An Experiment
Klose Backyard Chef Temperature Ranges
Introduction
I recently purchased, via Craigslist, a used Klose Pits Backyard Chef to serve as my new offset smoker. The Rivergrille served me well, but I got an incredible deal on the new pit, and so it was upgrade time. Now though, I need to understand the temperature ranges I can expect within the pit.
Hypothesis
Knowledge is power, nothing more. This is an observational experiment only, we’re not testing any particular hypothesis.
Setup
The Klose has a 50” main chamber, with one half depth removable shelf. In addition it has a 20”x20” vertical chamber with three shelves in it. We are setting up 7 probes in the pit.
- Near Fire Main Chamber
- Far Fire Main Chamber
- Near Fire Shelf
- Far Fire Shelf
- Low Shelf Vertical Box
- Mid Shelf Vertical Box
- High Shelf Vertical Box
In all cases below, we will be testing at a particular temperature which will have been held for at least 5 minutes before temperatures are measured. Target temperature is measured at the “Far Fire Main Chamber” probe.
Experiment 1 - 250°F Fire, No Water Pan
Setup
Temperature of 250 degrees, no water pan.
Results
- Near Fire Main Chamber - 260.7°F
- Far Fire Main Chamber - 254.1°F
- Near Fire Shelf - 320.8°F
- Far Fire Shelf - 315.7°F
- Low Shelf Vertical Box - 189.6°F
- Mid Shelf Vertical Box - 200.5°F
- High Shelf Vertical Box - 209.3°F
So we’re seeing about a 5-6°F difference between near and far Main Chamber, that is very stable.
The shelf is a little surprising, just the few inches of lift moves us up 60°F, but near and far shelf have the same 5-6°F difference that the rest of the main chamber has.
The vertical box is perhaps the most surprising until you think about the physics of it all. The low shelf, farthest from fire and chimney, is the coolest at 189.6°F or put another way about 60°F cooler than the “Fire Fire Main Chamber” probe it is only about 8-10 inches away from. From there, the temperatures go up as you get closer to the chimney, because heat rises, so we see the mid shelf 10°F warmer (50°F cooler than main chamber) and the top shelf at another 10°F warner (40°F cooler than main chamber).
Experiment 2 - Fire 275°F, No Water Pan
Setup
Temperature of 275 degrees, no water pan.
Results
- Near Fire Main Chamber - 280.7°F
- Far Fire Main Chamber - 275.2°F
- Near Fire Shelf - 344.1°F
- Far Fire Shelf - 336.5°F
- Low Shelf Vertical Box - 200.4°F
- Mid Shelf Vertical Box - 213.4°F
- High Shelf Vertical Box - 224.9°F
Experiment 3 - Fire 250°F, Water Pan in Baffle
Setup
Temperature of 250 degrees, water pan with 1 gallon of water directly in the baffle.
Results
- Near Fire Main Chamber - 251.4°F
- Far Fire Main Chamber - 250.2°F
- Near Fire Shelf - 315.1°F
- Far Fire Shelf - 298.7°F
- Low Shelf Vertical Box - 190.2°F
- Mid Shelf Vertical Box - 200.8°F
- High Shelf Vertical Box - 214.2°F
Experiment 4 - Fire 275°F, Water Pan in Baffle
Setup
Temperature of 275 degrees, water pan with 1 gallon of water directly in the baffle.
Results
- Near Fire Main Chamber - 309.2°F
- Far Fire Main Chamber - 272.9°F
- Near Fire Shelf - 343.9°F
- Far Fire Shelf - 323.3°F
- Low Shelf Vertical Box - 193.8°F
- Mid Shelf Vertical Box - 212.6°F
- High Shelf Vertical Box - 230.5°F
Tim Rayburn EXPERIMENTS