cook two days after it was delivered for my son's Blue and Gold ceremony at Cub Scouts. I did three packers and four butts. I also cooked 90+ hot dogs on it.

The FEC performed amazingly well, but one thing I noticed is my top rack temps (where I had the 4 butts) was a good bit lower than my set-point.

Is that normal? It is something I can easily compensate for, but I was wondering if I may have been doing something wrong.

In total I cooked 13+ hours and it all came out wonderful.

I'm looking forward to continuing to learn about the FEC100 and do some more cooking!
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R ribdogMember
That is very perplexing as the top and the bottom rack in my two FEC100s are the hottest in the smoker. Make sure you don't have the heat shield pushed all the way touching the back wall of the smoker. That might throw off the dynamics of the air movement inside the smoker. Beyond that, I can only surmise that having four cold butts on the top shelf would have kept the temp around the temperature probe colder than the air temp really was. Depending on the size of the of the butts, having four butts on one rack could possibly leave very little room for a temp probe to sit on the rack also.
FM Former Member
Heat rises, so something is off.

Your thermometer? If you had 4 butts on the shelf how did you measure temp? Was the fire running and holding or trying to come back to temp. When you measure can matter.

Airflow is blocked like John said.

Do you have the vent hole blocked at all?

Here's a thread whee I did temp mapping in an early model FEC, but it should be close to this

Temp Mapping an FEC100
cal 2cal 2Member
quote:
Originally posted by jasonjax
PITA to clean, but awesome cooker.


Not if you line the bottom with aluminium foil and foil the slide pan(grease catch), make sure you punch a hole in the bottom thou. I then put a full size aluminium serving pan in the grease tray. Vacuum the fire pot before every use. Don't seem too hard, could be just me thou.

RibDog was kind enough to teach me that if I'm using the top shelf with a load of butts, rotate the shelf during the cook.
FM Former Member
quote:
Originally posted by jasonjax:
PITA to clean, but awesome cooker. Smiler


Really? You ought to try the Charbroiler or Pellet Grills.

I keep it simple.

Vacuum out the firepot (bought a small vacuum, leave it near the smoker

Take off the foil from the drip pan about every other cook. Take off the foil from the bottom when there is any appreciable buildup up (depends on what I'm cooking but usually a few runs.

Dump out the grease.

I only clean the racks as need, just scrap off the crunchy bits that might drop on other food.

Now, if you're like some people and you clean the racks every time, and one guy would clean it down to the stainless EVERY time he cooked, that would be a pain.
FM Former Member
quote:
Originally posted by David Qualls:
I'm with Nordy about the racks.


Think of it like this, if seasoning is good for the sides, why isn't it good for the grates?

Having owned my # of smokers of the years, including large stick burners, and now that I have, oh maybe 14 racks to clean with two smokers. It would get awful expensive for me to do that every time. I run the smoker every so often to high heat, let the racks clean up, and then brush the crude of.
P pagsMember
I use to clean my racks thoroughly after every cook, but now do it every 3 or 4 smokes. I changed after seeing the grates at a few barbecue restaurants. Ever see the rotating rib racks at Claim Jumpers and places like that. When I haven't cleaned the racks, I preheat the smoker.

That said, I fully understand why some like their racks sparkling.
N nordyMember
I hear ya... probably not necessary, however I'm cleaning them and no one is going to change my mind Wink.

I can't help but think that ribs laying meat down on a "dirty" rack won't pick up some color I don't want them to have... I know, I know... I've never really seen that happen as long as the big crud is cleaned off... still... I'm going with clean...

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!
R ribdogMember
For me, it really depends on what I am cooking and who I am cooking it for as to whether I clean my racks off or not. For butts or briskets, it does not matter as much. For ribs and it is for me, I might clean the racks off first. For others, I would definitely clean them off. No, they aren't sparkling, but those racks are going on eight years old. No way are those going to be sparkling!
D davidquallsMember
quote:
Originally posted by SmokinOkie:
quote:
Originally posted by David Qualls:
I'm with Nordy about the racks.


Think of it like this, if seasoning is good for the sides, why isn't it good for the grates?

I run the smoker every so often to high heat, let the racks clean up, and then brush the crude of.


I understand but... I really am not comfortable running up my FEC really high since trying my hot & fast trials the back wall and bottom of my FEC have a warp from the heat that I popped back down with a rubber hammer....

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