New WSM guy here


 

Dave in Lox

New member
Think I had a rookie mistake....

Been cooking picnic's, butt, ribs, and meatloaf on my 22 weber kettle. So I figured I'd try a couple of ribs and did a short 5 hour cook before doing a overnight cook like I have done with the 22 kettle. The ribs turned out great! I didn't use any water just adjusted the vents using my temp probes I have.

So I figured sweet should be the same with 10 pound picnic. Good lordy I messed up. I guess when using the WSM if you add 3 sweet potatoes and 4 potatoes you end up with a lot longer cook time. I added the taters at 8 hour mark in the cook. I never had this issue when using the kettle. But I ended up with a 22 hour picnic cook to get to 205. It was great!!!! But I got this so I could do a big enough cook for a group of friends.

I'm thinking adding the adding the taters extended my cook time?

I tried searching the forums and google before I asked.
 
Welcome!

Next time put the taters on AFTER taking the butts off. I do a minimum 2 hour rest on butts, the taters are done in just over an hour so it's not an issue.

FWIW, I usually add extra taters and save them for breakfast...skin on sliced home fries. YUM!
 
Welcome aboard! I’m guessing that it has nothing to do with a few taters being thrown in. Probably has to do with a lower temperature cook. 22 hours seems a bit long, I’d expect closer to 13-15 hours. What was the grate temp?
 
Went to bed with the grill running 275 through the rubber grommet. I put the meat on at 11:45pm and hit the sack about 1am.

Woke up at 6, the temp had dropped to 200 and the meat was 120.

Put the taters on when it was 175 degree plus foiled it and the grill temp was 240.

At 5 it was 190 degrees and grill was 236

I started opening the vents after this to increase the temp in the smoker.

At 7:45 Meat was 197 and the grill was 259.

At 9:30 I pulled it at 205 and the grill temp was 250.

My normal cook time on the weber kettle is about 12-14 hours. This is the first time I trusted the probe for my temp. I normally have a temp gauge on the grate itself, but they have so far only been a couple degrees off. I am using a Thermo Pro TP08
 
I wonder if maybe it was not the Weight or Volume of the stuff that you put on the WSM - but maybe did you pack a single grate almost completely full?
If you did that, maybe you sufficiently impeded the internal airflow such that the fire "starved" for airflow?

Normally - if I cook-up 12 to 16 pounds of Pork Shoulder - it gets done in around 12 hours / sometimes less if I run in the 250-ish temperature range.
(I'm REALLY liking my Thermo Works "Smoke" - the High / Low Alarms lets me catch temperature fluctuations BEFORE they become major time issues...)
 
Put the taters on the lower rack with the picnic on the upper. I'm thinking I'm going to make another run at it in the next couple weeks. Shoulder is on sale right now for 1.79 a lb. Picked up one yesterday. I'll pick up another one tomorrow. Starting to run out of freezer space with planned cooks :)
 
Well I fired up the WSM for some sausage and chili. My Thermo Pro is acting nuts. I was watching it as I was getting the chili going and it warming up. 15 degrees between probes and they were right next to each other in the grill. Grabbed my grill gauge I used before and it matched more to the lid gauge. Then I started noticing the Thermo Probe units not syncing, temps on one probe varying up towards 60 degrees difference. Pulled the meat probe out, lait on the table so it was in the air and it says the temp outside is 55, then 66, then 64. Its 70 on the back porch right now.

Thanks for the helps all. GUess I'm sending this unit back and looking into something else.
 
Picked up a Smoke and have done a couple cooks since. Yeah it was the hardware I was fighting plus the lighting techniques for slow cooking. Did another couple meatloafs, chicken breasts, and a chuck roast.

Wife said yeah it was time you stepped up to the good stuff. Also have a slow and sear coming for the 22 weber kettle as well. Plus looking into getting the drip pan for Cheesesteaks :)
 
I cook at low temperatures too and since the WSM was only running at 200 when you got up a lot of those hours through the night might not really count.
My WSM is very reliable for holding temperature, but I have been at 200 in the morning more than once myself.
If the cooking temperature had held even at 225 you would have been coming out of the stall at 6am.

I have cooked on mine lots of times so I know what to expect most of the time with the vent settings.
My fire management has evolved to using a starter cube in the middle of the pile with several briquettes loosely piled on top along with a big chunk of wood.
I let that burn with all the vents fully open until it gets to 200 then I set the lower vents to what I know will get me 230-250.
After mine runs steady for 5-7 hours I usually have to open the vent a little bit more and then once it stabilizes it will usually run another 8-10 hours steady or until the charcoal is depleted.
Wind can be a very unpredictable temperature enemy.
I think you did well, it won't take you very long to get your methodology figured out.
 

 

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