On Sun, 1 Aug 2004 17:01:30 -0700, "Duwop" > wrote:

>Jesse Skeens wrote:
>> On Sun, 1 Aug 2004 08:45:49 -0700, "Duwop" > wrote:
>>
>> Right now I'm having a hell of a time getting the temp up.
>> Its only gone up to about 230 so far. Seems like I've added
>> about 3 chimmneys of lump. I do have the vent at 1/4 of the
>> way. Should I open it until the temp rises and then close back
>> down again?
>
>Sorry, yeah, get the thing started wide open before shutting down.
>
>>Just added some more lump on top so hopefully
>> that will help. Looks like I need to make a bigger fire and then
>> jsut keep maintainign with constant fuel addtions.
>>
>> Jesse
>
>Pretty much.


Ok so the fire has stablized now and its a more comfortable
225-240. What is puzzling is that I have a lot less coals now
yet it seems to hold better. Looks like the key is to have some
bigger chunks of wood standing by. I dropped about a
5" x 4" chunk and that got the temp up. Before I was
adding chimney after chimnet of either lump or burned
wood and it was barely making a difference. Never got
the grade higher than 240-250 though. Big difference
compared to the WSM which will easily sky rocket
if you added a full chimney to it.

Took my chicken quarters off a little while ago and they
came out good. Ribs are almost done as well.

All inall I like cooking on this better than the WSM.
After the initial trial and error period I seem to have
it down now. And although its not as "set and forget"
as the WSM, putting a few chunks of fuel on every
so often isn't exactly "work".

Thanks for all the help.

Jesse