Just moved to Colorado. Love my ribs glazed, smoked, moist, pink and fall off the bone. Was mostly there, but the heat crapped out after about 4.5 hours. Went from 250 to 150 during the final half hour. Had all vents open to full and deflectors in during the cook. Any ideas on how i can increase the airflow?
by Creepy_Entrance_4664
14 Comments
More charcoal.
for ribs I go 240-270, wherever it decides to sit and on the given day. Deflectors over charcoal, aluminum shallow pan with a little water. Once temp is steady put ribs on. After about 3 hours I check temp and put a couple probes in the rack. Once internal is around 195 I start poking looking for probe tender. If it’s not time to eat I wrap in foil, then wrap a towel around and put in a cooler.
maybe too little fuel, or you got a blocked airflow. I change to a basket and it has been easier since there are a lot more gaps to keep the airflow going.
I don’t know what type of charcoal you’re using. But premium coals is always better and more predictable. Try a new brand?
But yes I agree with the rest. More fuel is your huckleberry
Get a basket
You can increase airflow with a basket, the KJ basket works but doesn’t fit quite right at least in the BJ.
Is that your gasket hanging down? Do you leak smoke? That could be causing loss of efficiency.
The grill should be able to do 250 for 12-24 hours with a solid load of charcoal.
One unhelpful thing I’ll add is that you should also be able to use LESS charcoal and get to 250 because of the increased airflow at the risk that you do run out of fuel and knowing how much charcoal you need is a skill…it’s easier to fill the basket full and not worry as much.
Have you cleaned out ash recently? That could be preventing bottom air flow? Few times a year I shop vac mine to get the ash out of the void between shell and firebox.
Apart from full Charcole to start, towards the end may be beneficial to have a fan system connected so if you can’t control with vents addition forced air should help.
How much practice do you have on the Joe? Takes a dozen cooks (with two or three terrible failures) to get the swing of temperature control, fuel economy, and placement of accessories. There are hundreds of great clips on the yootoobies. Watch as many as you can stand.
More charcoal is all ya need. I run a Big Joe & fill the coal up to just a few inches below the deflector. I’ve ran 16hr smokes no problem.
Don’t be afraid to fill with charcoal it should easily burn for 10-12 hours. When you are done cooking close the vents and you will still have charcoal to use the next time.
In addition to more fuel, the ceramic baffle will keep the heat even.
Replace the gasket, it looks like it’s barely hanging on the dome top
Thanks for the advice everyone. Have a basket on the way. Filled the firebox up to the top and seems to be burning better tonight.