Hello folks, read at length on here and had my first go at low and slow smoking and it has been somewhat a disaster. I have a landmann tennessee smoker with the offset set smoke box. Fired it up and with gentle fiddling settled the temp at around 110 deg C to do some ribs. Put them in at room temp and had a drop to 100 C but thought this would be ok. 5 hours later and having tried more and less air, more or less charcoal I have been unable to get the temp above 100 at all. Whilst my ribs have the appearance of having been smoked in terms of colour they are like a piece of rubber and show no signs at all of cookedness, ie coming away from the bone or ofcourse being hot.
I have admitted the shameful defeat and one of the 2 racks now sits in my oven, the ultimate shame of any budding pitmaster, the other remains in my stubborn smoker that refuses to budge above 100, for the record I lit the charcoal vriquettes in a chimney starter and at tthe very start we had temperatures of 120-130 so I am very confused and dejected.
Would welcome some guidance and advice, should have bought an excel or WSM not admissable advice please
Hey, sorry to hear about your first time. I recently started on an affset too and had some trouble maintaining temp. I found getting used to the air intake and chimney shutters took work and I raised the level of the coal grate in the fire box so more air came in under the coals and started to build my fire close to the opening to the cooking chamber which worked better for me. I also had to battle with heat escaping but I think my smoker is prob cheaper than yours. you didnt mention how you start your fire? I use a charcoal started (the tin tubes with air intakes at the bottom). this ensures the coals are good and hot before they even go in the fire box. Did you have ash building up and blocking the air intake on the fire box?
Anyway, thats about as much as i can think to mention form the point of view from someone also new to smoking. All BBQs and smokers seem to take some getting used to. Good luck on your next try, might be worth trying to maintain a fire on its own before buying more meat.
We all understand your frustration, no shame in finishing off in the oven they will still taste a million times better for sitting in a nice mellow smoke even if it wasn't long enough to cook them completely. I would suspect your problems will relate to any or all of the following
1. Not enough lit charcoal
2. A leaky firebox and/or smoke chamber
3. Wind
4. Not leaving the coals long enough in the firebox before shutting the vents down
5. Blocked grate preventing airflow
6. Leaving the coals for too long before putting in the firebox
Next time try leaving the fire going for longer before shutting the vents down, on your cooker temperatures will soon drop if you overshoot too much. I would start with a full chimney of briquettes and add them to the firebox 15 to 20 minutes after putting a flame under them, any longer and you may have used up a lot of the high heat required to get the smoker up to temperature, if you start losing temperature then get another half chimney lit asap and put them in your firebox before you loose too much heat.
Most important chill, it's only BBQ and it all comes with practice and patience, when you nail it, which you will it will be the best food you and your family have ever eaten
Assuming you had enough fuel, did you ensure that both bottom and chimney vents were both fully open?
Also, how are you measuring the temperature? If you are using a thermometer on the lid of the smoker, take it off and test it in boiling water to ensure it is accurate.
Hello chaps,
Thanks for the advice. The good news was that the ribs were top tasty and am reliably informed had a very definite smoke ring.
Studied the aftermath in light of the advice. The grate the coals sit on in the smoker box is very low indeed and thus when I looked this morning was completely choked with ash. Think I may also have left the coals in the chimney too long and wasted a good chunk of their useable heat. Finally not convinced about the charcoal itself, some elderly supermarket briquettes.....
So take 2 next weekend with a raised grate in the smoke box, lumpwood instead of the briquettes and will try and hold a little higher before meat introduction.
Think I may have a wings frenzy next week so will be looking to go hotter for shorter.
