Temperature during the seasoning

[Thesneakyzebra]

I seasoned for about 4 hours and followed the instructions it came with (250 for 3-4 hours) other than the fact at about the 2.5 hour mark I added about 1.5 ounces of wood to help give it a little more love. Attached is the graph for the temperature during various times of the process. Sorry about how it shows the time, it scrunched it so its kinda hard to read. I know a new and empty smoker will have some major variation, and wow was it major. I am not too worried since I was not cooking anything in it.

One question I did have was how long do yall have smoke coming? Mine lasted about an hour. I thought these units let the smoke out throughout the cook. Am I missing something here? Thanks guys.

 

[benjammn]

Depends on how much wood you add and how long the cook is. But try to remember that meat will only absorb smoke for the first 140degrees or so. After that it really isn't doing much to the meat. Check back through some of the posts and you will see that it lasts quite a bit for such a small amount but isn't really necessary for the entire cook.

 

[Thesneakyzebra]

Depends on how much wood you add and how long the cook is. But try to remember that meat will only absorb smoke for the first 140degrees or so. After that it really isn't doing much to the meat. Check back through some of the posts and you will see that it lasts quite a bit for such a small amount but isn't really necessary for the entire cook.

I will be interested in how this works with a pork butt as it takes several hours to get to 140. With everyone saying not to open the unit I cannot imagine that a hour or so of smoke will be sufficient. Of course, only time will tell

 

[benjammn]

I have so far never had a problem with enough smoke through out a butt smoke. A lot of us end up with charcoal after a smoke. So I would say that you just have to wait till you are getting ready for the real deal.

 

[DivotMaker]

How much wood did you use for seasoning?  To smoke for the 4 hours of seasoning, you need about 5-6 oz of wood in the box.  If using the hickory dowels, that's about 9" total. 

I also wouldn't pay any attention to the temp readings during seasoning; it's an exercise in futility...incredibly inaccurate, as for what it will do with meat and a water pan in there.

 

[NDKoze]

I have a feeling that you had combustion at 10:40 for the temp to rise to 491.

Was it windy out?

Did you have the drip pan in place?

When did you open the door? That huge influx of oxygen could have caused the combustion.

When I seasoned mine I forgot to put too drip tray in and I am pretty sure that let too much airflow in and I think I had combustion too.

I smoked a butt and ribs this weekend and it performed flawlessly with much smaller temp swings.

 

[Thesneakyzebra]

Thanks for the replies guys! I know the temp swings are crazy during the initial seasoning. But I am a numbers guys so that was fun for me Also I added about 2 dowels at first and 2.5 hours later I added a couple of ounces of apple wood. The 2.5 hour mark was the only time I opened it. I know that things should simmer down a lot when it is full, but now I have a good comparison to go with to see the big difference. Drip pan was in place, it was windy out but not where I was  running the smoker.

If I add more wood wouldnt it just burn the same time as with a smaller amount of wood? Wouldnt it just be more smoke during that time?

 

[DivotMaker]

Hey Mikey,

More wood will smoke longer, not just more smoke.  Probably has to do with the mass of wood absorbing the heat in the smoke box; it burns slower, but doesn't really make a lot more smoke.  That's the main reason a lot of us weigh our wood.  The weight determines the length of smoke.