Greetings from Michigan!

[Walt]

Everything I have read from other members has been real positive with reguard to low temp use.  Give us your feedback after your done.

[swthorpe]

I don't think it will be a problem, but keep the smoker out of the wind if you can.   Your temps tmw may set a a record for the smoking-it smokers,  so let us know how it all turns out.  Cheers

[Three Sons BBQ]

Yes -4F for us but now I feel even better about the garage mods to install an oven hood. 

[cwshiles]

The lowest temp I have smoked so far has been between 15 - 40 degrees.  I do not have any scientific proof that there was an issue, but the colder it is, the harder the smoker will work to keep temp.  Yes, the smoker is insulated, but just as your house thermostat jumps more when it gets colder outside, so will your smoker.  The good news is that several others have been smoking at low temps or in the snow (including my ribs from 2 days ago) and I actually had the best results I have had yet.  I did 2 chickens today that I just pulled out and ate and the temp here today was about 38 with A LOT of cold wind and they turned out great.

The only word of advice I would throw out is make sure you give yourself a little more time on the front of the cook so that you can make sure you can get done by your desired finish time.  You can always wrap the meat or drop the smoker temp to 130  with the extra time you have.  It will keep your meat warm and help the juices to redistribute into the meat. 

Good luck!

[DivotMaker]

The coldest I've smoked (a turkey) was, I think, 9-degrees.  These dudes are insulated well, just allow a little more time for it to get to temp.  I'm toying with the idea of designing a custom insulated cover....more to follow!

[Three Sons BBQ]

Sounds adventurous.  Thermodynamics is all about Q (or heat loss).

Possibly a course on the Q for 'cue?

I don't need any more insulation but offer the following:
- tight seal good ( like tyvek on a house to stop wind)
- insulation good
- air gap (i.e. Insulation) better
- double insulation best (seal,insulation, air gap, insulation, seal)

[DivotMaker]

Sounds adventurous.  Thermodynamics is all about Q (or heat loss).

Possibly a course on the Q for 'cue?

I don't need any more insulation but offer the following:
- tight seal good ( like tyvek on a house to stop wind)
- insulation good
- air gap (i.e. Insulation) better
- double insulation best (seal,insulation, air gap, insulation, seal)

OK, Steve, you MUST be an engineer!  Love it!

[Three Sons BBQ]

Indeed. Although I am thinking of changing my handle to "The Q of Cue" ... But alas will stick with my heritage handle.

[Pickle]

Will do gents, think good thoughts, the temp now is -10F (wind chills in the -30F range) and climbing to a whopping 2F by the time the ribs should be done.......

Appreciate the help!

[DivotMaker]

Will do gents, think good thoughts, the temp now is -10F (wind chills in the -30F range) and climbing to a whopping 2F by the time the ribs should be done.......

Appreciate the help!

At those temps, I predict the ribs will done about....April. LOL

[cwshiles]

Haha. I don't think I would even want to go outside to get the ribs when they were done at that temp. Have fun with that!

[DivotMaker]

Yep...my hat's off to you folks in the great white north!  It's been around 0 here the last few mornings, with a little snow.  The old #1 is safe in its cover on the porch, and smoking meat is not on my agenda until it warms up a little!

[Pickle]

Well, the arctic blast won, after 6 hours they only got to about 110F internal temp, so we wrapped them up and finished them in the oven yesterday.  They were great, however, disappointed we couldn't get them to work in the #2.

Next smoke will be whenever it gets above 30F........

[DivotMaker]

Well, the arctic blast won, after 6 hours they only got to about 110F internal temp, so we wrapped them up and finished them in the oven yesterday.  They were great, however, disappointed we couldn't get them to work in the #2.

Next smoke will be whenever it gets above 30F........

Not surprising!  That element can only do so much!  Guess we found our "lower limit!"