getting wsm over 325 degrees


 
J

jeff davidson

TVWBB Super Fan
I made my first apple brined turkey on christmas day. I couldn't get the temp over 325. The ambient temp was about 50, I used two chimneys of kingsford, no water in the pan, all vents wide open from the start.

ideas?

btw, turkey was great. The skin tasked like apple bacon...
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by jeff davidson:

btw, turkey was great. The skin tasked like apple bacon... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Maybe you don't need to get over 325°.
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You just need more oxygen to the fire than the fully-opened vents can supply. You can accomplish this most easily by propping the access door open about ½".
 
I've had trouble keeping high temperatures in the past.

My mistakes -
1) Using leftover charcoal for high temp cooks (they are ok for lower temperature cooks though)
2) Getting impatient and not letting the chimney(s) get fully lit. Flames coming out of the top of the chimney is not hot enough. The charcoal needs to be gray and ashed over.

I don't get much wind in my area but wind is a killer when trying to keep up high temps.
 
I did a turkey the other day, used lump charcoal
vents wide open, a dry waterpan. I started it with a weedburner and tossed in a couple of chunks of cherry. Outside temp was in the mid 50s. The pit temps held steady at 325 to 350.
Jim
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jim Minion:
I did a turkey the other day, used lump charcoal
vents wide open, a dry waterpan. I started it with a weedburner and tossed in a couple of chunks of cherry. Outside temp was in the mid 50s. The pit temps held steady at 325 to 350.
Jim </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Jeff, incase you don't know, lump burns hotter then brisquetts
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jon:
lump burns hotter then brisquetts </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
...when both are given an unrestricted oxygen supply.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Doug D:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jon:
lump burns hotter then brisquetts </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
...when both are given an unrestricted oxygen supply. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I gave that a given, since both stated cooking wide open.
 
50 degrees is nice for humans but, I would have put a jacket of some sort on the WSM. The wind blocks help butt... Try getting a water heater jacket from Menards or Home Depot. Chris has a page somewhere on this site talking about jackets for the WSM.
 
It doesn't get cold here often, but in reviewing old cooking logs, I see that I've done high-temp turkey cooks on 45-48° breezy days without much problem, and no insulating jacket. Wind is the problem, not cold.
 
I had the exact same problem as Jeff. I used the Standard method for starting (2 full chimneys total) and had a water heater blanket on for good measure (on the WSM, not me), but the pit temps just would not break 300F. I then started another half-chimney of coals, let them get really hot, and added them to the WSM - the temp then rose to ~315.

Next time I do a high temp cook I will try propping open the access door and see if that helps.

Despite all this, the turkey came out great! Just proves that you can't keep a good WSM down.
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thanks for all the suggestions. Couple of things:
- I do know that lump burns hotter however,
- I did not expect to have this problem. Looking at the apple brine recipe, 350 was achieved with the vents 50% open. Mine were 100% open.
- I used the standard method and waited until the top coals had all turned grey.
 
After reading about these temperature struggles, is there any reason to use a WSM for high temperature cooking if a Weber kettle or other cover grill is available? I can get the temperature up to 500F on my 22-1/2 inch Weber in any weather without any problem.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by jeff davidson:
- I did not expect to have this problem. Looking at the apple brine recipe, 350 was achieved with the vents 50% open. Mine were 100% open. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
If you notice, after a while, the 50-50-50 setting had to be changed to almost 100% when the cooker temp dropped about 16°. There are going to be variables in every cook. Learning to recognize and adjust for them is the real trick. Beyond vent settings, the fuel, mass of meat and heatsink, ambient temperature, wind, and even sun or shade come into play.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">is there any reason to use a WSM for high temperature cooking if a Weber kettle or other cover grill is available? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

My experience has been that the kettle places the meat too close to the coals and results in overcooked spots. The WSM keeps the meat far enough away that the heat is more even.
 
Before buying a WSM, I used my kettle for indirect cooking / smoking. Through experimentation I found it best to put coals on only one side, a drip pan under the meat, and put the meat on the far side from the coals.

Even with the meat as far away as possible, the edge of the meat closest to the coals gets roasted more than the furthest edge. Two things you can do to even out the cooking. 1) Rotate the meat regularly , 2) put something in between coals & meat to partially shield it (like maybe an iron wood chip smoker box).

VERY High temps (500-700+) are possible with a kettle, but lower temps are finicky to maintain. Its almost like a race car that doesn't idle well.

The highest temp I ever got off the smoker was about 350-375. If you really need higher temps, you might try cooking without the water pan. That would increase the air draft / pull of the smoker, but it exposes the meat to flare-ups. I want to try this technique with chicken on the upper grill, but I suspect it will work best on smaller cuts of meat.
 
I cook high heat meats in the kettle more often than the WSM but bank the coals on both sides of the meat or make a ring all the way around the edge of the coal grate. Occasionally I bank on one side and this necessitates rotating periodically as Darrell notes.

On most high heat WSM cooks I start with LOTS of lit and often keep the door propped open for the sear phase then close the door and (sometimes) adjust the vents to lower the cook temp for the duration.

For high heat chicken halves, quarters or pieces I do not use the water pan and cook skin down for 20-30 min before flipping. The cook grate distance is far enough from the coals (I use high quality lump for these cooks) that flare-ups are not an issue.
 
for high heat cooks, I always just use two fully lit chimneys of kingsford, dumped on half a chimney of unlit. Then I toss 20-25 more briquettes on top.

It starts off well above 400. After about 20-30 minutes, it settles to around 375-400. After an hour, it settles to 350 and it stays there for about 3-4 hours with all the vents wide open. Never had a problem with high heat...
 
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