Bone in Pork shoulder

Mark_B_Good

StillH2OEgger said:

Mark_B_Good said:

Yeah possible the coals got wet.

But do you let the fire come up to temperature a bit before you put the plate setter in.

I always let it come up to at least 200F ... if not 250F before I put the plate setter in ... it drops the temperature, but you normally have enough of a core fire that it picks up and in 15 minutes you're back to target dome temperature.

I would not light a fire, and immediately, or even 5 minutes later, put the plate setter in.  In my routine, I'm putting the plate setter in probably 20 min to 30 min after lighting the fire.

Curious about your reasoning for waiting to put the plate setter in place?

I think it suffocates the fire ... especially at the start. Also, if I'm not paying attention and the temperature overshoots a bit, I put the plate setter and top grate on (with a deep pan of water on the grate), and it quenches things a bit ... gives me a chance to recover.