Controlling Temp...Just Wondering


 
E

Eugene A

TVWBB Fan
Hello, Everyone:

I'm in the midst of doing a brisket, a rather small piece of meat (2.6 lbs.). That's not the issue. The issue is with temperature control.

I have two bottom vents open a smidge, probably 1/8, and one bottom vent closed completely. The lid vent is open 1/2. Temp has been in the 240-245 range for most of the cook, just dropping down now to 237.

I'm wondering -- how much do the vents have to be open to maintain temp? In the beginning, when I first started using my WSM, I was fretting over opening/closing the vents to maintain an even temp, but to no avail. Now, with the lower vents hardly opened, and the top vent opened one half, it seems easier to maintain temp, that is, the temp isn't fluctuating all over the place like it was in the beginning.

It seems that, with the 18.5 WSM that I have, there hardly has to be any opening in the vents at the bottom, and the lid vent at just a half, and that'll do it for a typical low 'n slow.

Did I rediscover the wheel again?
 
You discovered how your WSM runs, they all have different quirks and it's up to us as owner/operators to understand that.
Good job!

Tim
 
I always leave my top vent 100% open. I want the smoke to go over my food and out. No lingering. Depending on what temp I am trying to achieve I light 20-40 kingsford briquettes. I always use the doughnut minion method. I don't care if I am smoking for 3 hours or 12 hours I use it. Obviously for shorter cook I use less unlit briquettes. I stack my unlit briquettes in a doughnut shape and pour my lit coals in the middle. Once lit coals are in I assemble the cooker and leave all of the vents 100% open. I watch the fire and when my cooker starts getting to my target temp I start closing my vents. Lets say I am shooting for 250 and my smoker temp reaches 220 I will start closing vents. As it gets closer to 250 i'll close the vents more and more until the smoker equals out to my target temp. I make minor adjustments as it gets closer to target temp. I avoid drastic changes such as 100% open to 100% closed. I also strive to never fully close the bottom vents. In my opinion if you fully close them you start choking off the fire and making a "dirty fire". If you are having to constantly fiddle with dampers or have to 100% close vents you have a problem with the amount of charcoal you put in the cooker. When my smoker is stable I put the food in. Once food is in and temp is stable I rarely touch it. Stays pretty close to target temp like a champ. As they say there is more than one way to skin a cat...
 
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I am also a top vent guy. I say as long as the top vent is open more than the bottoms combined there is still a positive chimney effect. Like you, I've found I can lock in temps that way and don't hesitate to use it. Many disagree and that's cool, too.
 
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