How Low Can You Go


 
M

Mache

TVWBB Fan
I have a 20+ year old 18.5" WSM with a new Cajun Bandit door, compression latch, and HM and want to find out the lowest temperature I can maintain. Once my briskets/ribs have finished, I have been doing Foil, Towel, Cooler (FTC) to safely keep them hot for several hours until its time to eat. Commercial BBQ places use cook and hold ovens, like the Alto-Sham, set to a safe temperature, to hold finished products, without cooking them any more, until they are served. Could I use the WSM with the HM to solve the same problem and hold my foiled smoked meats at somewhere between 150F and 180F until they are ready to be eaten?

-- Mache
 
The HM has alarms you can set for each probe, you can set the HM to change the pit temp to whatever you like when the trigger temp is reached for your meat probe... So that covers the cook and hold function. From there it is up to what your grill can do, some will not cool down very fast (kamado's), but I think a thin walled smoker should cool down fairly fast. What you need to do is make sure your smoker is sealed up enough to really choke out that fire, make as much air as possible come through the HM blower or servo damper, and make sure the fire is on the small side when the trigger temp is reached. I would think with some practice you could get it done....
 
That is what I figured and my WSM is now pretty tight. However, I was looking to see if anyone had any actual experience getting a WSM down that low. There may be a theoretical low temperature limit based on a minimum charcoal mass required to sustain the fire.

-- Mache
 
I've gotten mine down to 160 stable. With all bottom vents closed and top vent 1/4 open. Should hold for a good couple three hrs. If you notice it starting to drop, just open the lid and door for a minute.
 
Thanks Todd,

I have a pretty tight WSM with a HeaterMeter and hope I can use it to hold my brisket after its done. Sounds like your experience suggests that it is very possible.

-- Mache
 
On my last brisket I was able to set my HeaterMeter (HM) ATM to 160F and my WSM was very stable at that temperature for close to 9 hours until the fuel ran out. For me this means I can hold briskets in my WSM for as long as I have fuel. Alto Shaam (the commercial holding oven company) recommends that BBQ brisket be held at 160F up to 24 hours until it is ready to be served. Aaron Franklin holds his briskets in Alto Shaams from the time he pulls them from his smokers and lets them rest (around 1:30-2:30 AM) until he starts serving customers at 11:00 AM; at least eight and a half hours.

-- Mache
 
As a bonus, the HeaterMeter can be set to automatically lower the pit temperature to holding temp when the food hits your target temperature. This is the "Setpoint" field on the alarms page.
 
Bryan Mayland said:
As a bonus, the HeaterMeter can be set to automatically lower the pit temperature to holding temp when the food hits your target temperature. This is the "Setpoint" field on the alarms page.
Click to expand...

Love this feature Bryan, I've used it many times, works great! Just make sure to clear the alarm before your next cook if you are cooking different meat or assigning the probes differently, otherwise you might get surprised if you walk away from the pit and the alarm triggers and changes your setpoint....
 
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