can't maintain low temps?


 
M

MikeSF

New member
This is my second smoke on the 18.5 WSM. I use the minion method with kingsford charcoal briquettes. I put in one full chimney amount around the outer edges of the fire ring with a few pieces of apple. I then dump in one chimney full of hot coals into the center. Once the temp reaches 225 I close the vents in the bottom and leave the one on top wide open. The temp continues to rise to 300-325. How do i keep it low and slow? thanks for what you know.
Mike
PS: i forgot to add that I have the water pan about 3/4 full with tap water. I even tried closing the top vent to no avail.
 
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Are you using any type of temperature controller?

I use a Flame Boss 200, for example.

Maybe partially close the top one?
 
Arun L. said:
Are you using any type of temperature controller?

I use a Flame Boss 200, for example.

Maybe partially close the top one?
Click to expand...
I'm not using any type of temp controller. I need to look into them. I have tried closing the top event from 1/4 to fully closed. Doesn't make much of a difference in lowering the temperature.
 
Mike, I smoked with my new 18.5" this morning for the first time. I'm not sure why your temperature is rising....air getting in somehow? I was very impressed with how mine kept temperature, it stayed really between 225 and 275 for a solid 8 hours! I ended up overdoing my shoulder because I tried to get the temperature to 190 like the manual said, even though at hour 6, my temperature was 170 (thermometer indicated it was cooked at this time). Anyway, I found mine to be very easy to control. I filled a chimney, lit it and once hot, I placed it in the center of the grate and filled my ring to the top with unlit charcoal. The only difference between us (I think) is that I used lump charcoal......not sure what to tell you....sorry :/
 
You don't need to dump in a whole chimney of lit coals. Try dumping 12-15 lit coals in the middle of the unlit coals and you should be alright. You are using way to many lit coals to start it.
 
Yup, no more than 12-15 hot coals.

ALSO, start closing the bottom vents down when you get 15-20o below your target temps. Easy to raise temps if too low but very difficult to (quickly) lower them.
 
Yep, less hot charcoal to start of with.
Also, you say it's your second attempt. Most WSM's get better after a couple of cooks as initially they (most of them) don't cloae 100% when they are new. They like a bit of gunk :)
You can test this by closing all vents (top and bottom) on a lit WSM. The fire should go out if there is no false oxygen coming in. If it keeps smouldering and all the charcoal burns up, then there is an air leak
 
Also: you wrote "once the temp reaches 225 I close the vents in the bottom..."; most of us still leave these intake vents open at least a sliver throughout the smoke. That's not to say that some of us don't have smokers that leak or otherwise have intake. But some oxygen from somewhere is needed at your bed of hot coals. Maybe you were implying that you just choked them down rather than fully closing.

There may come a time when you want to do a high heat cook in your WSM... now you have the basic groundwork on how to accomplish that :)

Good luck!
 
Thanks for all the replies. I think there is air intrusion due to the cheap poor fitting door that comes with this smoker. It surely does not fit nice and snug around the corners of the door. Going to do some bending on the door to make it a better fit. Might even look at the stainless steel doors for replacement. I'll try the other brisket flat in a few weeks. Going to smoke a turkey again next week. The first turkey turned out awesome.
 
Len Dennis said:
Yup, no more than 12-15 hot coals.

ALSO, start closing the bottom vents down when you get 15-20o below your target temps. Easy to raise temps if too low but very difficult to (quickly) lower them.
Click to expand...

Just asking in general. As I learned a few months ago that I was also using too many coals in the chimney.

If I have 15 coals in the chimney, is it still possible to get high temperatures (450 - 500+), for a high heat cook? Like for pizza.
 
Arun L. said:
If I have 15 coals in the chimney, is it still possible to get high temperatures (450 - 500+), for a high heat cook? Like for pizza.
Click to expand...
Different methods for different cooks. If you're going hot and fast, you want more lit charcoal to being with. You basically want it all lit before you close things up. If I'm going for very high heat I'll light a full chimney, put those in the WSM, and then add more charcoal on top of the lit coals. When the top charcoal has just about ashed over, then I button it up.

BTW, good luck at getting 450-500F on the WSM. Mine doesn't have enough air flow to do that without propping up the top and probably cracking the door.
 
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