Higher temps on my mini-WSM


 

Justin W

TVWBB Pro
So my WSM has been great for low and slow by not good for higher heat cooks. The highest I could ever get it if I was lucky and the stars aligned was 325 and it usually topped out around 300. Today I was fooling around with it, and figured out that I can get a lot more heat out of it if I ever so slightly elevate the tamale cooker from the base to increase the air flow.

So I left the grate on the base and placed a wire cooling rack with tiny half inch feet on the cooking grate. Then I set the tamale pot on the wire cooling rack (anything would work that would elevate the pot slightly and doesn't impede air flow.) The net result was about a 1/4 inch gap between the base and the tamale pot. (By the way, this entire mod was inspired by the Weber Rotiserie ring with the huge gap between the ring and wall of the cooker).

The result? It was a totally different cooker. The cooker ran at about 450 with the SJ dampers open and about 400 with the dampers closed...perfect for roasting whole chickens. I'm very pleased with how this turned out as it added versatility to an already wonderful cooker. It required no tools, permanent mods, or money. I thought you guys might find it interesting as well.
 
I use the original steamer insert to hold a pie plate as a difuser.

If I want more air flow and higher temps, I add spacers like small tin cans to elevate the difuser... the increased air/heat flow as you experienced increases temps.
 
i found that my gold will also not get the temps up. it does hold a nice steady temp though. for higher temps you need a sj silver with the bottom vent. i get higher temps with it. if not then add a vent to yer gold.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by george curtis:
i found that my gold will also not get the temps up. it does hold a nice steady temp though. for higher temps you need a sj silver with the bottom vent. i get higher temps with it. if not then add a vent to yer gold. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

That's my point. I thought the same thing 24 hours ago. My gold got up to 450 yesterday...no new vents.
 
Now that's a neat little trick. I loved the fact that my mini was its own automatic temp controller i.e. temp never got above 250-260F so I could just light it up and walk away. Now I can get those beer-butt chix done in it too! Thanks for the tip.
 
You can also tip the lid sligthly to encourage more air flow..

I still think a great mod is to buy a Silver but add 2-3 18 in WSM vents at the bottom.
 

 

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