Derek Punaro
New member
Hi all,
So I've done about 6 cooks on my new WSM 18.5" so far using lump charcoal and I find that I'm only getting 5-6 hours of consistent heat before it starts dropping on me. Then of course, I start fiddling with the vents and tapping the ash off and it'll go for another 2-3 hours before I start throwing unlit in there to boost it. I want to start doing overnight cooks so I'm looking to remedy this situation. For my cook this past weekend, I started with a full ring of unlit charcoal (about 1/3 was leftover from a previous session), then added about 3/4 of a chimney of lit on top of it. I did fill my water pan with hot water.
I've read a lot on here but I'm looking for opinions on what will make the biggest impact on being able to do longer cooks without me needing to tend to the fire. Do I swap the water pan for a clay saucer? Switch to a smaller (Brinkman) water pan and load up more unlit charcoal? Get a bigger charcoal basket? Start with the coffee can modified Minion? Just spend more time packing the lump charcoal in so it's tighter and less air gaps? Switch to briquettes? About the only thing I'm trying to avoid is investing in an expensive temp control system at the moment.
Opinions welcome!
So I've done about 6 cooks on my new WSM 18.5" so far using lump charcoal and I find that I'm only getting 5-6 hours of consistent heat before it starts dropping on me. Then of course, I start fiddling with the vents and tapping the ash off and it'll go for another 2-3 hours before I start throwing unlit in there to boost it. I want to start doing overnight cooks so I'm looking to remedy this situation. For my cook this past weekend, I started with a full ring of unlit charcoal (about 1/3 was leftover from a previous session), then added about 3/4 of a chimney of lit on top of it. I did fill my water pan with hot water.
I've read a lot on here but I'm looking for opinions on what will make the biggest impact on being able to do longer cooks without me needing to tend to the fire. Do I swap the water pan for a clay saucer? Switch to a smaller (Brinkman) water pan and load up more unlit charcoal? Get a bigger charcoal basket? Start with the coffee can modified Minion? Just spend more time packing the lump charcoal in so it's tighter and less air gaps? Switch to briquettes? About the only thing I'm trying to avoid is investing in an expensive temp control system at the moment.
Opinions welcome!