Kettle dead zone?

[DoppelBock]

Anyone else have a dead zone in their kettle/performer? If I place a lit charcoal basket near the gas end, and the other on the opposite side, both fully lit mind you, the opposite side never really stays as hot as the gas side (and no, the gas isn't on). In fact, the small peice of smoke wood never got hot enough to burn, but the other side it's completely gone. I've noticed the same thing with my kettle cart too. The only thing I can think of is that because two of the three bottom vents are always going to be closer to one of the baskets, the other basket is going to get less O2. And the smaller I adjust the vents, the worse it will be for the one side with only one vent.  Anyone else notice this? Is there a solution to this?

[Heyjude]

Can you try turning your baskets 90 degrees?
They will both be equidistant from the burner tube and any air that might be getting in..
Just a thought..

[1buckie]

That's kind of an odd duck of a problem, as the air will just flow to wherever there's fire......
It's possible more air is getting to the one side, but I don't think it should have that much effect ?

In trying to understand this, Questions for clarity:

You lite the whole basket, then set it down in ?

Are you lined up like the picture because a of rotisserie setup?
If you line up the long, flat side of the baskets parallel with ONE of the inlets, it will give the most equal air to each side.....

Have you tried starting out with a half basket lit (each side) & adding handfuls of coals some at a time 'till they're all burning? Or lit, a few at a time from a chimney ?
I know this takes longer, but it is possible that there's just barely over too much coal at the start & it can't get enough air to keep breathing correctly; this is the only reason I can think of that would create such a finicky situation on one side....... 

I know it's the same goofy question, but dry charcoal? Shit's like a sponge as soon as the weather starts to turn; it can be as simple as an open bag & the 1st ones went on your 'dead' side.......


Below is a recent burn, the unlit ones I've just laid in there to start up an indirect for tri-tip....

The burn went all the way around, with 4~6 coals burning at a time & the only thing left is a very small unburnt piece of oak @ about 12 o'clock

This is daisy wheel vents so there's not a hell of a lot of air coming in, esp. when the ash is falling,
but if there's an accurate amount of fuel in relation to the air, everything burns




Looked back at your pic once more & are the partially burnt ones on the right just like it burned, or ones that you moved over later?

Try also lining up your lid so the vent sits in between the two baskets equally, I know this has some effect.......

Interesting problem....ya got my attention.....

[TheFinkFarm]

Can air come in the hole in the bowl where the propane tube comes through? Can air come in the burner tube? There is usually air holes in a propane tube to let the air mix with the propane before it is burned to mix air and gas.

[Troy]

i've seen this happen due to the direction of the wind.
and i've seen this happen due to inconsistent and damp charcoal.

it's highly unlikely that the bottom vents, or even the top vents are contributing to your dead zone.

[DoppelBock]

That's kind of an odd duck of a problem, as the air will just flow to wherever there's fire......
It's possible more air is getting to the one side, but I don't think it should have that much effect ?

In trying to understand this, Questions for clarity:

You lite the whole basket, then set it down in ?

I poured the briquettes from the chimney into each basket, visually checking to see if both sides are equally filled.

Are you lined up like the picture because a of rotisserie setup?
If you line up the long, flat side of the baskets parallel with ONE of the inlets, it will give the most equal air to each side.....

Yep, rotisserei. I'll have to try realigning with one of the inlets, maybe that will help

Have you tried starting out with a half basket lit (each side) & adding handfuls of coals some at a time 'till they're all burning? Or lit, a few at a time from a chimney ?
I know this takes longer, but it is possible that there's just barely over too much coal at the start & it can't get enough air to keep breathing correctly; this is the only reason I can think of that would create such a finicky situation on one side....... 

That's a possibility too. I tend to fill up the baskets and let more fall between it and the kettle sides.

I know it's the same goofy question, but dry charcoal? Shit's like a sponge as soon as the weather starts to turn; it can be as simple as an open bag & the 1st ones went on your 'dead' side.......

Fresh dry charcoal, not even left over charcoal... I use that in the WSM.


Below is a recent burn, the unlit ones I've just laid in there to start up an indirect for tri-tip....

The burn went all the way around, with 4~6 coals burning at a time & the only thing left is a very small unburnt piece of oak @ about 12 o'clock

This is daisy wheel vents so there's not a hell of a lot of air coming in, esp. when the ash is falling,
but if there's an accurate amount of fuel in relation to the air, everything burns




Looked back at your pic once more & are the partially burnt ones on the right just like it burned, or ones that you moved over later?

All the coals are as they were after lifting the lid at the 90 minute mark. I think the strangest thing is the smoke wood still unlit.

Try also lining up your lid so the vent sits in between the two baskets equally, I know this has some effect.......

Interesting problem....ya got my attention.....

Very odd indeed. again, it isn't just the performer that this happens with, my kettles have the same issue. In fact, that's where I first noticed it. Overall it doesn't seem to have too much of an effect on the end result of the cook, just strange that one side burns faster than the other side.

[DoppelBock]

Can air come in the hole in the bowl where the propane tube comes through? Can air come in the burner tube? There is usually air holes in a propane tube to let the air mix with the propane before it is burned to mix air and gas.

If it were only on the performer I would tend to agree with your idea, but I get the same phenomena on my regular kettles.

[DoppelBock]

i've seen this happen due to the direction of the wind.
and i've seen this happen due to inconsistent and damp charcoal.

it's highly unlikely that the bottom vents, or even the top vents are contributing to your dead zone.

It was a pretty calm day and the charcoal was dry. I have some rotisserie cooks planned for the next couple of days, I'll start observing more carefully how I'm setting up the baskets as well as how much goes in and the differences in the performer vs the regular kettle.

Bottom line though, the food gets cooked just right despite the one side being hotter than the other.

[1buckie]

Just for experiments sake, try putting charcoal only in the baskets & not up behind, see if it makes a difference......
I have some of the clip in coal rails, but I've never used baskets like you have, so interested to see what resolves this....