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I made a Smobot mistake

Botch
Botch Posts: 17,758
in EggHead Forum
Cooking a pork loin roast today.  I left the Smobot off the Egg while the fire got going, but it jumped up to about 350 before I got back to it (bad Botch!).  Smoke was clear so I added the hickory, the roast, the pit probe, and closed her up.  Smobot said, "Whoa, too hot!" and dutifully closed all the way.
Well, the temp's coming down slowly (I set it to cook at 250) but I'm pretty sure the fire went out.  I'm scared to open it up, this is a classic flashback situation.  
Any suggestions?  Wait until the temp drops enough to open the Smobot, then light a paper towel stuffed thru the bottom?  

Counting to ten only makes it Premeditated.

Ogden, UT, USA

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Comments

  • Legume
    Legume Posts: 15,938
    Run water from a hose down the outside, cool the ceramic down
    THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER
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  • Legume
    Legume Posts: 15,938
    Then deal with the fire.
    THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER
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  • stompbox
    stompbox Posts: 729
    Add a big pot of cold water in there and minimize the vents.  The water should absorb a lot of the heat.
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  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831
    Welders glove. Burp carefully. Remove Smobot and reassemble standard daisy. When temp drops enough, reinstall Smobot.

    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

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  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831
    Oh, and open bottom vent and remove daisy before burping.

    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

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  • Botch
    Botch Posts: 17,758
    The temp dropped to 250 on its own.  I stuffed a paper towel into the bottom, but the lighter kept going out as soon as it got inside the Egg (so, no oxygen in there!)  I slooowwwly burped her, didn't get any flash, and opened all the way.  Removed the roast, grate, and platesetter, and saw that the center of the fire was still glowing red, plus the smoking wood started catching fire with the incoming oxygen; the fire hadn't gone out!  
    I replaced everything, remembered to add the food probe this time  :), closed it and the Smobot opened fully, they immediately started closing down bit by bit as the pit temp went up (dang that thing is clever!).  So I'm back up and running.  
    @Legume, have you ever sprayed your hot Egg with a hose?  I know they can withstand cooking in the rain, but a rain begins with one drop, then a couple more, then some more, until a full rain; the ceramic doesn't get a huge immediate temp shock in a rain.   
    Thanks, guys!  

    Counting to ten only makes it Premeditated.

    Ogden, UT, USA

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  • Botch
    Botch Posts: 17,758

     
    All's well that ends well, and I learned some things about technique today.  Sprinkled with Dizzy Dust, smoked w/hickory, pulled at 140, brushed with Stubb's Original while the Egg got up to 500, then a quick caramelization.  Served with french-style green beans and flour tortillas.    

    Counting to ten only makes it Premeditated.

    Ogden, UT, USA

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  • Legume
    Legume Posts: 15,938
    Looks great, glad it worked out.

    to answer your question, nope, I’ve never had to but after reading so many accounts of people dumping buckets of water and ice into a hot egg to cool it down quickly, I couldn’t imagine that slow flow from a hose in the outside would be a problem running the temps you were running.  If dome temp was 350, outside of the egg couldn’t have been over 200.  Taking the heat out of the mass of ceramic is what you need to do to cool the egg. Heating water is a temporary fix for the air in the dome.
    THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER
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  • Botch
    Botch Posts: 17,758
    Makes sense; thank you Sir!  

    Counting to ten only makes it Premeditated.

    Ogden, UT, USA

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  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,109
    In that situation I would take the 'bot off the top and either leave it open or put the dfmt on and adjust the vents to where you would normally have them for 250F.  You know the fire won't go out and eventually it will settle down to around 250.   

    glad to see it worked out
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
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  • Ozzie_Isaac
    Ozzie_Isaac Posts: 22,129
    edited June 2018
    I think Eric and Curtis implemented a flame out protection strategy.  I remember discussions during prototype and beta software development.
    If there ever comes a time I get rabies, you are high on my Bitin’ List.
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  • piperpilot
    piperpilot Posts: 26
    @Ozzie_Isaac is right, we implemented anti-flame out protection.  SMOBOT will occasionally breath to keep the fire from snuffing out.  It does slow the temperature drop, but your fire won't die!
     
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  • lousubcap
    lousubcap Posts: 37,908
    edited June 2018
    @Botch - no Smobot owner here but as mentioned above if you get a fire really going (think a paella cook) and it decides (for good reason) to clean all the grease off the cooking gird, things get really exciting.  I will shut the dome and bottom vent (if not already shut) and install the cap.  Give it a couple of minutes, then remove cap and install DFMT with wide opening about half-way.  Give that a around 30-60 Secs then open the bottom vent.  You should hear the flashback "whoosh".  Now you can open the dome (slowly with an arm extender (long tongs) or glove) and you should be back in business.
    Regarding the water hose-never been there but I have had to use around 10-12 ice cubes tossed right on a late developing grease fire to get a L&S cook under control.   It was a self created surprise package-about 7 hours into a brisket cook the temp starts to really climb.  
    Turns out my foil liner in the drip pan had a channel that allowed the grease to reach the unburned lump.  Once the fire got there- off to the races.  Quelled the fire and got everything under control but it made for some excitement.  (BTW the protein was my first SRF Gold brisket...)
    Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood.  Life is too short for light/lite beer!  Seems I'm livin in a transitional period. CHEETO (aka Agent Orange) makes Nixon look like a saint.  
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  • Botch
    Botch Posts: 17,758
    piperpilot said:
    @Ozzie_Isaac is right, we implemented anti-flame out protection.  SMOBOT will occasionally breath to keep the fire from snuffing out.  It does slow the temperature drop, but your fire won't die!
     
    That's very good information to know; thanks guys!  

    Counting to ten only makes it Premeditated.

    Ogden, UT, USA

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  • YukonRon
    YukonRon Posts: 17,460
    One thing I have done, is wait until the Smobot hits and stays stable for about 30 minutes, and place the protein on.
    I had a couple instances where the start skyrocketed above upper threshold limits, and needed to come back down. Once there, and stable, it is perfect, with excellent air control.

    "Knowledge is Good" - Emil Faber

    XL and MM
    Louisville, Kentucky
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  • Legume
    Legume Posts: 15,938
    Legume said:
    Looks great, glad it worked out.

    to answer your question, nope, I’ve never had to but after reading so many accounts of people dumping buckets of water and ice into a hot egg to cool it down quickly, I couldn’t imagine that slow flow from a hose in the outside would be a problem running the temps you were running.  If dome temp was 350, outside of the egg couldn’t have been over 200.  Taking the heat out of the mass of ceramic is what you need to do to cool the egg. Heating water is a temporary fix for the air in the dome.
    I tried this yesterday.  Egg was warmed up and stable at 350.  I didn’t shoot the temp on the outside but it was touchable.

    I took the hose with about 1/2 flow of water going through it and let it run down the top of the egg, avoiding the dome thermometer, moved it around the chimney so it would get all sides fairly equally and in a couple of minutes the temp was down 225ish.  I hadn’t snuffed the fire and didn’t change my settings until after I did this, so the temp did start to come back up.  I closed the vents down after turning off the hose and it settled at 275 on the way back up.  No weird sounds or noises, just water running down the egg.
    THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER
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