Struggling with temps

Smoked 6 pork butts on my 18.5” WSM and had a real hard time getting above 300. I was short on time, thus I was aiming for “turbo butt” style to feed 65ppl during a scout camp out. Aiming for dinner time; putting them on the night before was not an option.

-Air temp was upper 60s-low 70s, calm wind and lots of shade.
-6 pork butts totaling about 48 lbs; all went on at ~45 deg meat temp
-Water pan ¾ full
-Used a Maverick 732 dual probe, with the smoker thermometer clipped to the upper grate. Accuracy confirmed afterwards with boiling water test
-Upper vent wide open entire cook

I went from all 3 vents partially open to having them wide open, and never went above 260. Only when I cracked both the door and the lid did I break 300 and got to ~310. I tried adding more charcoal as well as occasionally poking the fire to ensure good airflow. I’d get a spike, then the temp would settle back down.

I wrapped with foil to finish them on time – they still tasted great but of course didn’t have the bark I wanted. Total cook time was 9 hours (including 1 hr wrapped, 30 min rest in cooler)

Thoughts? Simply too much meat on an 18.5”? Thanks in advance.

I would think it'd be tough to get 300+ with water in the pan. Even without water, in my 22 I have to put a skewer in the lid to prop it partially open to get 350.

A lot of meat, and while I usually use water, with that much meat it wouldn't have been necessary.

I think you figured it out. That's a lot of meat to get high heat with water in the pan.

ColbySheridan said:

Smoked 6 pork butts on my 18.5” WSM and had a real hard time getting above 300. I was short on time, thus I was aiming for “turbo butt” style to feed 65ppl during a scout camp out. Aiming for dinner time; putting them on the night before was not an option.

-Air temp was upper 60s-low 70s, calm wind and lots of shade.
-6 pork butts totaling about 48 lbs; all went on at ~45 deg meat temp
-Water pan ¾ full
-Used a Maverick 732 dual probe, with the smoker thermometer clipped to the upper grate. Accuracy confirmed afterwards with boiling water test
-Upper vent wide open entire cook

I went from all 3 vents partially open to having them wide open, and never went above 260. Only when I cracked both the door and the lid did I break 300 and got to ~310. I tried adding more charcoal as well as occasionally poking the fire to ensure good airflow. I’d get a spike, then the temp would settle back down.

I wrapped with foil to finish them on time – they still tasted great but of course didn’t have the bark I wanted. Total cook time was 9 hours (including 1 hr wrapped, 30 min rest in cooler)

Thoughts? Simply too much meat on an 18.5”? Thanks in advance.

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Colbysheridan,

Simply put, you are fighting an uphill battle. With 3 vents on the bottom and "only one (1)" vent on the top there isn't enough air flow for the higher temps. Water in the pan is used to moderate the smoker temperature, (lower, cooler, smoker temps). Then add insult to injury consider about 48 lbs of meat..............when the moisture (water) evaporates from the meat, that creates an additional cooling effect.

If you had the time, one would notice the smoker temps rise after most of the water in the meat had evaporated.

Regards,
Craig,H in La Pine

To All:

In order for users of the WSM to understand some physical laws of nature, google two subjects: "How does a cooling tower work".....then....."Heat vs Temperature".

The cooling tower described correctly will state heat is reduced. Heat is not the same as temperature! Takes a little while longer to wrap your mind around the difference between heat vs temperature.

Then move on to how the water in the pan has an effect of temps inside the WSM............got that..............then consider moisture in the meat.

Easiest way to reach a higher temp on the analog thermometer in the lid or your digital probe is to "add another vent in the lid". One vent in the lid is the bottle neck. Get more air flow thru the smoker will help getting more charcoal to burn. But at some point equilibrium is reached between charcoal burning and water evaporating.

Craig,H in La Pine

At the risk of piling on, water in the pan was definitely the culprit. With water in the pan I struggle to get my 18.5" above 275F. Yours generally wanting to stay at 260F sounds just about right. Mine wants to stay at 240F when I have water in the pan.

