Slap Yo Daddy temp control. Your opimion.


 
D

Dale Nichols

TVWBB Super Fan
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I only close or partially close the top vent when I get a big spike, but I also get what he's sayin, once you have TBS you can use the top vent to control temps.
I always use a turkey fryer therm stuck in one of the holes with a clip, so I'm just use to being a bottom adjuster.:wsm:

Tim
 
Yeah, me to old school here used a Taylor candy thermo $12.99. I just started reading all this stuff again a couple of months ago. Thought about getting an offset just to learn a different style but got a 22 instead. Here in Houston there are major players in the offset and cabinet cooker market . Wasn't sure about all the baby sitting and wood storage ect.... I did not even know they came out with a 22. To me it's like once you learn your cooker you learn it. And with the WSM you learn it almost to quick.:)
 
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I use the top vent all the time. I rarely use water anymore and can barely crack open the three bottom vents and close the top to as much as 1/2. The point is to always have the top vent open more than the bottom three combined to ensure a positive chimney effect -- he calls it a vacuum -- and it is. (You want hot air to escape to pull in cold air to feed the fire.) I can lock in temps for long periods this way.
 
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Dwain Pannell said:
I use the top vent all the time. I rarely use water anymore and can barely crack open the three bottom vents and close the top to as much as 1/2. The point is to always have the top vent open more than the bottom three combined to ensure a positive chimney effect -- he calls it a vacuum -- and it is. (You want hot air to escape to pull in cold air to feed the fire.) I can lock in temps for long periods this way.
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Dwain, sure that's what Harry's saying?---"Once you have seasoned your WSM using the steps below, follow my technique to light your pit and leave one bottom vent open and the top vent half open. Allow your pit to come slowly up to temp (it may take 30-45 minutes). If the pit starts to over temp, gradually shut down the top vent and it will calm down. New WSMs invariably overheat until after half a dozen cooks so be prepared to cook with top and bottom vents all completely closed in your first few cooks. If you have the top vent completely open and one bottom vent completely open and your pit does not come up in temp, you can open a second bottom vent, followed by a third. Usually when you open the second or third, it means you’re out of fuel. You can toss 20 briquettes through the fire door and be careful not to snuff out the fire. If your fire is already out, you have to light your briquettes before you toss them into the WSM." Harry Soo

Sounds to me like he's saying to start with the top vent fully open then close it to half open after up to temp, leaving only one bottom vent open. Regardless, I'd NEVER recommend that someone "cook with top and bottom vents all completely closed in your first few cooks". Say what?!
 
Good point. I must have mis-read it. I don't do that. I use my vents in combination to control temps.
 
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I had to reread what he wrote three or four times.

Unless maybe using an ATC, I think it might be best to leave the top vent fully open until later in the cook when the smoke is very thin. Even using the PartyQ on my last butt cook with the top vent at 50%, my dome was left with a very strong smokey smell I haven't had before. I didn't use as much wood as usual, but as I've mentioned, the B&B briquettes didn't burn as clean as I liked for a MM lownslow.
 
This sentence right here is kinda why I wrote this post.

Quote: New WSMs invariably overheat until after half a dozen cooks so be prepared to cook with top and bottom vents all completely closed in your first few cooks.

He has to mean almost completely closed,cracked open ever so slightly. Just enough to keep a low 225-250 range. Because closing the vents to much stops the vacuum all together.:) Almost everybody who runs a offset controls the fire with the intake. Jamie Greer who builds Jambo pits is the only one I know of who recommends using the exhaust vent. His whole design opposite from traditional offsets but they work.
 
Dale Nichols said:
This sentence right here is kinda why I wrote this post.

Quote: New WSMs invariably overheat until after half a dozen cooks so be prepared to cook with top and bottom vents all completely closed in your first few cooks.
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Yea, that would be one drafty WSM to run with all vents closed.
Maybe with an ATC you could pull that off, but going natural, I would certainly doubt it IMO.

Tim
 
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