Preheating and temp swings

Internal temp listed is air temperature, I assume? Are these tests with food in oven?

I guess if you preheat, you'd want to put the wood in after preheating. Otherwise you'd lose a lot of smoke. But at that point, the element won't be on so it may be difficult to get the wood burning quickly. My impression is that you want a lot of smoke early, when the meat will absorb a lot of flavor.

Yes, air temperature with a small load.

I'm just a little suspect of my thermostat when I saw this quote "In an empty oven (worse case) with set point at 225 you will probably see temperature swings of +30 and -20 degrees" in this post http://www.cookshack.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=20&t=000035

Maybe this is just the way it works but I wanted to see how others dealt with it. I could step up my temps as I smoke to bring the temp up a little more gradually but I was hoping this would be a 'set and forget' type thing.

Hi Ron,

What are you cooking and what didn't you like about it? I doubt that the temperature swings have anything to do with, I find most of the time it has to do with what you are cooking and what the end result you are looking for is.

ron,

If you're moving from an ECB to a CS, there is a learning curve. And, as you've seen from the many temp curve posts we have, if you look at it for average temps, then it works as advertised.

I'm like Stuart, what were you cooking, what temp, and what were the results. Specific statements will help us solve the problem, was it overcooked, raw, what?

I didnt start recording temps until My 4th load since I knew something was up. After seasoning, my very first load was chicken and I cant comment on it too much due to the...ummm...condition I was in at the time (party). Second and third was baby backs. This is my benchmark. They were more like oven baked then my product on the ECB. (Temp was set at 225 per the manual and thats what I usually shot for in the past). After doing the temp tests (I did a batch of ribs and used some taters to simulate a load for the tests) I think I can see why. They were in a 290degree oven for a good 20-30 minutes at the start and the average temp was closer to 245. This thing is so well insulated it doesnt loose the heat very fast. Over time the oven does loose the initial spike during the first heat cycle, but the average is still well above the set temp. My 50 has a 40degree temp swing even well into the cook. This may be ok, and its probably not the swing that is the problem but the higher average temp. For me, if I want an average temp of 225 I better set it for 200 (after the initial spike is gone). Mine starts ramping up once it hits the set point, not floating between it as Ive seen discussed.

Im smoking another batch of baby backs now. Knowing what I do now, Im slowly ramping up the temp to avoid the initial spike. I initially set it at 125 and hit 180 after 25mins, but it started to slowy come back down. So now Im starting to ramp it up to my 200degree set point. Now, if this is normal, I'll deal with it. I just want to make sure nothing is wrong with my thermostat and I just have to adjust the way I cook.

I do realize there is going to be a learning curve with a new smoker and Ill most likely get it figured out to make some good que.

Thanks for your input.

Update.. The ribs tonight turned out perfect. I ramped the temp up in 2 steps. First set at 125, then up to 180, and finally to 200. These where the settings via the dials which did not come anywhere near the average internal temp over that period. My average temp in the oven turned out to be between 215 and 235 over most of the session. My 50 may not be representitive of others out there, but I do think temperature control was my problem.

that's an interesting approach (to ramp up). I haven't had problems with the temp swings, but I can see how that would avoid that spike. Did you find that the wood started to smoke during the initial phases, or did it not start smoking til later?

Woodburner, It started smoking right away. A nice even smoke throughout the first half of the session. I used 3oz of Hickory and a lump of hardwood charcoal. Amazing how stingy this thing is with wood.

If I remember correctly,John Shifflet told me that wood would begin smoking at 135�.