Cant get my temps down 3-2-1 at 285


 
T

Tom Raveret

TVWBB Pro
its 92 out today and I bought some Smithfield spares at sav-a lot for $1.69 frozen thewed in the fridge and had some time today so I fired up my 22"WSM and put them on a couple hours ago.

Minion method used 15-20 briquets on top of 1/2 full ring of KBB charcoal. Temps were fine until 1.5 hours I lifted the top to grab a taste of one of the little strips i trim from under the ribs. since then been running about 284-288. Shut the top and bottom vents and still hovering at 283 or so....the rub I'm using is Bill Gillespie's Smokin' Hoggz Dry Rub

Using a cyber Q 2 set at 250

I cant seem to get the temps down so what should i do when I pull them to wrap them in foil in 45 min?? I'm worried about a temp spike while they are wrapped.

Thoughts?
 
I know with my 22.5 WSM if I leave the lid off too long it can go thermonuclear on me. You ribs will be ok. Like Jay said just make sure you don't over cook them.
 
My 22 WSM is a first generation first year model... I have a small 1/4 in rust hole in the bottom ( but these aren't meant to be airtight anyways!!!) the lid came off for 10 seconds and the temp shot up from 250 and peaked at 290

I'm trying his competition ribs recipe so I wrapped them in foil with brown sugar, honey and butter and am using the stove in the kitchen at 250 for the 2 hours and the WSM is coming down... a bit. its at 270. I'll see if i can nurse it down to 235 or so before taking them out of the foil and finishing on the WSM
 
They turned out awesomely!! It was a great change of pace and I may go to it again!!
 

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I recall one time years ago I was doing an overnight cook of some butts. I checked them about 3am and everything was fine so I decided to get a few hours sleep. They were supposed to be finished about noon-ish. I woke up at 7am and figured maybe I should check. This was before the days of wifi digital thermometers. The temps had spiked after I went to bed and the WSM was running about 350F. The butts were all over 200F and the probe felt like it was going into warm butter. Good thing I happened to wake up. The butts were perhaps not my best effort but they were still very tasty. I think we tend to fixate on cooking temp more than is really needed. There's ideal temp, there's close enough temp, and there's way too hot temp. It's mostly the last one we need to be really concerned about.

Glad to hear the ribs turned out good. They look delicious.
 
I cook at anywhere from 275 to 285ish and i don't wrap, spritz or put water in my WSM, i do either the bend test or use a toothpick to test for doneness and i have great results and less stress oh and no wifi/bluetooth.
 
I have my WSM 22" dialed in at 265 degrees with the bottom 3 vents open halfway and top all the way using B&B Oak Lump charcoal and I use the water pan. My ribs cook for 2.5 hours, then hit the stall. I sauce and wrap in foil for 30 more mins, then uncover and another application of light sauce and 10 mins more and they come out perfect every time. Same doneness, bite through with a clean bone. I cook spare ribs only, just a personal choice.
 
Tom Raveret said:
its 92 out today and I bought some Smithfield spares at sav-a lot for $1.69 frozen thewed in the fridge and had some time today so I fired up my 22"WSM and put them on a couple hours ago.

Minion method used 15-20 briquets on top of 1/2 full ring of KBB charcoal. Temps were fine until 1.5 hours I lifted the top to grab a taste of one of the little strips i trim from under the ribs. since then been running about 284-288. Shut the top and bottom vents and still hovering at 283 or so....the rub I'm using is Bill Gillespie's Smokin' Hoggz Dry Rub

Using a cyber Q 2 set at 250

I cant seem to get the temps down so what should i do when I pull them to wrap them in foil in 45 min?? I'm worried about a temp spike while they are wrapped.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Tom Raveret said:
its 92 out today and I bought some Smithfield spares at sav-a lot for $1.69 frozen thewed in the fridge and had some time today so I fired up my 22"WSM and put them on a couple hours ago.

Minion method used 15-20 briquets on top of 1/2 full ring of KBB charcoal. Temps were fine until 1.5 hours I lifted the top to grab a taste of one of the little strips i trim from under the ribs. since then been running about 284-288. Shut the top and bottom vents and still hovering at 283 or so....the rub I'm using is Bill Gillespie's Smokin' Hoggz Dry Rub

Using a cyber Q 2 set at 250

I cant seem to get the temps down so what should i do when I pull them to wrap them in foil in 45 min?? I'm worried about a temp spike while they are wrapped.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
It seems strange that your running an ATC & your temp got away from you. When I get close to my desired temp, I barely have one of my bottom vents open & the top vent about 1/2 open. It's easier to bring the temp up with an ATC as opposed to trying to bring them down.
 
If you shut the top and bottom vents and your temps didn’t come down, you have a significant air leak. Probably your door needs some attention. If you shut down all vents, does your fire eventually go out? Said another way, do you ever have unburnt charcoal left? That’s a pretty good test to see if your WSM is reasonably air tight. The fire should go out in about an hour. Of course the charcoal is not safe that quickly and could always reignite so be careful.

I’ve never used an ATC but if that’s not reasonably tight, maybe you could have wrapped that in foil to close off that air supply.
 
Tom Raveret said:
My 22 WSM is a first generation first year model... I have a small 1/4 in rust hole in the bottom ( but these aren't meant to be airtight anyways!!!) the lid came off for 10 seconds and the temp shot up from 250 and peaked at 290

I'm trying his competition ribs recipe so I wrapped them in foil with brown sugar, honey and butter and am using the stove in the kitchen at 250 for the 2 hours and the WSM is coming down... a bit. its at 270. I'll see if i can nurse it down to 235 or so before taking them out of the foil and finishing on the WSM
Click to expand...
Tom, I think the hole, in addition to 22"WSM being more leaky, is hurting you. You can control the temperature a few ways. One of them is to choke off the air flow but another way to do it to control thermal mass (remove/add water to water pan, remove/add more meat or some other heat sink) and the last resort is to change the heat source (remove/add charcoal).
You can also tape up the hole with thermal stable tape or check other sources of air leak around the rims or vents.

And occasionally, direct sunlight or high winds can affect your temps. Then you have to think about sheltering or moving the cooker.
 
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