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rorkin

Creosote ?

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From what I am reading here most people control the temp mostly with the top vent.. This is contrary to my experience with horizontal smokers.

Leaving the chimney fully open and controling the heat with the intake air..

This prevents creasoting.

It seems that to do a 220 or so temp that most people are closing the botom intake or just only slightly opening.

The top is then cranked down to aprox 1/2 turn.. Is this corect???

Is there no creasote precipitating out on cold surfaces ??

Rory

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Tar

I have had a major problem with this. Normally I barely crack open the top damper for a low and slow. Then I use the Guru or the Stoker to"push" the smoke out through this tiny little crack. This has caused a tremendous build up of tar on the gasket and its' corresponding mating surface on the damper. So much so that it is nearly impossible to get the damper open for the next cook because it is glued shut from the tar. I have had to heat the damper top from the inside with a torch for quite some time to get it freed up. To avoid this I have been removing the damper completely at the end of each cook and sealing the top opening with a clay saucer base. After the fire is out, I replace the damper top and don't screw it shut. Dennis came up with a solution for me that I will try when it arrives. But I do think it might be a good idea to try to control the fire temp with a more open top vent and then use the bottom vent or Guru or Stoker for temp control. This might prevent the smoke from squeezing through a tiny, relatively cool top opening and precipitating out the tar. Somehow I seem to be the only one with this problem, so it must be my technique of barely opening the top. So don't do that.

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I have noticed quite a bit of ,for lack of a better term, tar coming out the draft door this past winter, I just thought it was because the cooker wasn't level. I just recently leveled it out by putting it "up on blocks" . These have been mostly low and slows, except when I forget to check the fire and it gets away from me. I seldom use any wood for the birds, and sometimes use hickory chunks for the ribs. I wonder if a "smoke pot" like Szyz's would cure your ills Doc? Hey...I made a funny!

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Lots of tar...

That's the first I've seen of your tar buildup.. Amazing is an understatement.. This is what I'd imagine happening in a restaurant.. Dj actually came up with both an after solution and a new production solution..

A solution might be a ring that screws onto the damper top shaft.. From center it will have three spokes and an outer ring that reduces the area of contact the top makes with gasket.. This should end the problems. For further production we'll add a positive V over the gasket area on the damper top so this V screws down onto the gasket also reducing the surface area touching..

thanks DJ!

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Better the condensation drips outside the cooker or inside?

Normally I barely crack open the top damper for a low and slow. Then I use the Guru or the Stoker to"push" the smoke out through this tiny little crack. This has caused a tremendous build up of tar on the gasket and its' corresponding mating surface on the damper. Somehow I seem to be the only one with this problem' date=' so it must be my technique of barely opening the top. So don't do that.[/quote']

As I told Michael, we're now building #640 and I've never run across this problem.. I'm going to have to agree with him that this is caused by pressurized fan blown smoke being forced through a very small gap..

Probably solved by just opening the top a bit but I think the V over the gasket will stop condensation from dirtying the outer SS ring..

But then again, is it better the condensation drips outside the cooker or inside?

;);)

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Man, I wouldn't want that crud all over the outside of my cooker either!

I'm also a but skeptical of a v shaped damper surface. I can see that sawing it's way through a gasket in no time. I like the removable spoke idea, so you can use it if you want/need it, and remove it if not.

A couple Qs for doc- just wondering, do you ever do a higher temp cook without the fan, where the draft is opened up a couple turns? Maybe a 500 degree pizza session on natural airflow would burn it all off for you?

And I know you like cooking butts, after seeing that buildup, do you use a drip pan under your butts? The only other person I have heard mention that kind of crust is dj, and I know he likes to do his butts Semi-direct (lava rock diffuser) and no drip pan. Maybe it's

the grease that is causing the problem?

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ideas

Once in a while I do a hot cook, but not over about 400 degrees. I do use plenty of mesquite. I use a basket full of lava rocks for a heat deflector and have never cleaned it nor changed the rocks. It is one scary looking hunk of black char! The grease has totally infiltrated all the rocks and solidified into one solid hunk. I just figure it burns off little by little each cook. However this may be part of the problem. Perhaps this massive accumulation of burned and non burned grease is vaporizing each cook and then condensing out on the relatively cool surfaces up top. So I took the lava rock diffuser out and replaced it with the stock heat deflector, which I keep cleaned. That may help. I have a spare top gasket but dread installing it because of having to clean thoroughly the mounting surface. That is going to be a chore! But the combo of keeping a clean heat deflector and opening the top a little wider might help the problem, plus whatever solution Dennis is sending me.

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Why not just burn a basket of fuel and see if it cleans up? A basket should last you a few hours at 500*, and $5 in lump sounds a lot more favorable than scraping the surface clean and replacing the gasket. You will probably see all sorts of smoke flowing out of there, too.

I would bet the last beer in my fridge that the grease burning is your root cause, not smoke wood. I have done a few butts without a drip pan, too. But when i do that, I usually let it get good and hot afterwards, before shutting down, to burn the crud out.

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