How to use Air Vent in Electric Smoker
How to use air vent in Electric Smoker? This is the repeating question of various newbies. You may get a good meat by-chance when you smoke in an electric smoker. But, when you have a complete knowledge of using the vents, you can simply master smoking in electric smoker. When you are a newbie and and struggling to control the vents to generate smoke, you will surely end up messing up your food.
In this article, i will manage your queries regarding the control of vents.
Basically, an electric smoker will have two vents, one at the top and the other at the bottom of the smoker. The main purpose of using vent in electric smoker is to get better control over the amount of oxygen entering and leaving the smoker. Using vent will cause you to cook in more time as the temperature will falls down. Keeping the vent open is like allowing the heat to move outside of your smoker. Before getting into the use of vent system it is important to know about how the vent system works.
How the vent works?
There are two type of vents in an electric smoker the bottom vent take in the oxygen and the required air to inside of the smoker, while the top vent works as an exhaust to push the air outside of the smoker. In some cases the top vent also carries the oxygen to inside the smoker. In such a situation the bottom vent work as an exhaust.
Bottom Vent
The bottom vent is present nearer the wood chips and provide the necessary air to continue the fire goes on. It should always be kept opened during the initial stages when you are going to preheat your electric smoker, to let maximum oxygen and enter the smoker and work on the fuel. Once the temperature rises you can definitely close the bottom vent and leave the top vent open.
Top Vent
The top vent, also known as the exhaust vent performs a very important function of letting the extra smoke goes outside of the smoker by functioning as an exhaust. Also the top vent bring in the oxygen to inside of the smoker to help in smoking your favorite meat.
Controlling the Vent Position
You should always try to maintain suitable position of your vent. It is good to allow some smoke to stay inside while letting some smoke to pass out of the smoker.
You should keep the vent of the electric smoker half opened and half closed for better results. However, that’s not the exact thing that you have to do. You can adjust the vent according to your own needs. But always make sure to cook the meat with the ideal amount of smoke as needed.
Check the Temperature
You don’t need to keep the vent shut for a longer time, as there are chances that it’ll produce more smoke than the amount needed, making everything unpleasant.
As you know, opening the vent is like letting the heat go outside the smoker. Before opening or shutting the vent, the temperature should increase or decrease some where between 200 and 250 degrees. Using a thermometer keep a check on the temperature.
How to use the vent in perfect way?
There cant be any one line answer to the question. That’s totally on you and the situation whether to keep the vent open or close for getting maximum out of your smoker. Keeping the vent open or closed is like letting the oxygen moves outside or stay inside.
More oxygen is needed initially for smoking therefore, if you want to get the best possible results, you should keep the vent open at start. However, you’ll never want the wind to disturb you while you are busy with your favorite meat. Then the perfect thing here to do is to close the vent after some times the smoker get heated.
Electric Smoker Top Vent Open or Closed?
How to use Air Vent in Electric Smoker? As mentioned earlier, it is necessary to let the air work on itself to smoker your meat during the initial stages. Later on you should close the vent to capture more heat inside the smoker. Still, it may feel very odd if you trap a lot of smoke with the meat inside the smoker.
So you don’t actually need to keep it closed all the time. However, there are some smoker that provide you a way to adjust the opening of the vent, allowing you to open the vent as according to your needs and requirements.
You should always keep the top vent open for allowing the oxygen to come inside the smoker using the same convection process you may have studied in your primary school.
However, you can decide about the bottom vent. That is mainly for the temperature control, and you can use that vent for maintaining the temperature.
What to do if we are unable to reach the desired temperature in a specific time?
If such a situation arises, you should look for leaks that might be present in your electric smoker, allowing oxygen to enter the smoker through unauthorized spaces. In some smokers the doors are not sealed properly, which causes the heat to escape through those small openings in the door and walls of the smoker.
In this situation you should seal the leaks using gaskets. For this purpose you can also use food silicone. Whatever the method you use always make sure there is no leak reaming inside of the smoker, because it will destroy all if your efforts.
Conclusion
The vent system is very beneficial for effectively smoking the meat in electric smoker. Also, it is very important for the oxygen to work on the meat you are smoking. But you will definitely fear the high speed of wind, as it is going to prevent you from smoking the meat with more efficiency. One thing that I would like to add is to keep both the bottom and top vent open initially. Close the bottom vent after reaching the desired temperature, and keep the top vent open during the whole process and that’s all.
If you have some new techniques don’t hesitate to comment.
