WSM 22.5 problem and solution

I smoked a turkey breast today on my WSM 22.5 using the Apple Wood Smoked Turkey recipe on About.com. The turkey came out great despite an issue with the WSM.

The problem I had is the smoker peaked at 290 degrees. At 150 degrees, I shut down one of the lower vents. At 180 I shut down the second vent and set the third at 1/2 open. at about 240 I shut the third vent down. The temp continued to rise and at 270 I shut down the top vent. I checked out the door and found it was fitting worse then usual. I always add some foil at the top of the door to make a gasket. When the temperature hit 270 today I added foil to the sides of the door. This stopped all the smoke leakage around the door. The temp continued up to 290 and then finaly settled back to 250 about the time the breast was done.

In the past I was able to keep the temp at 250 or slightly lower but shutting the vents down like I did today. It would then hold this temp for hours with little intervention. After this issue today I thought I would start looking at the mods on the board to find a solution to this problem. The first thing I found was some posts on new s/s doors by Cajun Bandit. Based on what I have read this is a great solution and probably the best way to go.

Unless someone wangs to give me a good reason not to buy a new door from them I plan to place an order tomorrow.

Forgot to mention that while I was working the smoker my daughter pulled out our dutch oven that had never been used, fired up a chimney of coals and made an apple cobbler while I was smoking the turkey. We picked up some corn from the farmer next door and popped a bottle of rose wine that we picked up at Snow Farm vineyard in Vermont two weeks ago. This was one of the best meals of the year.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Larry Powers:
I smoked a turkey breast today on my WSM 22.5 using the Apple Wood Smoked Turkey recipe on About.com. The turkey came out great despite an issue with the WSM.

The problem I had is the smoker peaked at 290 degrees. At 150 degrees, I shut down one of the lower vents. At 180 I shut down the second vent and set the third at 1/2 open. at about 240 I shut the third vent down. The temp continued to rise and at 270 I shut down the top vent. I checked out the door and found it was fitting worse then usual. I always add some foil at the top of the door to make a gasket. When the temperature hit 270 today I added foil to the sides of the door. This stopped all the smoke leakage around the door. The temp continued up to 290 and then finaly settled back to 250 about the time the breast was done.

In the past I was able to keep the temp at 250 or slightly lower but shutting the vents down like I did today. It would then hold this temp for hours with little intervention. After this issue today I thought I would start looking at the mods on the board to find a solution to this problem. The first thing I found was some posts on new s/s doors by Cajun Bandit. Based on what I have read this is a great solution and probably the best way to go.

Unless someone wangs to give me a good reason not to buy a new door from them I plan to place an order tomorrow. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Larry, hard to know what caused this but some things to look for...

Leaky lower vents, gaps between the lower and middle section, side door leaking too much, especially at the bottom (I don't think this is where you had your problem), weather conditions i.e. wind over vents and sun shining on the WSM.

My thoughts are, and since I've never cooked on a 22.5" WSM, I welcome input from those that have...

1: Start closing the vents down earlier .. While I'm not sure of the charcoal grate sizes, I believe the 18.5" WSM has a 14" and the 22.5" WSM has an 18" charcoal grate. 4" diameter isn't much but when you multiply by "Pi R squared" for the area, it gets a bit larger. Then, when you figure the depth of the lit coals, we're talking volume of heat being generated. Granted, we're talking 2 different size WSM's here but when we're talking about feeding a fire, it's not like turning your gas grill down .. These guys take time to react and I would think the 22.5" WSM takes more time to do so than the 18.5" would. I know there are more than a few on this board that can support/argue that thought.

2: Look for leaks around your lower vents, seal between the lower and center section, side door, etc. Watch for wind. Virgin WSM's are notorious for running hot, either because of leaks or the lack of gunk build up on the inside.

Bill

new WSM 18 or 22 tend to run hot until you get a nice layer of grease built up. cleaning the walls and rims of the wsm especially the door and edges will make holding temps very difficult. to speed up the build up you can use lard or very light smear of veggie oil on the edges of the rims and door.

it took my around an hour to bend the door till i was happy with it. even then it took about a half dozen cooks for it to build a nice layer of grease and seal it off.

40 degrees is not going to make or break a cook. when i fire mine up i fill the ring and use around 2/3 to a full chimney of lit and just dump it on top of the unlit. i start with the vents only a sliver open and check temps every 15 minutes or so until it hits the operating temp i want. i know how my unit runs now that i usually only need two or three checks to hit the mark i want spot on.

but pretty much what Bill said it takes a long time for the unit to react to vent changes. far far longer if your trying to lower temps as opposed to raising them.