British BBQ Society Forums

OK so..... yesterday was my 2nd attempt at smoking and although the results were good I had some trouble getting my Pro Q Frontier to behave itself and I'm hoping someone can offer some advice. Just to set the scene I was smoking 2 chickens split into half's on a Pro Q Frontier. The water pan is wrapped in tin foil and half full of sand. I'm using Big K restaurant grade lump wood. The recipe that I was following advised to smoke at 325f until the chicken had an internal temp of 165f (I'm using a maverick et732), while I did cook the chicken until that temp and it was very nice I had some issues getting my smoker up to 325f and maintaining temperature. Step by step below:

1. I set my smoker up with the basket approx half full of lump wood (roughly 2 layers). I then put about half a chimney starter worth in my Weber chimney and set it away. After about 15 mins the coals had a dusting of white over them (more so on one side, particularly the ones on top) so I poured them over the unlit coals in the basket. I didn't make a well in the middle I just poured them over the top trying to distribute then evenly.

2. I set up my temp probe and put all vents fully open. After a steady rise the temp got up to about 350f so I closed off some of the bottom vents a bit, temp dropped a bit too far so I opened again - went on like this for about 20 mins or so until I got it to stay around the 320-330f mark.

3. I opened the smoker up and placed the chicken in. I also popped in a tinfoil parcel with wood chips in. I again opened all the vents fully as I was confident that once at temp I could control it. After about 20 minutes or so the temperature had only risen to 280f. The smoke had stopped so I popped in another tin foil parcel (going off the recipe I used that is roughly the right amount of chips).

4. For the next 40 minutes or so the temp held at 280f with all vents open. Around the hour mark the temp started to drop by a degree or two every few minutes. At around the 80 minute mark it was down to 262f! I must admit I started to panic a little bit and all I could think of was to light more coals and put them in - I did this (only about 5/6 pieces) but it made no difference. After another 30 minutes the temp was down to around 250f and it held there until the chicken was done.

Now the chicken was very nice but my problem is not being able to get the smoker up to temp once the food was on and the drop in temp over (what I would say) is a short space of time. I thought that by doing what I did that the smoker should have been able to hold a decent temperature for hours so I really don't know what I did wrong. Does anyone have any suggestions? My wife seems to think the ambient temperature might be the cause, it wasn't exactly warm yesterday.

The ambient temp' would have been your problem as ProQ's don't seem to like cooking hot in my experience.

The only thing i would suggest would be to get a welding blanket and wrap the smoker in it whilst cooking to try and insulate it from cold wind which will suck the heat out of the cooker but no guarantee it'll work, but it will give you a better chance of achieving higher temp's.

Swindon_Ed wrote:The ambient temp' would have been your problem as ProQ's don't seem to like cooking hot in my experience.

The only thing i would suggest would be to get a welding blanket and wrap the smoker in it whilst cooking to try and insulate it from cold wind which will suck the heat out of the cooker but no guarantee it'll work, but it will give you a better chance of achieving higher temp's.

OK that's interesting. Hypothetically then if wanted to do a long cook am I going to have trouble getting my Pro Q to hold a temp of say 225f or is it just because I was aiming for such I high temperature? My next cook is going to be pulled pork and I was considering setting it up to run overnight or starting very early on - either way ambient temperature is going to be pretty low.

Use the top vent to control the temp, I never had that vent fully open. Normally somewhere between quarter and half open. Sometimes less, barely open. you can then use the bottom vents to tweak it further.

Use a whole chimney of charcoal, minion style so you can get it up to temp quicker then stabilize it and let it settle down.

I was turned to 'Aussie heat beads' briquette charcoal, burns hotter and longer. I did 8-10 hour cooks and had coal in basket left over.

You could always invest in an IQ forced air system, these have a controller and temp probe to maintain the temp set on it. link here: http://www.saysausages.com/pitmasteriq/

TFUNK wrote:

Swindon_Ed wrote:The ambient temp' would have been your problem as ProQ's don't seem to like cooking hot in my experience.

