Inlet vents for low and slow

[Big Steve]

I come to the mountain top seeking your guidance. Without getting into the specs of our reverse flow smoker (used franks plans), our inlet air vents are the same design and size as on his much watched how to light a fire on a reverse flow smoker video. How far open are your inlet vents to maintain 225 degrees? We're running about 2-3 inches open on each side and can maintain 250-270 pretty good. We use a basket in the firebox with feet on it so that the bottom of the basket rests 2" off the bottom of the floor. I typically load up about 10 pounds of charcoal and light 1/2 a chimney and toss in and one or two sticks of oak. Just wondering how far down you pinch your inlets for 225? Thanks.

[The Czar]

The biggest challenge in answering that is every pit is different… And you have variables such as outside air temperature… wind....It will be different sometimes even on the same cooker…


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[Smokeone]

Some will only need a very small opening, like 1/2" on one side. Just keep playing with it, you'll find the sweet spot.

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[SoloQue]

With some pits you'll even have to reduce your fuel pile and just feed it less a bit more often to get them to hold those lower 215-225 temps. I know before I did that I was seeing quite a bit of white smoke since I was starving what I had in the FB. Try your normal start up amounts but on the first fueling cut it back and maybe trim 1/4th the time before tossing in more. If you can't get your temps down without seeing a ton of white then add even less fuel on the next go round and shrink the time again. Eventually you will find a combination that works for your rig. But like DC said any changes in the outside air or temp will probably force you to tweak your findings a bit.

[Clover Ridge Smokers]

[PetesMeat]

Also don't forget if you close down the exhaust a little bit, it can slow the air through as well.

[Rodcrafter]

I would say that everyone has you well advised. Yep even DC! I approve!!!!!

[Big Steve]

I've come to the conclusion that if you want to be humbled build a reverse flow smoker, learn how it behaves and enter a KCBS competition. Adding to the thread of inlet vents for low and slow today I smoked up 10 racks of baby backs and 2 racks of beef ribs. Since we don't have problem of cooking at 275 I thought I'd try today's cook at 225. Taking everyone's input I reduced the amount of charcoal from what I traditionally run. I reduced it by at least 50% and maybe up to 75%. The humbling lesson learned was "I need more charcoal" in the box. I gave it heck, tried to adapt and stick with the greatly reduced quantity of charcoal and less wood, but I had hard time getting the cook chamber up to 225. I recognized the problem but since I'm not a quitter I didn't deviate or adapt. I just kept fight it all day long. The end result? First time ever I've cooked baby backs with the 3-2-1 method and actually hit those times and still ended up with not as tender ribs as desired. They tasted great, just weren't tender. Humbled and the competition cook is middle of June. Yikes.

[Smokeone]

You'll find the right combo. It just takes trial and error. I think you'll find the sweet spot soon. Keep after it!
Remember to that comp judges don't want ribs falling off the bone. You should be able to take a bite, and leave teeth marks around the bite. The exposed bone should go from wet (glossy) to dry (dull) quickly.

I cook my ribs at 225ish, and am more like 221, to get that result. That being said I am not the rib cook on our team.

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[SoloQue]

Worth noting I am not a charcoal guy. I only use charcoal to get things up to temp so my guidelines might be skewed towards a pure stick burner.

[The Czar]

Traditionally a reverse flow is known as a stick burner… The reason is you're wanting to cook with wood not charcoal..... most people start with charcoal and add sticks if wood to it and just keep adding more wood for fuel..... I don't know too many people that run straight charcoal… That might be part of the problem… at least that's how I read what you have stated is your running straight Charcoal…


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[Big Steve]

Maybe I can clarify further. I use charcoal for heat throughout the entire cook. I use sticks for smoke and typically have one split or chuck of wood in the firebox the entire cook.
On the first cooks I found that burning 100% wood (after the initial chimney of charcoal which was used to get the fire started) caused me a lot of temp swings. On following cooks I used more charcoal and found that the temp held better, meaning the swings were less. Keeping this in mind I can nail a 275 degree cook without much of a challange. That was achieve with a full firebasket of charcoal (lighting it via the Minion method) and tossing on wood splits for smoke. That worked out well for 275. Getting down to 225 with that method was hard to do without producing ugle smoke.
That brought about the discussion that I might be overfiring my firebox for 225 and to cut down on the fuel quantity I was using. Which takes me to the last cook. 1/4 the amount of charcoal and one wood split wasn't enough to get the temp to to 225. Next cook I'll go with a 1/2 basket and one wood split and see what happens. I'm confident I'll hit it at some point.

Another topic is trying to get feedback on the food taste and smoke quantity from the masses. Difficult to do when so many people have opinions of what smoked meat should taste like. On the same cook I get "I love the smoke" for most, then a few "too smoky" from others. I get it, not everyone likes smoked meats, but dang it's tough to get good feedback.

[Gizmo]

Big Steve is right. I also use charcoal for heat and wood added only for smoke. In my part of the country - good cooking hardwoods are sold by the ounce.