Would you run a heat deflector if you were loading it up?dcman (The Czar) wrote:With rib racks probably 16 to 20 is my guess… Otherwise four without rib racks
No, just a bib for DC!Mmmmm wrote:Would you run a heat deflector if you were loading it up?dcman (The Czar) wrote:With rib racks probably 16 to 20 is my guess… Otherwise four without rib racks
That's exactly what I am thinking. I did another cook where I stuffed the drum to the gills and, although I can't remember when it was or what I was cooking, I do remember having trouble getting heat up through all the food. I also remember that McGuyvering a 3' long piece of 4" pipe over the chimney helped a lot to even out temps from the top to bottom grates. I've been running four grates on some cooks - Two grates sitting on the bolts as you normally would and then another two flipped upside down at 90 degrees to the others, so they are sitting handles on handles. This works pretty well for small stuff like ABT's but I think to really load them up is just over the limit as far as what the drum can effectively cook.Smokeone wrote:I'm no expert, but I would think so. The big problem I see is the air flow. The low rack takes all the heat and sucks it up, thus slowing the natural draft. Kinda like a heat sink.
Yep. I overloaded my Chuterdoo on Thanksgiving last year and couldn't get the cabinet to heat up. Ended up having to pull some of the turkeys out and use a second one. I aslo agree with Pete Mazz that those rib racks aren't good IMHO.Mmmmm wrote:I guess in a nutshell, my question would be, is there a limit where a cooker is technically overloaded even if you can fit it in?
Except that I've seen the grease on my deflector flare up before so...Rodcrafter wrote:I would also consider that the drippings from all the meat would cause small flash fires. The bottom rack would get all of that every time. the deflector could have saved some of that from happening.
jm2cw
But I'm all in for a bigger smoker, heck yea!