WSM 18" long cooks


 
Misha

Misha

TVWBB Member
I recently started using 18" WSM. Done pork ribs over the weekend for the first time, came out awesome, but I have more questions now!
So I did a minion method, used about the full chimney of unlit coals and about half chimney of ashed hot coals, throwed those in the middle as supposed to. I had all 3 bottom vents about 1/3 open, and fully open top vent, temp was very stable about 230 all cook long that was about 4 hours total. I used Kingsford briquettes and few chunks of wood on top for smoke.
My concern is all my coals were burnt out by the end of the cook! Holy moly, 1 1/2 chimneys for 4 hours only?
I have big plans of smoking a 10lb pork butt on upcoming Friday and now I am thinking if I should use my 22" kettle with a snake method instead as I did in the past. I used a B&B briquettes that time and for 10 hours of cook it burnt less then 2/3 of the snake! Very efficient. I was expecting something like that from WSM but maybe I am doing something wrong here with WSM?
 
Comparing the results using 2 different briquettes and 2 different methods used in 2 different cookers is like comparing apples to oranges. The amount of charcoal adds an unknown variable unless you measured the amount used for both cooks. Aside from all of that, the ambient conditions also have an influence on fuel consumption.

Having several cookers, I select the one that best fits the cook. While weather conditions, the size and timing of the cook matter, my primary goal is to produce the best end product. That's why I have several different cookers that complement each other. That's just me. You do you.
 
That setup doesn't sound any different than I've ever done on my WSM 18. I know I can go longer than 4 hours on a setup like this. I don't typically use the water pan but I know it uses up more energy to heat the water. I still think you should get more time out of this.
 
B&B will definitely go longer. I have done 10+ hour cooks on my 18" WSM in below 32 F weather with B&B (and a filled water pan). That is with the coal ring full to the top, minion method starting in the middle.

It's been so long since I used regular KBB, I am not sure of total time, but 4 hours seems short to me, even with KBB.

Note. I have 2 charcoal grates stacked at 90 degrees to each other to keep smaller pieces from falling thru the grates as quickly.
 
Water in the pan can throw you a curve ball. Mounds of energy wasted just heating up that water. Before changing charcoal or anything else, I suggest you first just go with an foiled, empty pan and see what happens ! (note: you will probably need to close those vents down alot more than 1/3 open)
 
Bob Bass said:
Water in the pan can throw you a curve ball. Mounds of energy wasted just heating up that water. Before changing charcoal or anything else, I suggest you first just go with an foiled, empty pan and see what happens ! (note: you will probably need to close those vents down alot more than 1/3 open)
Click to expand...

Misha,

To be fair, my water pan was filled, but it is the older / smaller version that only holds about a gallon of water. If you filled the newer version full, that is a lot of water to heat up and keep at temperature.

You could also try going without water like Bob suggested.

But I would only change one thing at a time and see how it goes.

Todd
 
I agree with all of the above.

When you do that pork butt, you can do the Minion Method like you did, except fill the charcoal chamber to the top with unlit (even more than shown in these pics), place 30-40 hot coals on top, and that will be PLENTY of charcoal to take that butt from start to finish.

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@Misha - as others have said, there are lots of variables when it comes to fuel consumption, however I have successfully done cooks upwards of 10-12 hours using Kingsford coal (usually Pro but in the past I've used "original" KBB as well). That said, I cannot remember the last time I measured my coals, especially for a long cook. Ok, that's not entirely true as I recently used 14 lbs of Cowboy briquettes for a cook. Of course I only know that because I had a 14 lbs bag and dumped the whole thing in my WSM! Anyway, that bag lasted the entire rib cook (no water ~275°F) with plenty of left over coal to reuse.

Having said that (sorry if it was a bit of a tangent), my typical fueling procedure is to simply load up the charcoal ring without too much thought about how much I'm adding. If it's going to be a long overnighter, I might try to pack the coals tightly to maximize the number of coals in the cooker. One of the things I learned early on was that Kingsford Original ashes like crazy, so much so that I've had so much ash build up on a long cook that it prevented sufficient air flow and killed my coals. While the Kingsford Pro is much better than KBB in that regard, it's still not as good as some other "natural" brands of charcoal.

Again, as others have suggested, some tricks you can include:
  • Stacking 2 charcoal grates 90 degrees to each other (keeps smaller coals closer to the active coal bed so they don't get extinguished in the ashes below the grate).
  • Not using water in the pan (less energy consumed to make the water boil).
  • Using a different fuel (some type of "all natural hardwood" or just something other than KBB) - it's true that at the end of the day BTUs are BTUs are BTUs, but if you have more fillers in your coal the less actual fuel you have for combustion.
  • Using a different thermometer (as opposed to the WSM lid thermometer) to monitor your pit temps. It's at least possible that you're actually running hotter than you think if you're relying on the OEM thermometer. Obviously if you're running hotter, you'll consume more fuel over the same period of time.
Above all, as @Todd K Wisc said, as you try changing your setup, only change one thing at a time so you know what works and what doesn't.
 
