Results are of the toast test. Have the pit boss that allows searing. Cooked toast at 225 for about 45 minutes searing gate was barely open which I didn’t notice until after. Anyway to control the hot zone in the middle of the grill? Cooking a brisket tonight and want to try and cook it evenly and avoid half being in a lot hotter zone than the other ?
by zebrastrikeforce
18 Comments
Water pan
I bought a flame tamer for mine and it evened things out better.
Water pan. I have been using an ikea stainless roasting pan as my water pan and it works awesome as a heat deflector
i bought a heat deflector that goes over the fire pit
“searing gate was barely open”. So make sure you close the sear plate. That would be the reason for your burnt toast.
Well, first I would make sure the searing grate is fully closed and see if that helps. I would also only smoke on a top rack with a water pan under if it has a top rack.
I line my drip pan with heavy duty foil. Every time I replace it, I take an additional piece of foil and fold it over several times, then place it right above the fire pot under the primary foil. It’s folded over twice making an approximate 8”x8” square. Hope that makes sense.
I started putting brisket on the upper level and put a drip pan underneath it. This keeps flare ups down and it acts like a heat shield.
Edit: it also collects tallow you can use during your wrap
I welded some 1/4 inch stainless scrap into a heat diffuser. I modeled it after the smokedaddy version, which you can purchase if you dont have the means to make one
Close the sear gate
I sandwich a double layer of HD aluminum foil between the sliding and main plates. It eliminates juices dripping into the firepot and flaming up, and also reduces the hot spot. The hot spot is still there to some degree, but it helps a lot.
I got a cover that goes over the fire pot, I believe it was made for another brand of grill but fit perfectly. It’s just a thick “C” shaped piece of metal that covers the pot. It evened out the temps across my grill at the cost of losing access to the sear section. To be honest that part was so small as to be useless anyways.
Close the sear gate. Put the top shelf in. Water pan or disposable aluminum fan of water on the bottom rack, food on the top rack.
Flame tamer or some other similar heat shield
I use smokeslikeaboss flame tamer mine has a
much more mellow hot to cold transition as you get farther from the fire box now. It’s about 40 degrees difference from one side to the other, which is more than I’d prefer, but I haven’t had it ruin any cooks and i’ve been pretty happy with it, definitely better having a hot side and a cooler side than having a blazing hot middle spot
You know what side of the smoker to put the point of the brisket at least
12ga heat deflector from Amazon
As mentioned a few other times. Flame tamer. Think they are about 40 bucks online. Or just make your own.
I recently bought a bare bones pitboss 700, and was damn near ready to load it back up and return it due to how uneven the temps were.
Did some research and saw many praises about the flame tamer, and well after making my own, it’s a brand new grill/smoker.
https://preview.redd.it/h6hk5dez6y9g1.jpeg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=683fd7edb6091c6915e8158a7838954d98cb4cbe