Stampede Cold Temps can she keep up?

[BigDog]

Wanting to smoke a couple of pork butts tonight but it will be -1 degrees Fahrenheit can my RT-590 make it running at 225????

 

[SmokeOCD]

Yep! You'll just burn more pellets. Make sure the hopper is full. Dunno the pellet burn rate to battle -1.
Plan B - smoke it a few hours outside, wrap it and finish in the oven to heat your house. The smell is a big bonus.

Edit: mine is under a 14" blanket of snow, -16* tonight, no smoking for at least a few days....

 

[Jim6820]

Not -1, but we’ve been in the mid-teens for the past week and the RT-340 has performed well. As @SmokeOCD said, pellet consumption was a bit higher, but not hugely. Smoke on!

 

[Buckeye1]

I started my trail blazer up at zero degrees this morning and it’s only 2 right now. Grill running fine. I do put a welding blanket on mine and also keep in garage when not using. So grill a little warmer when I started it.

 

[Gonefishin]

I don’t recall the specifics but… I tried one night last winter at about 0, the coldest I’ve tried. On firing it up it would not settle in, and I tried letting it go for about 90 minutes, it was bouncing +/- 100 or so, enough that I pulled the butt and waited to try the next day when it was a bit warmer and I could see why I was doing. I’ve since bought a welding blanket to cover it up in really cold weather.

I posted screen shots at the time but can’t find the post now.

If you have one use a cover of some sort, if not it’ll hold temp IF it settles in at the start. The occurrence above was the only time I’ve had issues, it was also my coldest try. Don’t remember if it was windy.

 

[Jim6820]

IME, wind is the big issue. Steady cold temps with not much wind don’t seem to have much effect. Windy conditions, OTOH—especially in cold temps—are a game changer. That’s where a welding blanket or similar can make a big difference.

 

[SmokeOCD]

IME, wind is the big issue. Steady cold temps with not much wind don’t seem to have much effect. Windy conditions, OTOH—especially in cold temps—are a game changer. That’s where a welding blanket or similar can make a big difference.

This is where the 80's and before style of detached garage was brilliant. Smoke indoors, kill everything in the garage but not your family because it's not attached to the house. Not everything is better these days...

 

[BigDog]

Thanks everyone I am going for it! I will place the smoker so I can block some of the wind and check the temps regularly.

 

[MikeK]

My 340 and 700 have done fine at -30º. Like everyone said, they just use more pellets.

 

[BigDog]

Well my cook went well the old boy did not sound too great when I started it up lots of pops and moans but after it warmed up no issues. I did have one meat probe go bad but I don't think I was because of the -1 degree temperatures.

 

[TheRicker]

I did an overnight cook on a cold night in December…last month. My RT-700 held temp steadily throughout the night. I made the mistake of setting my temp at 225F versus the normal 200F thinking it needed that due to the outside temperature. So it cooked faster and didn’t have quite as much smoke as I was going for. My take on my result is to set your RecTeq temp at whatever you normally would. The machine can handle it. I’m not sure if that’s what others have experienced.

 

[Gonefishin]

Yes, 225 is also 225 when it’s cold out.