Smoke pouring out of new WSM 22"


 

Clarence

New member
Hi All, newbie here. So far I have barbequed 2 whole chickens at high temp. That did not go so well. The temp was fine for a bit, then took a nose dive below 300. I through in extra briguettes, but that might have delivered too much smoke causing an extremly smoky flavor.
https://photos.google.com/u/1/photo/AF1QipORLrm7NifjU5K2FREkMnEyrxDbwSa0uZmBpO2X

2nd time, smoked some wings. They came our really good
https://photos.google.com/u/1/photo/AF1QipOylI-RuNKyvoqN5ZrjcTHE-cOYSEpaUN-pykXy

So this is my question, I know smoke pours out at the beginning, but the door on my 22" seems to have huge gaps at the top. I used the minion method w about 1/2 a bag of Weber Briquettes to start, and 25 briquettes lit and set in the middle.

The wings took around 1HR to a temp of 170. Then I glazed them with some Killer Hog BBQ sauce and took them off 5 minutes later.

After all was done, I shut all the vents top and bottom, and the WSM remained at 250 for hours until the coals were all spent. probably about 5-6 hours.

I thought closing all the vents would save the briquettes.

Any feedback, ideas on how to fix this? Does that insulation stuff really work? If yes, which should I buy for the door and lid?

TIA
 
If I understand correctly, one of your issues is decelerating pit temps when attempting hot & fast with 25 lit coals. If that is true, you're going to need a full chimney + to maintain high heat. I have never attempted HH in my 22" but I do it occasionally in my 14" and 25 won't cut it. Here are a few links that you might enjoy (and you might enjoy the entire site, as it is filled with a wealth of informative detail). These links cover hot & fast chicken, WSM mods, how to correct for a leaking door (and other parts), etc. Welcome, and good luck!

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/chicken4.html
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/temperature-control-problems-too-hot-too-cool.html
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/partstrouble.html
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/faq.html#door
 
If I understand correctly, one of your issues is decelerating pit temps when attempting hot & fast with 25 lit coals. If that is true, you're going to need a full chimney + to maintain high heat. I have never attempted HH in my 22" but I do it occasionally in my 14" and 25 won't cut it. Here are a few links that you might enjoy (and you might enjoy the entire site, as it is filled with a wealth of informative detail). These links cover hot & fast chicken, WSM mods, how to correct for a leaking door (and other parts), etc. Welcome, and good luck!

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/chicken4.html
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/temperature-control-problems-too-hot-too-cool.html
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/partstrouble.html
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/faq.html#door


Thanks. I just tried the BBQ chicken because it was mentioned as a good starting point. In the future, I am not going to bother with hi temps. I have a nice Weber 650 for that. Going to stick to the Low n Slow on the WSM.

in regards to the BBQ Chicken, I lit a whole chimney of Charcoal and poured it into the ring, then added 1/2 chimney of unlite over that and waited for them all to turn grey, put no water in the pan, waited for the temp tp rise, then added the chicken which took around 75 minutes to cook. The heat started to disipate fast, so I added some additional briquettes.
 
Kingsford Blue Bag will give off white smoke when first igniting. If you add a significant number of unlit briquettes to an already burning fire they'll give off smoke until they are well lit. They will also temporarily bring the temperature down as some of the heat is going to light those new briquettes rather than to heating the air. If you want to avoid the smoke, get the new briquettes going in the chimney starter and add them to the smoker after they're burning.

When I've had trouble getting my WSM 18" up to higher temps it's usually been due to insufficient air flow. You can set the top slightly off center so it doesn't seal with the center section or prop it up just a tiny bit with chopsticks or something similar.
 

 

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