temp control with smaller characoal ring?

[Kent]

I'm a relatively new WSM user, though I had a bullet smoker prior. It seems a lot is directed toward maintaining a stable temp. of 250-275F. Have any tried using less charcoal with a smaller diameter charcoal ring? This would decrease the horizontal space but maintain the vertical dimension. You should have less BTU output, and the same burning time. This would lower your temp. You do lose the heat sink effect of the clay and the water. The WSM then would be much more tied to the outside temp and stability would be more of an issue.

Have any tried this? It seems on a hot summer day this would make sense. In the winter, no.

Thanks,

 

[John09]

If you're having trouble keeping stable temps on a wsm, I think you just need to find and fix air leaks. The wsm is very stable and doesn't need any additional engineering.

I don't think a smaller diameter ring would matter anywy though, it isn't as though only the outer layer of charcoal will burn. With sufficient airflow you can have a very deep pile of hot coals. I think if you had a leak that was causing temp control problems a smaller ring would still show the same problems but with a shorter run time between refueling.