First smoke on WSM - Unable to maintain temperature.


 

Michael Roberts

TVWBB Fan
I just got a 22.5 WSM and thought i'd smoke something simple like baby backs. A friend suggested using lump charcoal so I got the only brand my Home Depot had on the shelf - Royal Oak. Fired up a chimney filled with the lump, had all 3 vents on the bottom open about 50%. Top vent was open all the way. I had to continually add fuel, even added a chimney full of KBB to get the heat up, all said and done I added a total of 3 chimneys for a simple rack of baby backs. Any suggestions, hints or tips as to what I can do in the future?
 
In a word, yes. :)
You're not going to get the heat required or burn time to cook anything much with one chimney.
My advice is go with briquettes until you get the hang of it.
Most of us use the Minion method:
http://virtualweberbullet.com/fireup2.html#minion

Baby backs for me take from 4 to 5 hours, spares 5 to 6.
I only have the 14" and 18" WSM, and that 22" is going to require a lot of coal.
 
What temp were you trying for, and how were you measuring that temperature? Were you adding more fuel to raise the temperature, or to keep it from dropping as fuel burned out? How long did you give it to let the temp come up? Did you have water in the water pan? How long did you cook the ribs?

I use lump, and here's my process, assuming you want a low-and-slow cook with a temperature in the 225-275 range. I don't use water in the water pan. I've got an 18", so your vent settings may be a bit different, but the concept should work just fine.

Fill up the charcoal ring most of the way with un-lit lump. Mix in wood chunks for smoke.

Use a chimney starter to get about two handfuls of lump lit. Once they're lit good, dump them on top of your pile of un-lit coals in the charcoal ring, and spread them out a little.

Add a wood chunk or two right on top of the burning pieces.

Add more un-lit lump on top (if doing a really long cook like a pork butt or brisket, not really needed for ribs, which should only take about 6hrs at low temp and won't use a ton of fuel)

To settle the temperature in around 230*F give or take a bit, I open the top vent about 1/8 inch, keep two of the bottom vents shut completely, and open one bottom vent about 1/8 of an inch.

Doing this, it takes about 45mins or so to hit that 230*F temp. But by letting the temperature come up slowly I can make sure I don't overshoot it, because if you go too hot it takes it a while to bring the temperature back down, especially if it's hot outside (which it always is here in middle GA).

I cooked ribs this weekend, using the above procedure. It held right at 230-240 almost the entire cook without any adjustments. The smoker temp did go up a little as the ambient temperature outside rose in the afternoon, the smoker got up to 250*F, and when it did I tapped the bottom vent closed just a smidge and the temp dropped back down to that 230-240 range the rest of the afternoon.

Things to keep in mind:

Nothing happens fast with a smoker. When you adjust the vents, give it time to see the change take place. Could take half an hour or longer.

Low and slow needs a really small fire, especially if it's hot outside (it was upper 80's / low 90's this weekend for my cook), so don't start with a lot of lit coals. And it doesn't need much air to maintain that small fire, which is why I don't open my vents much.

When you open the lid to add meat, or check on it, you're giving the fire a big gulp of fresh air, the temperature will go up a bit, but just leave your vents alone and it'll settle back down in a few minutes.

If you're wanting to cook hot and fast, open the vents up and light more coals with the chimney starter. Mine will run at 400*F with lump with all the vents open.

EDIT to add, one last note: Fill that charcoal ring up! There's no problem with starting with more fuel than you need, when you're done cooking just close the vents and the fire will go out, and you'll still have a lot of fuel left over you can use on your next cook. It's just like driving a car: more fuel in the gas tank doesn't mean the car goes faster (aka smoker runs hotter), it just means you can drive further (longer burn time) before you run out of gas.
 
Last edited:
I don't usually do long cooks on the WSM. but last weekend I did a half brisket, and rack of spares so I filled the basket to level. (22 WSM).
I noticed that I was able to maintain a more stable temp with the full load, rather then half, or using a snake. The full basket went 9 hours,
and I maintained about 250+/- most of that time. I did have to shake the ash off a few times though.
 
I just got a 22.5 WSM and thought i'd smoke something simple like baby backs. A friend suggested using lump charcoal so I got the only brand my Home Depot had on the shelf - Royal Oak. Fired up a chimney filled with the lump, had all 3 vents on the bottom open about 50%. Top vent was open all the way. I had to continually add fuel, even added a chimney full of KBB to get the heat up, all said and done I added a total of 3 chimneys for a simple rack of baby backs. Any suggestions, hints or tips as to what I can do in the future?

I would open the vents all the way if you are not getting the desired heat.
 
thanks everyone for the tips and advice. I'm planning on smoking a small brisket and ribs tomorrow using the advice I received here.
 
I don't usually do long cooks on the WSM. but last weekend I did a half brisket, and rack of spares so I filled the basket to level. (22 WSM).
I noticed that I was able to maintain a more stable temp with the full load, rather then half, or using a snake. The full basket went 9 hours,
and I maintained about 250+/- most of that time. I did have to shake the ash off a few times though.

