Larry Powers
TVWBB Member
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.
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.