Temperature for smoking meats

[Grute Man]

I have a cylindar style smoker with a gas burner for heat.  This is the first time I used it so I put the gas to it with nothing in there and it got up to 400 degrees no problem.  So I shut it off, put in a water pan, a turkey, and a ham.  Now it wont even get over 250.

Is 250 hot enough to actually cook?

Will it get warmer as the water and meat gets warmer?

And lastly,

What is the best temp?  (I was thinking around 350 for a slow cook.)

Grute   

[Randy Kaar]

yep 250 is ok, will just take a lot longer. most comp. cookers
cook at around 225. once the meat starts warming up them
temp in the cooker will go up also. so keep a eye on that.

randy aka bh

[Ryan]

When I smoke I usually keep the temp around 225 if possible.

[Grute Man]

Sounds good.  An hour and a half later and its still holding at 250.  I'll just let it simmer.   

[Randy Kaar]

that will work! the menu sounds good. just having chicken
breasts on the grill with sweet corn.

randy aka bh

[Grute Man]

OK 6 hours later and the internal temp is only about 140 and I need at least 160 for the ham and 165 for the bird. 

I pulled the water pan out hoping to get some more heat to the meat and maybe we can have it for dinner tomorrow.      I thought it would have been done way before now.

When I poured the water out, it had a thick, crusty, cooked on, lump in the pan.  I had water and pineapple juice in the pan and the pan did boil pert near dry at one point.  So is the lump from the juice or the drippings?  It just chipped and broke off like a burnt piece of toast.

[Randy Kaar]

i would say the lump was drippings, the temps will go faster
after you hit a certain point. the water pan will cut down on
the direct heat going to the meat and slow down the cook.
the turkey should be done way before the ham if they were
started at the same time.

randy aka bh

[Grute Man]

We'll see how they are for dinner tonight.  At 10pm last night I pulled them off the heat.  The ham was just at temp so I called it.  When I pulled the bird out - it was about 20 degrees over temp!! It was between the flame and ham so it got a lot hotter.  The funny little pop up thermometer never did pop until I had it in the house and was wrapping it up to put away.  The wing end was poking through the aluminum foil so I went to bend it back and it broke off with a loud crunch --    Im afraid the bird may be a bit dry.

[Randy Kaar]

the wing tips will get brittle, i would never trust the popup
things. go to target or k-mart and get a digital therm with
probe, they are like 20 bucks. when you warm up the meat
in the oven {i assume} put a tray of water in there and tent
the meat with foil.

randy aka bh