The energy required to turn the water to steam makes the water a massive heat sink. As implied by what Crag said about heat and temperature, with water in the pan, much of the heat generated by the fire is going to go into turning the water to steam rather than raising the temperature of the air in the cooker.

If you want to cook at 300F, I advise running with no water in the pan. This may require a bit more attention to the vents since you won't have that massive heat sink there to absorb the extra heat and prevent runaways, but if my cooker is any indication it's the only way to get to 300F and above without taking drastic measures.

As a more general comment, BBQ is not something you want to turn to 11 to make it go faster. It takes as long as it takes. If you don't have the time, put something else on the menu. 48 lbs. of pork butt in 8 hours is not a plan that sets you up for success. Should you have occasion to do this again, my suggestion would be to go with the overnight cook, maybe starting at midnight. At the very least, start first thing in the morning as soon as it's light enough to see what you're doing. Wrap each butt in foil when it's done and place in an empty cooler dedicated to the meat. When you get all six butts in there the thermal mass will keep them warm for a very long time. If they came off the smoker at noon I'm sure they'd still be plenty warm come 5 PM. I've had some spend three hours in the cooler and still be too hot to pull with any comfort. I actually had some that continued to cook in the cooler way beyond what I wanted. I now let mine cool to 160F before putting in the cooler to hold.

Six butts in a 18.5" WSM? It's doable, but with that much meat (plus H2O in the pan), it would be difficult to reach 300° without additional air vents (or maybe an air injector).

I smoked three butts over the weekend in the same size WSM (with H2O) and my temps hovered between 225° and 250° with all the vents open, most of the time, from start to finish. I pulled the meat at 195° (it was getting late, and the lump charcoal was about gone) and finished them in the oven.

I would suggest omitting H2O in the pan the next time, and switching to a hotter charcoal such as Royal Oak lump. It sure would be nice if Weber would have installed a second dome vent to be used in situations like yours, Colby.

Rusty James said:

Six butts in a 18.5" WSM? It's doable, but with that much meat (plus H2O in the pan), it would be difficult to reach 300° without additional air vents (or maybe an air injector).

I smoked three butts over the weekend in the same size WSM (with H2O) and my temps hovered between 225° and 250° with all the vents open, most of the time, from start to finish. I pulled the meat at 195° (it was getting late, and the lump charcoal was about gone) and finished them in the oven.

I would suggest omitting H2O in the pan the next time, and switching to a hotter charcoal such as Royal Oak lump. It sure would be nice if Weber would have installed a second dome vent to be used in situations like yours, Colby.

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Rusty James,

Looking at my 18.5 inch WSM the factory installed thermometer smoke range is from 200 degrees F to 275 degrees F. I consider this to be the safe operating range of the product. Venture farther at risk.

" an air injector" brings to mind a positive displacement machine. This would require two items. The first is a pressure relief valve for the vessel (WSM). The second being a circuit breaker for the motor turning/operating the air injector. Without a circuit breaker, wiring would overheat/catch on fire in the event of restrictions of air flow.

For farther illustrations of the effects of water boiling in the water pan & evaporating from the meat please consider this easy $20.00 wager.

Wager the unsuspecting that you can boil water in a paper dixie cup using an oxygen/acetylene cutting torch. $20.00 will attract several takers. The only trick is to use a rose bud tip and don't squeeze the lever for oxygen. Fill the paper cup with water and hold with a pair of pliers. Gently wave/circle the bottom of the paper cup. The effects of water boiling in the paper cup will keep the temperature well below the ignition point of the paper.

That torch is hot just like charcoal................practice trick several times before wager.

Cook on,

Craig,H in La Pine

Usually I try to identify times when BBQ isn't the best option, given the circumstance. Given the limitations on time and the amount of people you needed to feed, it wasn't the right time. Besides, I don't really like pushing that high in temp for pork butts. I'm glad to hear that you did get it done though. It was probably more stressful than you wanted.

Yea, if you want to do HH butts you have to take in the amount of cold meat you're adding ( cause that's one heat sink ) and definitely skip water or a stone cause that just slows down the process.
I did 6 - 10# on my 18 awhile back, HH and it took closer to 11-12 hrs.

Tim