As Chris stated, Just fill up the ring and you are good all day. I would snuff out the remaining coals when the meat was done and reuse them next time. Better too many to start than to have to add them later.
 
Misha said:
I am just probably going to buy B&B and use it on WSM at this time to see if it was the fuel issue or not.
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Certainly not a bad option... I've never used B&B, but suspect that you'll see an improvement over KBB. That said, for a pork butt I would strongly encourage you to follow Chris's advice and just fill the charcoal ring to the top and not worry about measuring your unlit fuel with a chimney regardless of what brand of charcoal you use.
 
One and a half chimneys would seem to fill the ring halfway. With a third lit. 4 hours may be a bit low. As someone else said, temp may have been higher.
 
So I did a minion method, used about the full chimney of unlit coals and about half chimney of ashed hot coals,

1. 1.5 chimneys is a small amount of charcoal for a long low/slow cook.

For every cook, I fill up the ring to the brim. I have no idea how much charcoal that is and it doesn't matter.

Then I put on the lit. Which, depending on circumstance, could be as few as 10 coals or as much as a full chimney -- about 80 coals.

I usually do not have to add more coals during the cook -- even for an overnight. When cook is over, shut down all vents to snuff the fire. Any unused coals stay and are used in the next cook.

2. Using a lot of water for temp control is highly inefficient for fuel use. Intentionally so. HUGE amounts of BTUs are consumed converting 212F water into 212F steam. Vaporizing uses five times the amount of energy needed to bring the water to a boil. Kind of like running the heat in your house full bore in the winter but leaving the windows open.

If you control your temp by other means (vent control, minion, ATC, non water diffuser) you can be WAY more fuel and thermally efficient. You can introduce moisture into the cook in various ways like spritzing or a small amount of water.

3. Your choice of KBB is totally not your issue. KBB is just fine -- many of us on here use it all the time. Personally, I like to use Kingsford Pro from Costco. Has less filler and so produces more fire and less ash than KBB. Very helpful for a long cook.
 
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Just a side note. I always did as Jim and Chris suggested and used a full ring when using my WSM. I almost always had coals left over to re-use after snuffing. Using the water pan really is fantastic for keeping temps of 225-235 with almost no effort, but does use more fuel. The only times I used an empty pan was to get higher temps for faster cooking or crispier skin on chickens and turkeys. Lower temps starting out is way easier than getting too high and having to come back down.
 
I appreciate all the answers and suggestions. As I already mentioned, I will use B&B this time and we'll see how it goes.
For me, fuel efficiency is important too. Just for the reference, here are photos of my 10 hours snake in the kettle smoking a pork butt about 250 all the way, B&B charcoal. I'd say about 30-35 pieces of charcoal for 10 hours. Yes, it was a summer day what have helped a lot too.
 

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I use the 18WSM and can get on average 10hrs out of an almost full ring of Kingsford Blue charcoal for pork butts (bowl in, no water).

Target temp of 240F at the dome thermometer, bottom vents at about 25% open, top always 100% open.

But I use "Soo's Donut" load of lit charcoal in the center of about 24 briquettes.
Soos-donut.jpg

When the temp starts to drop, I tap the side of the bowl with a rubber mallet to knock the ash off and open the vents a tad more to eek out a bit more time.
 
Misha said:
I appreciate all the answers and suggestions. As I already mentioned, I will use B&B this time and we'll see how it goes.
For me, fuel efficiency is important too. Just for the reference, here are photos of my 10 hours snake in the kettle smoking a pork butt about 250 all the way, B&B charcoal. I'd say about 30-35 pieces of charcoal for 10 hours. Yes, it was a summer day what have helped a lot too.
Click to expand...
That is a very nicely stacked snake! I wish B+B were available a less expensive price here in VA as I have never seen it for under $1lb, mostly quite a bit more. Even the sales at Walmart to not apply here for some reason. I think maybe a shipping thing as the sales usually apply to more western parts of the country.
 
Misha -- the water pan for a WSM 18 holds 2.5 gallons. Heating and vaporizing that much water uses up massive amounts of charcoal and BTUs.

Imagine how lame that very nice snake fire would be rendered if you massively suppressed it by adding several gallons of water inside your kettle.

Your WSM is a far far far far better low/slow smoker than your kettle ever will be. You can use massive amounts of water to control the temp if you want to. It is pretty much idiot proof since that mass of water/steam can never ever exceed 212F no matter how big a fire you build. Our fearless leader Chris likes to cook with a full water pan.

Many of us (including me) use zero water in the pan. We control the temp by building a slow minion burn, careful vent control and (maybe) using an ATC. If you don't use the big mass of water to control your temp, your charcoal will last waaaaaaaaay longer. I easily can do an overnight pork butt cook with a fully loaded WSM 18 using no water -- with charcoal left over at the end.

Your charcoal is fine. Your WSM is fine. If you want to get better fuel efficiency from your WSM, don't operate it in a highly inefficient way (i.e. stop wasting huge BTUs on heating and boiling gallons of water).

#thermodynamics
 
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