Can't get to hot and fast? First try though.

[bmillin]

Love everything about the Bronco so far. Low and slow works great, hanging chickens works great. Did a prime rib last week and raised the basket to sear it after a brief rest, came out great.

Tonight I filled the basket with glowing B&B Oak lump, let it get up to temp - i thought - and threw on some boned chicken thighs. It never really go over 300 even with the intake and vent at 4. Chicken came out good, just not what I wanted as far as timing and skin texture.

What has your experience been at getting the bronco over 300? It is 100 ambient temp here.

[Panhead John]

If you’re trying to do chicken on the Bronco, with the coals in the smoking position, not elevated, here’s what you can try. I’m assuming you’re doing the chicken on the cooking grate. If you’re looking for crispier skin, I’d remove the heat deflector AND move your cooking grate down to the lower level. This would put the chicken closer to the coals and maybe crispier skin.

[Potkettleblack]

One option would be a looser fire to get more air in there. Light more coals at the start. Remove the deflector. Or put the coals up high, and double banked with a drip pan in the middle for two zone.

[Panhead John]

bmillin 58limited also mentioned a while back about not getting the Bronco hot enough for his cook. I just remembered something this morning that might help. I’m not the most experienced Bronco user here, but on at least 3 occasions I’ve wanted to do a hot smoke…not a low and slow on the Bronco. Here’s what worked for me.

I’m not a lump user, but from what I hear, lump is supposed to burn hotter than charcoal so I’m a little surprised as to why you couldn’t get over 300*. Also I need to ask this, did you go by the factory thermometer or your own grate probes? This is important to know because the Bronco thermometer shows about 40*- 50* lower than the actual grate temps. I’ve tested this with my ThermoWorks grate probe. Others have mentioned roughly the same differences as well.

I had no problems getting up to 375* - 400* doing this. Using B & B charcoal briquettes I filled the charcoal pan about half full of unlit briquettes. I then placed about 1/2 to 3/4 chimney of hot coals evenly over the top of the unlit coals. I then placed the charcoal pan at the bottom of the Bronco and left the lid open and the intake vent wide open. After about 30 minutes time the unlit coals started to take off. I then placed my wood chunks in and closed the lid with both vents wide open. After about 5 or 10 minutes I then placed my food on the grill. Each time I did this, my factory thermometer would show about 325* or so. Knowing that the actual grate temps were roughly 50* hotter, I assumed I was cooking at around 375-400. I didn’t use my grate probes because I’d already tested these temps before. And I also left the vents wide open for the whole cook. Hope this helps.

EDIT: All these cooks were with the heat deflector in place and my cooking grate at the regular top position.

[tstalafuse]

The OKJ site says for hot and fast, fill the charcoal basket and light in 2-3 different spots that are not next to one another so that you have more charcoal going immediately vs 2-3 spots that are close to one another for low and slow. This is their youtube video.. Hot and fast begins at the 2:20 mark. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgMV3SyPb9k

I also used the hot/fast for when I was doing the initial burn in, and the temp gauge showed close to 400. In actual use, the stock temp gauge vs Fireboard was about 50 degrees different.