Smoker Temperature Control Using Air Vents

Your smoker should have two vents, one at the bottom by the firebox and one on the top and by varying the apertures you can get perfect smoker temperature control. 

Consider the bottom one as the air intake for the fire and the top one is the draft that pulls the air through. If you have both of them fully open, as the fire grows so the draught out of the top speeds up and air the air exiting the top speeds up this pulls more air in at the bottom which “blows” on the fire and the fire grows more and more. Get the picture? Both vents open and you get an ever increasing spiral of heat. 

When you’re up to temperature the bottom vent acts as a crude regulator and the top vent for fine tuning – and you really will have to play around to get the for your smoker. 

When your fire is going try half closing the bottom vent and leave the top vent fully open for 5 mins. Note the temperature and then close the top vent by a quarter and watch what happens to the temperature. Close by another quarter, etc etc and this will give you a feel for how to regulate heat. Once you get the knack of it it really is amazing to see how much control you actually do have. 

So in summary, open everything up and get your fire going, close the bottom vent until you get into the vicinity of the temperature you’re looking for then use the top vent to fine tune. 

Remember, when you reached temperature and are ready to add your meat, the meat will absorb a lot of heat to get up to temperature so you’ll still have to play around with the vents initially. The effect is even more dramatic if you’re adding a water bath too.

Related Pages:-

Meat Smokers
BBQ Islands
Accessories and Cooking Equipment

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