Was the wood green or was it well seasoned ? I built my stack to the spec that the calculator said it should be so I always have it wide open but I have noticed that if my wood is damp or a little green I have to open my intakes a lot more than if I'm using good dry wood. When I build my next pit I'm going to make my stack a little larger in diameter that the recommended size or maybe go with twin stacks like Solo Q has on his pit.
I too was going to ask about the wood you were using. I always leave my stack wide open and only adjust the air dampers. What did your smoke look like before you opened it up and raised the temp? Was it burning white or were you getting thin blue?
I'm sure if you do the same thing with charcoal the temp would be even higher. The small pile of smoldering coals put out more heat than the wood does. But the combustion of the wood is not as easily achieved, as the charcoal has already done the footwork the wood is doing presently.
jm2cw
Current Smokers: Backyard RF Offset and Hybrid RF Offset trailer rig with Cowboy cooker and fish fryer, always room for more........
A smoke stack damper serves a different purpose on a traditional offset than it does on a reverse flow pit. On an offset that is where you set the draft or velocity of the air movement in the smoker. On a reverse flow that is done in 2 places both the baffle plate gap and the stack damper. Most guys will tell you on their rf pit they leave the damper open and it works best that way. I never close mine more than half. As Big T and clover ridge said the stack is already sized properly by the calc.
I adjust the air inlets as the cook changes and conditions around the pit change before I adjust the stack damper. remember one more thing, like rod crafter said, the coals are doing the cooking. the wood is just making more coals and giving you flavor.
We would need to know more about your cooker to answer that Pete. Did you run your build through the pit calculator? That would tell you the exact size of the gap. It also would be helpful if you could post of pics of your pit and FB.
I did but as its center feed, im not sure if the numbers directly apply? Also don't remember seeing a number for the baffle plate gap, although I could be missing it.
Smoker looks like this so far:
Firebox is 500x500mm square (I belive that is 19 inches) and 650mm high. The cooking chmaber is 1250mm long, 500 deep and 600mm high.
Pit calc dimensions are fine. Just split the throat area in half and allow that much "openness" on each end of the BP. If you would like to over think this then make the gaps adjustable and you can "fine tune" it as you heat it - great fun!!
Look at Edgar's build for what I'm talking about. If memory serves the calculated throat opening was 72 sq. inches and I ran him at a combined gap opening of 30 sq. inches most of the time - so some restriction but HEY - he liked it there…..
And on the eighth day God created barbecue …. because he DOES love us and he wants us to be happy.
Current smokers: Egor (trailered RF) and Easybake (tabletop pellet drive)