Hey guys,
I'm new to the forum but I've been reading a lot from here the past couple of weeks. I'm not new to smoking as I had an Old Smokey electric smoker for a few years and decided to go the more authentic route. I did a ton of research which brought me to purchasing a 18.5" WSM.
I have used it 4 times and before even seasoning it I installed a seal around the dome and access door to prevent hot air leakage which has worked perfect.
I understand that using a WSM like any thing requires a learning curve. I however have been have a hard time maintaining temperature. Yesterday it was about 80* outside with a slight breeze. I was smoking on my deck which has an overhang but the sides are open. I use the minion method and start it with approx. 20 hot coals and a water pan about 3/4 of the way full of hot water. As soon as I added the hot coals from the chimney to the WSM I put the body on and had all 3 intakes wide open and the exhaust side open as well. It took a while (35-40 minutes) but the smoker finally reached 225* (according to me igrill2 pit probe). I opened it up and put in a couple of racks of ribs and covered it back up again. The temperature never made it back to 225* (and I didn't even touch the intakes) it stalled around 210* and started dropping again. I added roughly 10 more hot coals and before putting the body back on I waited a bit for the coals to catch. After doing so the temp went up to 300*. Which is when I slowly started closing intakes so that they were about 3/4 closed. After doing so it did a decent job making a temp of around 240*.
My question is, before assembling the top, should I leave the top off for a bit to allows to catch a little more? It's as if as soon as I add the coals they don't really want to come to the party and light the other coals haha. I thought maybe my charcoal was defective (Kingsford blue) but it's been kept dry in my shed since purchase bag looked dry as well. Do you have any ideas what I may have done wrong? I have been following everyones tips on here step for step.
Your opinions and ideas are welcome!
-Joe
I'm new to the forum but I've been reading a lot from here the past couple of weeks. I'm not new to smoking as I had an Old Smokey electric smoker for a few years and decided to go the more authentic route. I did a ton of research which brought me to purchasing a 18.5" WSM.
I have used it 4 times and before even seasoning it I installed a seal around the dome and access door to prevent hot air leakage which has worked perfect.
I understand that using a WSM like any thing requires a learning curve. I however have been have a hard time maintaining temperature. Yesterday it was about 80* outside with a slight breeze. I was smoking on my deck which has an overhang but the sides are open. I use the minion method and start it with approx. 20 hot coals and a water pan about 3/4 of the way full of hot water. As soon as I added the hot coals from the chimney to the WSM I put the body on and had all 3 intakes wide open and the exhaust side open as well. It took a while (35-40 minutes) but the smoker finally reached 225* (according to me igrill2 pit probe). I opened it up and put in a couple of racks of ribs and covered it back up again. The temperature never made it back to 225* (and I didn't even touch the intakes) it stalled around 210* and started dropping again. I added roughly 10 more hot coals and before putting the body back on I waited a bit for the coals to catch. After doing so the temp went up to 300*. Which is when I slowly started closing intakes so that they were about 3/4 closed. After doing so it did a decent job making a temp of around 240*.
My question is, before assembling the top, should I leave the top off for a bit to allows to catch a little more? It's as if as soon as I add the coals they don't really want to come to the party and light the other coals haha. I thought maybe my charcoal was defective (Kingsford blue) but it's been kept dry in my shed since purchase bag looked dry as well. Do you have any ideas what I may have done wrong? I have been following everyones tips on here step for step.
Your opinions and ideas are welcome!
-Joe