The Texas BBQ Forum

Afternoon all,

I have a few year old pits by Klose that I purchase used from a guy in Houston. 20x36" patio model. I am doing my first cook today on it and can not seem to keep the temp down on the firebox. I am running lump charcoal as my base and pecan/oak as my wood. I only have one log in the firebox right now, damper is 1/4 open, smoke stack 100% open. I can seem to get it under 300!! Help please.

Build a smaller fire...... temperature control is best done with fire size and not the damper setting. Exhaust wide open is good.... intake at 1/4 open is fine too - therefore I'm thinking you have too large of wood splits especially on a short (36") offset.

BTW - I use half splits (9"-11" long) in my 24x40 offset. You do have to add wood more often but you're not fighting spiking temps in the process.

Good luck and keep smokin'

Due to the rain in Houston last night I just went down to Academy and bought Pecan mini split logs as my others were still wet. Any other advice?

Those bags of wood at Academy are convenient but they are kiln dried and burn very clean. I'll take the mini-logs and split them into smaller pieces if they look more like a cube than a log. It's easier to bring your temps up than take them down. Use less charcoal for your base (not sure what you started with - try 1/2 Weber chimney at the most) and two mini-logs. See what happens and go from there. It might take an hour for the pit to come up to temp but you can put meat on before it gets there. That will help stop temp spikes also.

Again, I think your damper settings are good. You can cut the intake down further but don't let the smoke turn white/grey or billowy. If it does then open the intake up a bit. If the temp spikes don't panic - they'll come down eventually.

Thanks for the help. Was able to get it down to 240 as of right now and still dropping little by little . In the process of smoking some Ribs and a chicken. Hopefully they turn out

Well chicken was amazing but the ribs were tough but juicy. I did a 2-2-1. My thought is the high temps in the beginning caused the meat to be a little tough (probably wrong in that thought) What should I try next time? Or is it the temp?

Without more specifics, my guess is undercooked on the ribs.

How long, roughly were they on at the various temps?

Temps fluctuated between 220-320. It was windy in North Houston today. When they first went on temps where around 315 due to when I needed to pull them off. Avg temp was 265-285. I did a 2-2-1 split. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Going to try another test on Friday before the big cook on Sunday.

Ribs under cooked for sure..the longer they cook the softer/looser on the bone they get..
I guess if you cooked them to carbon they might toughen up but as long as were not black and crispy, you needed more time and/or higher temps.
I follow Franklin and cook at 275..4 or 5 hours.
My wife likes them with some "pull" off the bone, I like the meat to fall on my plate while I hold the bone..