ash buildup - whats going on???


 
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Morning folks,
Started a Minion Method smoke (pork butt) this am at around 5:30. Its now 12:30 and I'm having trouble maintaining temps. Just opened it up to give it a stir and the bottom is almost full of ash...light tap/stir is of no help as the ash now has no place to go.
This was started with a full ring of Kingsford and about 15 lit coals on top (two pieces of apple on top).
This is the worst ash buildup I've experienced. What's up with that and what can I do now?

Regards,
BigRob.
 
Try lightly kicking the legs of your smoker. I have the same problem from time to time and it always seems to help.

Bryan
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Thanks for the quick reply!

I have a rubber mallet that I tap the outside with. The problem is that the bottom of the WSM (under the charcoal grate) is already filled w/ash. It is smothering my temps.

There is only a very slight breeze today so I didn't put up any wind screens or worry about my upwind vent. I'm thinking that it caused the charcoal to burn too quickly (and drafted away any excess heat so it ran at normal temps while this was happening).
 
Interesting. That's a ton of ash. Kingsford is good, produces a bunch of ash, but I haven't seen it do that before. Got me.

Loren
 
Rob H

You may have figured it out with the wind/breeze and the upwind vent. What you describe is what I most often see after 16+ hrs, not 7. The WSM can tolerate a lot of ash so hopefully you'll be ok. You might try poking through the bottom vents from time to time to keep some airflow going. If your temps are really dropping you may need to add lit. You'll get heat from them before the ashes slow them down too much. If you were using sand in the pan I'd suggest disassembling and removing some ash, but I think it's too dangerous with water - some on the board have done it that way.

Good luck.

Paul
 
i'm at 188 and it's been limping along. closing the upwind vent has helped. It's tough to screw up a pork butt!
 
Ash build up can be from the wind and humitity places a role. Depending on wind I will try to use only one bottom vent (down wind) and a wind break real helps.
Jim
 
Rob, did you add handles to your WSM? If so, you can lift the cooking chamber off and put it to the side, thus exposing the charcoal chamber.

But then, I'm not sure what to tell you. I would probably try to find some way to lift the charcoal grate off and shovel the ash out of the bottom. Since I don't know your setup and what tools you have, I don't know how to tell you to do that.

For me, I have a metal trash can for ashes and a lot of concrete patio, so I'm sure I could find a way to do it. I would try fireplace tools, heavy tongs, pot holder to try to lift the charcoal grate off, then dump the ashes in the metal can and reassemble everything.

Did you empty out the bowl before you started? I have never seen enough ash build up in my WSM to cause that kind of problem.
 
Rob, had the same problem when I did the MM on Kingsford about a week ago. Had to do the same thing . Take everything off and stir the coals. Thought next time I'd put the lit coals in the middle of unlit and use warm water in the pan<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Rob H.:
Morning folks,
Started a Minion Method smoke (pork butt) this am at around 5:30. Its now 12:30 and I'm having trouble maintaining temps. Just opened it up to give it a stir and the bottom is almost full of ash...light tap/stir is of no help as the ash now has no place to go.
This was started with a full ring of Kingsford and about 15 lit coals on top (two pieces of apple on top).
This is the worst ash buildup I've experienced. What's up with that and what can I do now?

Regards,
BigRob. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
 
Thanks for the info folks.

After about 12 hrs, almost all of my coals were consumed. It got me to about 190. Took it off and pulled it, no problem. Came out great!

I'm convinced that it was a draft from the slight breeze that caused the excess consumption. As I mentioned before, closing the upwind vent, a bunch of tapping to get the ashes to settle as far as possible and a stir got me going well enough to finish.

Moral of the story, I guess, is you have to be aware of even the slightest breeze when using this method!

Regards,
BigRob.
 
For this situation, how might the wind effect fuel usage?

Is it a matter of the wind increasing heat loss from the WSM, thereby requiring extra fuel to be burned to maintain a given temperature?

Or is it because the wind blows through the lower vents and causes the coals to burn faster?
 
IMO, the faster the coals are fanned the hotter they burn and the hotter they burn, the quicker they are consumed. However, I would assume the same amount of ashes would result; however that would occur sooner with the hotter fire. I would also think, however, that could be detected by a higher temp being present in the pit.

Paul
 
Paul ... that's what I was thinking. If the wind "fans" the coals ... burning them faster ... it would also raise the temperature ... moving one to close vents.

That's why I was wondering if the culprit is heat loss via convection.

During my last smoke, I would notice the remote temperature readings ticking up fairly quickly after a period of level temperatures ... I would look outside and could see that a slight breeze had kicked up. It doesn't take much wind to produce an effect.
 
I would guess that the wind is drawing off heat, requiring BigRob to keep the vents open more than they otherwise would. This keeps the coal buring hotter and therefore quicker...

Had a similar problem this weekend with ribs. Had a constant 20-40mph wind and it was a struggle to keep temps over 200. Had to block the wind with my truck and open vents 100% to get to 225. Burned through 3/4 ring Kingsford in about 6 hours.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dennis T.:
If the wind "fans" the coals ... burning them faster ... it would also raise the temperature ... moving one to close vents. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
The effect of wind is most often described as "sucking the heat out" of the cooker, which would lead one to open vents in order to try to raise the flagging temperature. This ends up being self-defeating, as the wind is even more able to convect heat out of the cooker than before. The best defense against wind is a windbreak, or to use a single, downwind bottom vent for control. Even a light, but steady breeze can be a problem.
 
I easily can imagine convective heat loss being an issue in the winter, but, thinking about it, the difference in temperature between the WSM and ambient conditions is still significant in warmer weather.

Makes sense.

(Note to self: build wind screen)
 
I think you're thinking more of radiant heat loss. On a hot, sunny day, you actually can get a heat gain by placing the cooker in full sun.
 
I'm using the term convective heat loss meaning heat loss to a moving fluid (gas or liquid). In this case, it's a function, among other things, of wind speed and the temperature differential between the WSM and the air.
 
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