That 9 hours intrigues me. This is what I am hoping to be able to do. I want to put a brisket or some butts on late and be able to go to bed. What kind of fuel did you use and is that with the standard coal ring ? Fill basket and dump a lit basket on top ? Sorry if this is considered a thread hijack :(
 
My advice: always start with a full load of unlit charcoal. This is akin to starting every trip with a full tank of gas; you may not need it all, but you won't have to worry about running out. Always light the same quantity of charcoal to dump onto/into the unlit. Always add the lit charcoal to the unlit the same way, whether you pour it on top, put it in the center using a coffee can, or (as I do) clear a space at one side of the pile and pour it in there. In other words, always make the fire the same way, whether you are cooking one rack of ribs or a smoker full of pork butts. The key is consistency. Once you learn how to achieve and maintain the temperature you want, life becomes a lot simpler. And it is important, in my opinion, that your smoker is tight enough that, when you shut down all of the vents, the fire will go out within a reasonable time. Temperature control on the WSM is done by air control, and if yours is so leaky that the fire will burn with all the vents closed, you will have a correspondingly hard time controlling it. Plus, you'll waste a lot of charcoal. ;)

Edit: I see that Dustin G already said most of this, better than I did. But, it bears repeating. :)
 
Last edited:
Thanks Dustin and Larry for the tips. Never tried to shut smoker down and have the remaining coals go out to re-use. Always just let them burn out. Will try that as soon as new smoker seals up a bit and I fix or replace that leaky door.
Are both of you guys just using the standard charcoal ring and not the bigger aftermarket models ? Thanks again for sharing your knowledge.
 
Thanks Dustin and Larry for the tips. Never tried to shut smoker down and have the remaining coals go out to re-use. Always just let them burn out. Will try that as soon as new smoker seals up a bit and I fix or replace that leaky door.
Are both of you guys just using the standard charcoal ring and not the bigger aftermarket models ? Thanks again for sharing your knowledge.

I cook without a water pan, so I made myself a taller ring to use all that extra space. It's just expanded metal, 10" tall, bent by hand to roughly match the stock ring's diameter, tied together using bicycle spoke trimmings (I build bicycle wheels for a living...so I'm rich in spoke pieces haha). It's not pretty, but it works. I've not needed all that extra fuel capacity yet, but I shouldn't ever have to add charcoal during a cook!

wMOVMs7.jpg
 
Just did a butt last weekend. Filled the standard ring on a 22" WSM, used the minion method w/ a Digi-Q, clay saucer in the pan (foiled to keep clean), ran at 230 and after nine hours still had better than half the ring left unused.
 
I cook without a water pan, so I made myself a taller ring to use all that extra space. It's just expanded metal, 10" tall, bent by hand to roughly match the stock ring's diameter, tied together using bicycle spoke trimmings (I build bicycle wheels for a living...so I'm rich in spoke pieces haha). It's not pretty, but it works. I've not needed all that extra fuel capacity yet, but I shouldn't ever have to add charcoal during a cook!

wMOVMs7.jpg

Wow that's a big basket.. Ok so I use Royal Oak hardwood briquettes as well as have some Royal Oak lump here. I have tweaked the door, and am going to give something another go for try #2 on this cooker. Off to locate a chicken recipe for 1/2 chickens. Last weekend cooked two halves @ 250 / 275 for 3.5 hours. Temp wise they were just done but drier than I'd hoped. Sorry to wander off the beaten path in this thread.. haha.
 
Thanks Dustin and Larry for the tips. Never tried to shut smoker down and have the remaining coals go out to re-use. Always just let them burn out. Will try that as soon as new smoker seals up a bit and I fix or replace that leaky door.
Are both of you guys just using the standard charcoal ring and not the bigger aftermarket models ? Thanks again for sharing your knowledge.
I do use a water pan (empty) that is based on an old Brinkmann pan, bigger than the original WSM pan but smaller than the current variety. So I use the standard charcoal ring. I sometimes need to add charcoal during a long cook, which I do by lifting the center section and lid off the base (handles on the middle section). I then push the remaining hot coals to one side and fill the basket with unlit, which basically recreates the Minion setup I started with. Since my WSM is pretty tight, the unburned coals go out quickly when I shut down the vents, and get stored in a metal bucket for later use. Steaks, chicken, and other hot-and-fast things on the kettle grill are almost always cooked with my recycled coals.
 
after reading all the tips and suggestions here I fired up the WSM around 6:30am July 4 for my second attempt using the WSM and first attempt with a brisket. Using the minion method I packed the ring with Royal Oak lump, used some briquettes in the chimney as well as lump. Here's a pic just after I added the lit chimney. I did use the water pan and was able to consistently maintain a cooking temp of between 235-250 until 2pm which is when I pulled the brisket. I didn't need to add anymore charcoal. Overall I am really pleased with my first brisket - most importantly all of our guests really liked it. It was tender, moist and flavorful. I'm a little frustrated the smoke ring isn't as pronounced as I'd like. Here's the finished product. https://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?71036-First-Brisket-on-the-WSM-July-4th!&p=781538#post781538


 
Last edited:
I did add some hickory chunks a few hours into cooking. Less than 10 though so it wasn't much.

You should add wood at the beginning of the cook, that's when the meat will take on the smoke most readily. After a few hours, once it starts to build up some crust/bark, it doesn't absorb any more smoke.

Brisket looks good though! I've only done two myself, a 13lbs packer and a tiny 1.1lbs flat. Both had a very pronounced smoke ring, but both were drier than I'd have liked, and should have been cooked a little longer I think.
 
Last edited:
You should add wood at the beginning of the cook, that's when the meat will take on the smoke most readily. After a few hours, once it starts to build up some crust/bark, it doesn't absorb any more smoke.

Brisket looks good though! I've only done two myself, a 13lbs packer and a tiny 1.1lbs flat. Both had a very pronounced smoke ring, but both were drier than I'd have liked, and should have been cooked a little longer I think.

that's great info I'll add the wood next time when I add the hot briquettes.
 

 

Back
Top