Curtis D. Fry
New member
I did my first all-night smoke last night. For the most part I think it was a success. As explained in another thread, I cooked up five three lb Butts (2 boneless and 3 bone-in).
I used the Minion method with 20 pre-lit briquettes and a ring full of unlit charcoal.
I used a regular WSM water pan filled 3/4 with Sand.
Upon dumping the lit briquettes into the charcoal pile and assemblying the smoker (all vents 100% open), it took only 20 minutes to reach 200 degrees. So I put the meat on and monitored the temps.
It kept climbing up to 290 at the top grate. I figured it would go down a bit, so I dialed back the bottom vents to totally closed. 4 hours later the temp at the grate was 300 and steady. So I jump out of bed and checked the smoker. All vents still closed (except for the top). No airleaks from the bottom and middle section junction that I can tell. No gaps around the access door and no wind at the time. I decided to carefully remove some of the charcoal and add some cold water on top of the sand pan foil. That brought the temps down to about 260, but that was as far as they went down until the 8 hour mark when they went to 250.
So what is going on with this? The temp outside was 75 during that time. I've searched the archives and done all the troubleshooting I could think of. I also checked my new therm's accuracy against an existing therm I had (I just bought the ET-73). Granted this is only my 3rd smoke, but I didn't think the temps would be so high even then.
Am I missing something?
thanks!
I used the Minion method with 20 pre-lit briquettes and a ring full of unlit charcoal.
I used a regular WSM water pan filled 3/4 with Sand.
Upon dumping the lit briquettes into the charcoal pile and assemblying the smoker (all vents 100% open), it took only 20 minutes to reach 200 degrees. So I put the meat on and monitored the temps.
It kept climbing up to 290 at the top grate. I figured it would go down a bit, so I dialed back the bottom vents to totally closed. 4 hours later the temp at the grate was 300 and steady. So I jump out of bed and checked the smoker. All vents still closed (except for the top). No airleaks from the bottom and middle section junction that I can tell. No gaps around the access door and no wind at the time. I decided to carefully remove some of the charcoal and add some cold water on top of the sand pan foil. That brought the temps down to about 260, but that was as far as they went down until the 8 hour mark when they went to 250.
So what is going on with this? The temp outside was 75 during that time. I've searched the archives and done all the troubleshooting I could think of. I also checked my new therm's accuracy against an existing therm I had (I just bought the ET-73). Granted this is only my 3rd smoke, but I didn't think the temps would be so high even then.
Am I missing something?
thanks!