The only thing i would suggest would be to get a welding blanket and wrap the smoker in it whilst cooking to try and insulate it from cold wind which will suck the heat out of the cooker but no guarantee it'll work, but it will give you a better chance of achieving higher temp's.

OK that's interesting. Hypothetically then if wanted to do a long cook am I going to have trouble getting my Pro Q to hold a temp of say 225f or is it just because I was aiming for such I high temperature? My next cook is going to be pulled pork and I was considering setting it up to run overnight or starting very early on - either way ambient temperature is going to be pretty low.

it's only a problem when aiming for high temperatures, all the ProQ's I've cooked on have been pretty happy sitting around 250f so this shouldn't be a problem when cooking your pork shoulder.

Hey,

I have recently got a an Excel and have similar issues. I have been using boiling water in the pan as I really like the moisture it adds to my cook. But I have struggled getting temp up over 250, I was aiming for 275 on my last cook.

I did use a whole chimney of coal, which was well and truly glowing when it went onto the coals (same as yourself , scattered), the temp was stable at 250 for a good 8 hours but after that was slowly dropping, regardless of adding an additional chimney of lit coals to the basket, vents open full throughout the cook. I wonder if maybe some of the ash was preventing the airflow (not a massive amount in the bottom, but still..)

Cooking a couple of racks of spares this weekend, may try with half the amount of water.

I was really hoping to add a 3rd level for bigger cooks, but I am wondering if this is going to be worth while.

I may also give the heatbeads a try

Despite the temp issues I am really impressed with the Excel, all the cooks so far have been outstanding and are head and shoulders above my old offset (landmann) and although the temps are harder to get up, they are rock solid stability wise.

Hi

I've got a pro q frontier and so far I've had one problem doing a pork shoulder on a long cook, up and down all night with temps dropping. I've had it up to nearly 300 but didn't actually want it there!!

I usually fill the charcoal grate up and pour a chimney in the middle, wait for temp then put shoulder on.
I have mine just outside my back door where the bin used to be, hasn't been a bin there for atleast 3 years that I've been here!! There is the house wall then 2 brick walls just higher than the smoker, keeps it sheltered but lets a breeze through it. I can also cover it with a bit of cement board I use for work from the wall to the house, keeps rain off it without affecting anything.

I've done quite a few cooks on mine and love it, I will be upgrading next year but for starting out its been great.

I had problems getting long cooks out of my Excel, but (correctly it seems) put it down to a lack of "draw" as there wasn't enough of a breeze in the garden. We have side garages and a 6.5 foot fence on the third, there are pics on some of my other posts. I took advice from the forum and went with a forced air system (IQ110) and haven't looked back. I use the IQ on every smoke on the Excel nowadays. As for fuel, I've had some nice long cooks with Bridgebrokes Restaurant Charcoal (see link for Eddie's review http://www.bbbqs.com/Forum/viewtopic.ph ... it=barbies) as well as always having heatbeads in the shed.
Try changing to Heatbeads or restaurant grade charcoal and repeat the cook under the same circumstances as before if possible. If that doesn't work or is better but not perfect think about repositioning your smoker to change the airflow through it. Failing that, depending on your geographical location someone may be able to lend you a system to try or advise you over a coffee & cakes.


Who says coffee mornings are for wimps

Thanks for the tips

I had another cook yesterday, it was the worst yet, it was really windy and despite putting 2 full lit jugs of big k lumpwood ontop of the rest of the bag (one tipped into a hollow and the rest distributed around the unlit charcoal) my temp barely broke 200 hundred, and was under more often. The ambient temp was not great yesterday, but I was hoping to cook a turkey for christmas, but given how much trouble I am having already with the temps its looking like this maybe a fairweather cooker for me

I really want to avoid buying an airflow kit if possible. I like the idea of using water in the chamber but have read that this does effect bark, so may try the clay saucer with a smaller water bowl in it. I am also going to try and raise the charcoal basket by an inch to see if I can get some more air under the coals.

Have you tried it in a different location to try and increase the airflow?