Couldn't Stop Falling Temp

[Derek Chaney]

Hello all. First time poster. I have done twenty to thirty successful cooks in my PBC since I got it a year ago. Maintaining temp has never been a problem before. I follow Noah's instructions more or less to a T. I start with a full basket of unlit Kingsford Blue, remove 40 briquettes and light them in a chimney, pour over unlit coals in basket, let burn for 10 to 15 minutes, then hang my meat. I am at sea level so I have the damper at 1/4 open. On every previous occasion, the cooker has stayed between 280 and 300 for at least 6 hours. That is, until yesterday. I had 12 adults and several kids over to the house and I hung two racks of St Louis Style, a tritip, and a rack of lamb. Everything was normal for the first two hours of the cook, and then the temp started to drop. It dropped slowly at first. When it got down to 275 I opened the damper to 1/2 open. Temperature kept dropping. At 260 I cracked the lid a bit. Temperature kept dropping. Within three hours of lighting the coals, the temp had fallen all the way to 210 regardless of how much I adjusted the airflow. Luckily the tritip and lamb were already done at this point but I had to finish the ribs in the oven. Has anyone had anything like this happen? I'm wondering if maybe:

1) My charcoal had somehow gotten exposed to moisture or otherwise compromised

2) There is a problem with my Maverick ET-732 or it's probes and perhaps the temp was not really dropping

3) Every other cook I have done before this one was far less meat. Normally just one tritip. I figure having that amount of meat in the barrel could have affected temperature control, but Noah says you can hang eight racks of ribs in there no problem. I had less meat in there than that.

Has anyone else had any experience like this with their PBC? Any insight is appreciated! Thanks in advance!

[Voodoo]

Probably evaporative cooling from the extra meat. I think you can do one of 3 things: Let it do its thing and enjoy the awesome food, but just start earlier; overflow the basket with charcoal and get a stronger initial fire that will deal better with the food load; our mod your pbc like Jerod Broussard so you can push the temps up when desired.

[Derek Chaney]

Thanks for the input! I will check out that mod!

[Jerod Broussard]

Did you have any coals left over after the cook that were not completely burned?

[Derek Chaney]

Hmmm...I don't know actually. This was last night and the coals hadn't fully gone out when I hit the sack. I will check as soon as I get home today.

[Huskee]

Any chance that probe was in contact with something it shouldn't have been, or receiving some fresh air from cracking the lid?

[Derek Chaney]

There is absolutely a chance that either one of those things was happening. I am reasonably sure the probe wasn't making contact with anything, but now that you mention it, it was pretty darn close to where I had the lid cracked...

[Jerod Broussard]

The reason I ask is if some briquettes get really soaked they won't light well or continue to burn, especially those not in line with the airflow of the vent.

[Derek Chaney]

No unlit coals left. Just the standard amount of white ash.

[BruceB]

From the pic staring down into the barrel (pre-drop, correct?) it doesn't look you have many coals in the basket. I can see the bottom grate peeking through. Did you start with a full basket ?

[Derek Chaney]

Now that you mention it, it does look a little sparse in the picture. I started with a full basket, but just level. Not heaping. I then moved 40 briquettes into the chimney starter. This is the same process I have always done though and I've never had this temperature drop happen.

[kill2grill]

I think Voodoo is hitting the issue right on. I've had that kind of coal action when I didn't wipe off my marinade and it put out half of the coals on a standard, non-modified PBC.

How have the rest of you handled it? Usually the coals going out happens after the smoke is already flavored it up and throwing in the oven is not a deal breaker. Annoying yes, but the food still spot on.

[Derek Chaney]

Interesting. I didn't think about drippage putting out coals. The tritip was marinated and I didn't wipe it off so that is a possibility. You're absolutely right, the ribs were plenty smoky and nobody else cared that I finished them in the oven. I'd just like to figure out what happened.

[BigBear]

The good news is that it looks like you produced some great looking food for your party! One thing I noticed when I looked at your picture is that the location of your smoker probe is up at rebar level, as opposed to hanging down from the rebar nearest the meat. This would get you a more accurate indication of the temperature the meat is actually experiencing. It will also lessen the effect of a false reading given by the cold air hitting it when cracking the lid. That doesn't explain why the coals may have gone cold prematurely though. That probably boils down to either the mass quantity of meat in the smoker at one time and the moisture it produced, or a some compromised charcoal. It sounds like you have had some successful experiences with your PBC in the past so hopefully this is just an anomaly. That kinda stuff always seems to happen when there's a crowd around! Good luck on future cooks.

[Derek Chaney]

Do you normally just loop the probe line around the rebar and just let the probe hang halfway down the barrel or so? I never thought to do that but it sure makes sense. I think I'm going to have to buy some longer probes though.

[BigBear]

Derek, I use 6' probes and wrap them around the rebar a couple of times and let them hang toward the bottom of the meat, closest to the charcoal basket. Good luck!

[mayapoppa]

I think there might be something to the drippings interfering with the fire. I have had this problem, and found the best solution is to give the coals a stir. I've gone from dropping temps to another 4 hours of 270 after stirring the coals. I also would look into moving the probe. And, is that actually an ambient probe? I used a meat probe in the PBC for a while, and was constantly chasing around temps, until I finally decided I wasn't going to trust it, and just stopped monitoring pit temp. All of my subsequent cooks were fine. But I couldn't stand not knowing, so I finally got a proper pit thermometer. Since I have started using that, I have been seeing much more consistent temps from the PBC, and rarely find myself needing to intervene. When I do see something like rising or falling temps, I am inclined to trust it more, and taking action seems to have better results.

[Derek Chaney]

Thanks for the insight! The probe is one of the two that came with the Maverick ET-732. Is that not a "proper pit thermometer?" I always use one side of the Maverick for ambient pit temp and the other side for the thickets hunk of meat. What am I doing wrong?

[mayapoppa]

I don't know the Maverick, but in my (extremely limited) experience, pit probes are usually blunt. Someone please correct me if I am off base here.

[mayapoppa]

I actually asked about this a while ago on this forum, and got some great info: https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...t-thermometers

[Derek Chaney]

Thanks for all the great input everybody!! Lots of good stuff for me to look into. As my first time posting a question on the forum I am tickled pink at how much thoughtful feedback you all gave, and quickly too! Thanks everybody. Cheers!

[Huskee]

Derek Chaney you can use either probe for meat or cooker temp. The only difference is their shape, not their function.

[Iron Bulldog]

I ran into the opposite problem last weekend with St. Louis Ribs. Lit coals correctly, 1/4 open damper, shooting for 275 and it climbed to 310. Closed damper to an 1/8th and it came down just under 300. After reading this I realized my probe position was wrong. I had it stuck in a vent hole. Never thought of looping over rebar at meat level. Duh.

[JohnF]

Looks like to me with the probe attached to the rebar it may be getting moisture dripping from the lid?

[PappyBBQ]

The PBC is a super moist environment. I usually "bake" my probes in the oven for a bit prior to every cook, making sure not to put the plastic end in! I had one cook where the pit temp was all over the map, jumping up and down. I ended up ruining two racks of St. Louis ribs. Now I take "precautions"! Haven't had any issues since.