First smoke on a 14.5" WSM


 
L

Lee Ingraham

TVWBB Fan
5:25a
  • started coals
  • 12 briquettes Kingsford competition
5:40a
  • placed lit coals on top of full ring
  • 5-6 small chunks of hickory
  • minion method
6:30a
  • smoker up to temp lid reads 250 probe in middle reads ~270
  • placed meat 6lb butt
  • back two vents closed front vent full open top vent full open

8:45a
  • temp started rising
  • water pan empty refilled
  • temp started dropping to 230 on lid and 250 on probe.
  • Opened one back vent by ¼ temps came back up to 250 on lid and 270 on probe.
  • Added large chunk of hickory wood
  • internal meat temp 137

11:00a
  • Lid temp 230
  • Butt internal temp 160
  • Put whole spare rack on bottom grate
  • Need gloves!
  • Drizzled rub/apple juice on butt
  • Need better squirt bottle!

11:15a
  • Lid temp < 200
  • Started 12 briquettes
  • Added large chunk of hickory
  • Stirred coals
  • Opened all vents 4/4

11:30a
  • Lid temp ~210
  • Added lit briquettes
  • Pushed hickory chunk deeper in coals to light

11:45a
  • Lid temp ~< 250
  • Closed third bottom vent

12:00p
  • Lid temp <250 falling
  • Open third vent

12:30p
  • Lid temp 225 steady
  • Stirred coals

1:15p
  • Lid temp 200
  • Stirred coals
  • Started 30 briquettes

1:30p
  • Added 30 briquettes (Need gloves!)
  • Butt temp 160
  • Rib temp 160

1:45p
  • Lid temp ~>255

2:30p
  • Lid temp 225
  • Stirred coals
  • Butt temp 170
  • Rib temp 185
  • Drizzle rub/juice

3:00p
  • Lid temp 225
  • Lots of ash in bottom
  • Probably choking airflow

3:45p
  • Lid temp 220
  • Butt temp 170 (long stall...)
  • Rib temp 208
  • Pulled ribs from bottom rack. Wrapped in foil and placed in cooler
  • Water pan was empty bit temps holding well.
4:30p
  • Butt temp still ~170... Some parts were more tough than others. Afraid I was going to dry out the meat I went ahead and pulled it.
  • Parts near the bone didn't shred well, but other parts further away did.
  • Pork butt had a great smoke ring and flavor. However was kind of dry, not inedible, but meh...
  • Ribs were good!
I accomplished what I set out to do and that was prove to my wife that it wasn't a complete waste of time and money. Make her a believer in smoking meats at home. I'll post pics when I get a chance!
 
Congratulations on proving to your wife that this was a worthwhile endeavor!

The reason you had trouble pulling the pork is that it wasn't cooked long enough. I tried pulling one when it reached 195 and after an hour rest it was still too tough. My last one I waited until it read 200 and after a hour rest it was falling apart from the bone on its own.

I wrap mine in foil once the internal temperature reaches 165 and I keep the smoker temperature at the grommet around 240-250. I used water with the butt on the top rack. You seemed to have trouble keeping the temperature up.

I suggest keep all three (or at least two) bottom vents about 1/3 open instead of closing two of them. I think you will get better airflow. I like to fine tune the temp using the top vent at that point.
 
Yeah I wish I could've kept going but the fuel situation was getting to be poor. I just didn't have the space to keep putting fuel in without having ash come out of the bottom dampers and my wife said she wanted a lot of bark on the pork, so I left out the foil this time. Will definitely foil next time. Here's the ash pan after it was all said and done.
IMG_20200531_123017.jpg
 
Your right. Looks like your ash was choking the fire. I've read that the 14.5 struggles a bit on the longer cooks with ash buildup.

I ordered some B&B briquettes to compare to kingsford. My last cook I used a mix of B&B lump with kingsford briquettes and that worked well.

Pictures look good.
 
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The smoker seems to maintain temps pretty well even without a full water pan (even after only two cooks), so I think I'm just going to get a shallower waterpan/heat diffuser and try to raise the charcoal grate.
 
I've only stirred the coals in mine a little bit, just to get some glowing coals when adding more unlit., never had the vents block, at least not that I noticed. My butts have been taking around 19 hours at 225-250 ish, you only did 10 hrs. I try and get the butt on before I go to bed around 9 pm to be ready for 5 pm. I add charcoals with fairly long tongs thru the door, unlit for the most part. After you get some practice you'll find it takes less effort.
 
Lee Ingraham said:
The smoker seems to maintain temps pretty well even without a full water pan (even after only two cooks), so I think I'm just going to get a shallower waterpan/heat diffuser and try to raise the charcoal grate.
Click to expand...
Lee, give lump a try - much less ash. If you are going to get a shallower water pan, you could think about making a new, deeper ring out of expanded metal. The extra clearance would allow you to make it taller - more room for coal. Check out some of the ones that have been made for the Smokey Joe Mini WSM builds.

This one for example: https://tvwbb.com/threads/my-weber-mini-build.39966/
 
I'm thinking about going to a pizza stone or cast iron. I've also looked at the water pan cover, but gosh is it expensive for what equates to an aluminum serving plate. WebstaurantStore.com seems to have a lot of options between stainless steel serving plates and heavy aluminum pizza pans in the 12" range. Anybody had luck with this? I'll probably take out the heat shield in the bottom of the smoker as well, since I will typically be doing this on concrete.
 
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I'm thinking about going to a pizza stone or cast iron. I've also looked at the water pan cover, but gosh is it expensive for what equates to an aluminum serving plate. WebstaurantStore.com seems to have a lot of options between stainless steel serving plates and heavy aluminum pizza pans in the 12" range. Anybody had luck with this?

Why not go for the FireDial? Not that expensive and sized to fit smoker exactly.

Maybe you could use the heat shield? Does that fit?
 
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Not enough coverage with the heat shield. It's just there to sit in the bottom of the ash pan and make an air gap between the hot ashes and the bottom of the smoker.
 
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