Thanks again gang!
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Well, basically it's tuning the triangle, I guess: heat, air, fuel. Here's a simple version: https://kbq.us/fire-triangle/
And here's the long version: http://www.genuineideas.com/Assets/i...%20Blonder.pdf -
And then there's the temperature controllers like Digi-Q that control the temp by the amount of air that is pumped into the fire box. This thread is mind boggling! -
OK, so I've got the KBQ, which more or less takes care of the airflow with its fans. But I also have a BGE, and find that a different kind of beast in terms of fire management. It always seemed that small airflow was what was needed to manage temps. Still had to get it to the point where smoke hits the right quality. So last year I got a smobot. It controls the temps by adjusting the top vent. And it is virtually the same as doing it manually. So, I'm not sure what to say. I guess there's a convection effect going on in a kamado, that leads to a different approach.
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Yes thanks for that! I've been here reading through it. Humidity is one thing I have no clue about. Is there a way to gauge the humidity in your smoker, short of buying some sort of detector? I think its usually humid in mine naturally because I see condensation, but I really have no idea. -
Thank's y'all! I've been building fires far too big. Heating logs up in the firebox would have been tricky using my newb technique... but building smaller fires is exactly what I'm working on as per the advice above in the thread so I think I can make this work!
Give it a lot of air
Regulate temp by limiting fuel
Smaller splits
Get em hot and ready to burn
It's nice having so many mentors
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Huskee - Mind blowing. I have cooked in the Yoder Durango by intake only forever! I am noticing a 125 degree difference between right cook chamber temp, and the vertical chamber temp. Do you think I should crack the exhaust damper to get a more even spread? I never even thought to touch it (though it makes sense, as I cook in the BGE by top damper only, and rarely don't have the bottom wide open).
On the wood side, I use the miter saw and chop about 6" split sections, and add maybe 2 or 3 chunks an hour in a long cook.
Good go, just when I thought I was on level ground!!!Leave a comment:
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This is a very good thread. But it mainly addresses cooking in large offset cookers. For most of us backyard warriors; however, the physics are still the same. Take a WSM smoker. I have mine (along with a lot of others here) rigged up with a temperature controller and fan. The fire is regulated by passing air over the charcoal thus igniting combustion then shutting down when a certain temperature is read at the top of the smoker. Thus air movement becomes the first variable, which is certainly key to keeping the fire burning clean.
After that it becomes the size of the fire itself. We've had numerous posts where folks complain that they can't control the temps on their WSM, either can't get them hot enough or can't seem to cool them down. I would say that 90% of the time it's not so much about the venting and air flow but the size of the fire. A 22" WSM can hold nearly an entire bag of charcoal, which lit will produce a 500* fire in a WSM in a matter of minutes. That's why, especially for low and slow, we use the minion method or the snake method so that the fire SIZE remains relatively small BUT with air management gets as intense as it needs to in order to produce a clean fire.
I'm going to side with those that control the second variable, which is controlling the size of the fire instead of worrying as much about air flow management. That's actually my 3 cents worth, 2 cents ended at paragraph #2.Leave a comment:
Leave a comment: