First Smoke - Issues


 
M

Mike Parrott

New member
Assembled the new 18.5 WSM earlier this week. First smoke was last night. 6.5# butt. Filled the water bowl with hot tap water and filled the charcoal ring with most of a 20# bag of K and started the fire with 40 lit briquettes. The temp rose to 200 quickly so I throttled the bottom vents to 25% and left the top vent 100% open. The temp was easy to maintain at 230-240 until I went to bed at 11pm. At 6am this morning the grill temp was 150. The internal meat temp was 140. I opened the bottom vents and strirred the coals. Most of it was ash and fell through the grates; really nothing left. The butt needs a lot more cooking time. I put it in the kitchen oven this afternoon to finish for dinner. Did I do something wrong? Does it take much longer than 11 hours to smoke a 6.5# butt? Is 11 hours of smoke time all I should expect from a full charcoal ring in this smoker?

Any pointers? Not disappointed, just need to learn . . . .
 
Maybe too much airflow for starting off with 40 lit briquettes?

What's the difference in time from when it hit 200 degrees (which you said happened rather quickly) and when it hit 230-240 at 11pm?

And did you dump the lit coals on top or start with the "coffee can" method?

My guess is that the combination of starting with 40 lit briquettes, plus all vents 1/4 open caused all the coals to be lit sooner than desired.

Also if you dumped that many lit coals in the center (especially in a low spot) it may have accelerated the lighting of all the others.
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Mike, Monty is right . Way to many coals to start off with. I always mound my unlit as high as I can get it. This means way higher than the ring.Almost so it hits the bottom of the water pan. Then I put a depression in the center . Kinda like a volcano. I put my lit in the depression. I use maybe no more than 10-15 lit start off with. Maybe a little more if its really cold outside
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Monty House:
IME, 40 lit briquettes is a lot for a long Minion Method smoke. Maybe 15-20. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'll second that. 15-20 lit dumped on top should be enough. Let's it come up slower and make for a longer burn.

You can pack the ring up higher than level as well.

Also - with K style briquettes you end up with a good bit of ash which can choke air flow overnight, drop temps and can actually snuff out the fire depending on vent positions.

Might be good to give the WSM a kick/shake before nodding off to make any ash drop through the grate and settle the coals to eliminate air pockets created by ash falling through the fire.

This will prevent choking of airflow due to ash build up and create hot spots/flares in temp that can be created by air pockets.

After you do that you can also look through the side door and check fuel. Throw some more briquettes on top as needed.d

Watch temp for an hour after this, make final vent adjustments then go to bed
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That's a good basic step for overnight IMHO.
 
Thanks guys.

The temp got up to 200 almost imemdiately and to 230 in 15 minutes. Guess that adds some evidence to the thought that I lit too many coals to start.

I scattered the lit coals on top.

Outside temp was 50 degrees. Wind was <5mph.
 
Yeah, scattering is just fine. It does sound like things came up pretty fast. It's better to slow the start as it's easier to control temps on the way up than it is to try to bring them down.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Mike Parrott:
Thanks guys.

The temp got up to 200 almost imemdiately and to 230 in 15 minutes. Guess that adds some evidence to the thought that I lit too many coals to start.

I scattered the lit coals on top.

Outside temp was 50 degrees. Wind was <5mph. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Welcome to the Forum Mike. I too have a new 18 WSM with only 5 smokes under my belt. You list your temp @ 50* with low wind. Man, I can get about 14 hours @ 230* with Kingsford Blue charcoal. What did you use for fuel? With your WSM being new, they do burn hot on the 1st few smokes.

I fill the charcoal ring full and then pull enough out to fill the chimney about 3/4 full, add wood and pour the hot coals back in. 2 of the 5 smokes have been butts. Both turned out well.

How did you determine the meat's internal temp? I suspect you relied on the dome thermometer. I did a 8.5 lb butt in approximately 9 hours at or about 230 to 250*. Seems that a 6.5 should not take longer than 7 hours max. The Cardinal rule around here though is that "It's Done When It's Done".

Consider the Weber Log: http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/cookinglog.html This really helped me with butts, briskets and ribs.

Good Luck with the WSM. These things are Great!
 
I actually just started a rib cook on my 18" WSM and was questioning the amount of lit I chimney'd. Nothing new here because, for my last 6 or 7 cooks, I've started with only 6-7 pieces of medium sized lit lump and I never think it's enough. But, here I am watching my temp stabilize around 227 after 30 minutes, same as my recent cooks. I still forget that everything about the cook is low and slow, even the initial light.
 
Welcome to the forum, Mike.

In addition to starting fewer coals, you might also consider just starting them in the center. I leave a little depression with a small coffee can in the center (but not all the way to the grate, leaving one layer of briqs at the bottom) when I start using the Minion method.

I have also had good luck with not starting any coals at all, only using a fully packed charcoal ring and adding 3-4 Weber starter cubes directly to the center of the charcoal. I wait until 15-20 briqs are lit, then put on the middle section and adjust the vents as necessary. This gives me time to finish meat prep and add flavoring wood (hickory, cherry, apple, pecan, etc.) to the charcoal.
 
Jim makes a good point.

I used to do what Jim H. recommends for a good while. For a year, maybe two. What I found over time and a good number of cooks was that it engaged more of the fuel than just laying on top (rearrange with tongs).

But to each his own. In a depression is a good mod from the method where you make a bottomless/topless cylinder from a small coffee can, load fuel around it and then place lit inside the tube and slide it out..

For me I found that those methods engaged more fuel quicker than I wanted.

Try it though and see what you like. It's a cool way to implement a slow start. Modifying to a simple depression in the center with 10-15 coals is what I've done to slow things down as well.

Over several years evenly distributing about 15-20 coals over the top of a fully loaded ring (mounded pile if I am doing an overnight) has been the best and simplest in the end.

Different ways to skin the cat, but definitely try a method with fewer lit next time and control temps on the way up.

I still have that coffee can "tube" on the shelf though and use it occasionally.

Am important note is that I am a total lump charcoal bigot. I am not using briquettes. I do though use HW Charcoal Briquettes for the lit we are speaking about. The main fuel is lump charcoal.

So that's an important note as lump will actually engage, light quicker than say K briquettes will.

So if you are using "K" style fuel then Jim H.'s method or the "cylinder of lit" in a "donut" of fuel made from K might work just fine for the over night. K leaves a ton of ash by comparison though so make sure you do the kick/shake an hour before nodding off and checking final temp for the night because that high load of ash can choke the fire while you are sleeping and you won't know until the morning if it has caused the cooker temp to drop.
 
Mike.make sure you are using regular kingsford not matchlight. This is a commom beginner error. Everyone who has posted here is correct but sometimes more experienced smokers can make things a little too complicated for a beginner.use the minion method eveytime as a beginner regardless of what you are smoking or how long you need it to go. This will keep you out of trouble until you become more experienced.this wjjkjjill take a good 30 min to bring the heat up butwillinsure you have plenty of time on one load of charcoal
 
Hi Mike, You mentioned that you throttled down the lower vent to 25% after the temps hit 200°F. When you went to bed were the vents still at 25%? I have a 22.5 and once I throttle down to 25% when the temps hit 200°F I find that depending on weather/wind conditions. I have to close the vents even more to maintain my temps at 225°F. What may have happened in your case was that at 25% may have been still too much and your temps burned hotter when you went to sleep. the higher temps cause the fuel to burn much faster which simply cause you to run out of fuel too soon which would explain your low temperature butt.
 
Tim makes a good point. I now tend to close--like in 0%--all my bottom vents when I'm 50 degrees shy of meeting my target temp. Then, I'll adjust accordingly to get a slow rise.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by JimC:
Mike.make sure you are using regular kingsford not matchlight. This is a commom beginner error. Everyone who has posted here is correct but sometimes more experienced smokers can make things a little too complicated for a beginner.use the minion method eveytime as a beginner regardless of what you are smoking or how long you need it to go. This will keep you out of trouble until you become more experienced.this wjjkjjill take a good 30 min to bring the heat up butwillinsure you have plenty of time on one load of charcoal </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

This is sound advice. Make a minimum number of changes until you hone your fire control skills. Minion start (which you are doing) is the key for long cooks.

You only need to tweak that a bit for the next several cooks. To get it where you want it along with perhaps minor adjustments to vent openings.

Still need to kick that ash down before you nod off though IMHO for that last check. I'd want to see temps at a steady state for about an hour or so before knocking it off for the night. It's just a good practice.

Learning fire control is the key lesson early on.
 
Just a thought... Are we sure that the butt needs a lot more time to cook?

Yes, it's possible that the fire died sometime in the night and the internal temp never got to where it needed to be, but... You said it was 11 hours between when you started and 6am when you had an internal temp of around 140. That would put your start time around 7pm and we know the temp held fine until 11 pm (4 hours) which is usually enough time for the internal temp to get pretty close to the 140 you mentioned in the morning (at least in my experience). So... it seems more likely to me that the fire continued to stay in the 200's for some time and the internal temp continued to rise (to what, we don't know) and then, when the fuel did run out, the internal temp began to fall? How tender was it in the morning? That could give you a clue as to how high the internal temps got before falling.

Thoughts?
 
Geez I'm almost feeling guilty using only about 2 chimneys of unlit lump with 6 lit on my kettle to cook a 10lb butt. I don't think I could afford to use a WSM with our charcoal prices in Canada.
 
Hmm, actually that sounds about right to me for a 10lb butt. Average temps over time you are shooting for is an important part. I tend to cook butts a little higher cooker temp than others. Usually 250-275 deg and don't get concerned if I spike to 300. That cut is very forgiving. I also like the slow start and burn that 6-10 lit implies.

Thing is with lump, you can load the ring up as much as you want. At the end of the cook you close everything down and snuff out the fire.

Sift through and re-use the fuel that's left. To me that's one of the benefits/things I like about using lump. I often am mixing in fuel from a previous cook along with new.

If it gets wet or damp it will burn just fine once it's dried out as well. I've actually loaded on lump that was damp onto a fire to add fuel and it lit up fine if not just a little slower.

During cleanup sifting out the unburnt fuel and tossing it into a bucket for future cooks is just part of the process, takes a few seconds.

I keep my price of lump down by buying it at feed mills around me. I can buy it at about 50% less than the per bag price at the retail stores.

I use Humphrey's for example since it's relatively available and is excellent quality IMHO and use over the last 8 years or so.

In the retail store it's at least $20 a bag for 20lb. At the mill I get it for $11 during the last buy. I usually buy 100-200 lb at a time, 5-10 bags. At the mills they also sell in 75 lb bags which are a little cheaper still.

"K" style Briquettes are always going to be cheaper of course. But I like lump and am never going back personally.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Bob Sample:
Geez I'm almost feeling guilty using only about 2 chimneys of unlit lump with 6 lit on my kettle to cook a 10lb butt. I don't think I could afford to use a WSM with our charcoal prices in Canada. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Are our charcoal prices in Canada a lot higher than in the US? I paid about $1/lb for Maple Leaf briquettes at RONA.
 
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