I got a 18.5 wsm in December. I did a test burn earlier this week. Played with temp controls for a few hours. On Wednesday I smoked a piece of shoe leather beef. I didn't see any leaks either at the lid or the door. After 4 hours I pitched the beef and choked out the fire. Today I did 3 racks of baby backs. Temp was 38 and no wind. I used the minion method both today and on the sl beef. I think I put the ribs on too soon because there was quite a bit of white smoke at that time. Full pan of water. I also noticed a lot of smoke coming from the door and the left side of the lid. I got temps to stabilize at 240 after a while. The temps did bounce around some for the next hour 230 to 255 for the next hour. Continuous smoke coming from the door and lid. After 2 hours I foiled the ribs. When I put the lid back on, the temp shot up to 300. Still plenty of water. I was only able to get the temp down to 275. Two of the vents were completely closed and the 3rd was open 1/4. By that time the ribs were ready to come out of the foil. After doing so I sauced them and watched the temp. Still held at 275. After taking the ribs off, I closed all the vents. Approx 2 hours later, the temp had only dropped to 180. Two days prior the temp was 0 an hour after closing all the vents. The only thing I saw that was different today from the last cook, was the grease build up on the lid and body. The area that leaked the worst had several clumps of hardened grease a little smaller in diameter than a pencil eraser on the body. The rest of the body had grease but no clumps. I am thinking the extra thickness of grease kept the lid from sealing better. This would have allowed excess smoke and also let enough air in to allow the fire to continue. I cleaned the lid and body lip with white vinegar. Guess I will see what happens next cook. Anyone have any thoughts on possible cause? Thanks folks.
3rd time wasn't a charm
- Thread starter JimB
- Start date
S.Six
TVWBB All-Star
It will take several cooks before you notice less smoke leaking out. Was it colder outside when you did the ribs? Maybe you just noticed more coming out cuz it was cold and all that steam coming out of the wsm. Debris on the lid could of done it too. Did you check for out of roundness on the cooking section of the smoker?
Thanks for the help. The outside temp was within 2 or 3 degrees of the previous days. The smoker does not appear to be out of round. The only cause appears to be the excessive grease clumps in the same area. The lid was also sticking in the same spot. I have cleaned everything up, I will try again in a few days. Thanks again