Vent settings

Do most people mark their vent settings someway on their smoker so 25% today is the same as 25% 2 weeks from now or do you just give it your best guesstimate. Thanks for the help.

Hey Rodney:

I haven't ever heard of anyone 'marking' the vents, but just when you think you've seen it all...there's something new.

The way that I guestimate the degree of the vent opening is by looking at them like the moon. Full moon - wide open. Half moon, and so on. Maybe someday we will incorporate a more uniform way of gauging it, but for now - it's your guestimate is as good as mine.

Weber Dave



[This message has been edited by dave estrem (edited 02-22-2001).]

Dave
I've been asked to cook with David Klose's team in Nashville in June. Do you think
cooking chicken on a WSM would be a problem?
Jim

Hi Jim:

Why do I feel like Robin Hood sensing an ambush? You're asking me if chicken can be prepared on a WSM? I can't believe the name-sake of the 'Minion Method' needs advice on smoking chicken. If you really want my answer, it's "yes, yes, yes!" - but this is a joke, right? I was born in the morning, but not THIS morning.

Best to you,

Weber Dave

It's a joke!
Have not found a better chicken cooker
than a WSM.
David may make me keep the WSM behind the offsets out of sight, and swear to tell no one what we used.
Jim

Good question Rodney. Like you, I gave this idea serious consideration during my first few months of cooking on the WSM. Now that I am approaching a year with the WSM(but still no where near a veteran like Chris, Jim Minion, Stogie etc) I have found that I can achieve fairly accurate vent settings from cooking session to cooking session just by eyeball.

Another reason that dissuaded me from marking the vents is that if the WSM vents age like my Weber kettle vents then eventually the rotating vent cover will loosen over time. The result would be that the air volume flow at a vent setting of 25% on a new WSM will be less then then the air volume flow of a 25% vent setting of a WSM that has been used for several years because an older vent cover will not fit as snugly against the WSM body. Maybe some of the WSM veterans could provide insight as to whether or not vent covers get loose over time.

Maybe not the answer you were expecting but hope this helps.

Brian

I'M transporting the 3 WSM we have all over the country competing and they take some abuse. The vents need to be messaged back into shape, that said one the difference about Q'n compared to baking for example is
that the conditions change all the time. As you get more cooks under your belt you will find that what you did one time won't get the best result the next. That's why they call Q'n an ART. You will get a feel for
what's needed to make the best product.
The worst thing that will happen is you'll be eating some good food and your knowledge base will grow.
Jim