My lump charcoal went out

gwarshawsky · July 2020

I am fairly new to smoking with a BGE.

I was trying to smoke some salmon jerky at about 200 degrees. At 2:56 my temp was at 201 degrees. At 3:07 it had dropped to 179. I opened both vents all the way but it just kept dropping.

I had to pull the salmon off and relight.

To maintain the 200 degree temp I have both vents almost closed. I know “ airflow, airflow”
Any ideas???

Dondgc · July 2020

It will be VERY difficult to maintain 200 degrees. You need to confine the charcoal into something small like a coffee can. Otherwise you will never keep your fire going.

Dondgc · July 2020

Others who do low temp smoking will have more (and better) advice. But most eggs don’t like to go below 225 and 250 seems more the sweet spot. A separate fire chamber is really ideal for those low temps.

Without a fan assist, once the fire starts to die it can be hard to resuscitate.

gwarshawsky · July 2020

Really?
thanks for the info.

Sometimes I close the vents down and the temp keeps rising. This was maintaining the temp for almost four hours then it just started dropping. I opened both vents all the way but, alas no cigar.

Mattman3969 · July 2020

@Dondgc - is correct on the amount of lump. It also helps using small pieces of leftover lump. You will occasionally have to add more fuel but it is doable, painful but doable. I’ve run 24ish hrs @180ish on my large dehydrating peppers to see if I could. Now I know I can but prolly won’t again

gwarshawsky · July 2020

Hey Mattman,
thanks for your advice.

My lump charcoal went out

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