The Biscuit Test

Believe it or not, in the four years that I have owned my smokers, I have never performed "The Biscuit Test" inside my cookers.  I thought it was time to do so this past weekend.

What is the biscuit test you ask?  Well first, you buy a few cans of the cheapest biscuits you can find in the refrigerated section of your grocery store.

Then, you bring them home and fire your smoker up to whatever temperature you like.  I used 300 F for this test.  Then, you spread the biscuits out evenly on your smoker racks and let them bake.  As they brown, you can determine where the hot spots are in your smoker.

Stumps Baby

The picture is not great, but as you can tell, my Baby is hotter on the right side with the hottest spot being the right rear.  There was only a slight difference from the top rack to the second rack.  But, the lower rack was slightly cooler.

Stumps Junior

Junior top rack

Junior middle rack

My Junior runs hot on the right side and along the back.  I was a bit surprised to see this.  Also, the middle rack was noticeably warmer than the top rack.  

Why would you want to know this?  Knowing the heat profile of your cooker can help you to speed up or slow down the speed at which your meat cooks.  This can help you gain an edge in a competition.  It can also help you to crisp up that skin on your chicken entry.  Have an older oven at home?  You can run the same test in your oven to determine where your hot spots are in your non-convection oven.  Believe me, my old oven had them.  Why do you think your cookie recipes tell you to rotate your cookie sheets halfway through your bake?  

Now, will someone please send butter and blackberry jam?  I don't have enough.

Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go rotate my butts.

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill