So, since my o-ring on my 4cfm blower is worn, the guru wont stay in the mounting bracket on the cooker. So, I didn't drill the RK this weekend for the guru. So, I went old school and ran w/o the Guru (for the first time in 3 years!)

I lit 20 coals and put them on top of a chimney full of unlit coals. I simply banked them to the back of the RK and filled an aluminum foil pan of water. I set the pan of water on top of the cooking grate over the fire and three racks of ribs at the front. The temp held well at 250 as measured at the top vent. I figured 250 at the vent would be about 225 at the grate. But, after 6 hours the ribs weren't done. At 6 hours in my WSM at 225 measured at the grate, they would be done. Clearly the grate temp and the lid temp differ more than 25 degrees. I will try this again with my guru at the grate.

Anyone have some thoughts on temperature gradients on the RK? I'm thinking the heat went from the fire, up the side and out the vent, rather than circulating around the interior of the RK. When doing low-and-slow on the RK, is it therefore necessary to have two fires going, one on each side?

Thanks for your help.

I had a similiar experience in cooking spares on my RK when I used a procedure identical to the one you described. You may have hit on the reason, but I'll be interested in the response of others. Mine is at another location so I won't have the opportunity to experiment.

Paul

I haven't had to have two fires going for low and slow in my ranch. I have mentioned this before and I know Bill did an experiment with it and posted his results in another post, but I have lined my charcoal like dominos (3 briquets wide) around the outer edge of about 50-60% of my ranch. I then put a few pieces of smoke wood on top of the charcoal every 4 or 5 inches. I light about 12 briquets in a chimney, get them ashed over and then place at one end of my coal. I use a Nu-temp remote at grate level and manage my fire with my bottom vents leaving the top 100& open. I have no issues maintaining 225-250 at grate. I have done this successfully each of the last 3 weekends and got a lot of funny looks as I was lining charcoal up one by one over the weekend when I did my ribs this way in my first kcbs competition. I had at least another hour or two worth of burn time after I removed my ribs at the 6.5 hour mark.

1 chimney unlit divided at 3 and 9 o'clock position repeat with 1 chimney lit. Control temp with the bottom vents. Use the palm of you hand at 6 and 12 o'clock at cooking grate level to see if it's hot enough.