First Smoke on my new 22 WSM


 
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David-SoCal

New member
I have been using a pellet smoker for a couple of years and wanted to step up my game. So bought a new 22 WSM. I tried to smoke a single rack of St Louis Ribs this weekend. Overall, the results were just OK. There was more smoke flavor but the bark was overdone. Observations:
* I did the minion method with Kingsford Pro Briquets (Costco). Buried 4 smallish chunks of Oak (Home Depot). It took about 40 mins to get up to 225 per the Weber Temp guage. Lots of white smoke. Never really seemed to turn blue. Pretty much white until the chunks burned out. I added a couple of chunks later on top. Not as much white smoke. Maybe next time get the WSM up to temp then throw on the wood?
* I suspect the dark bark was due to the higher temps. I kept it at 225 which according to some of the bloggers is probably closer to 240 at the grill. I can't see how that would blacken the bark at those temps. Maybe I am actually at a higher temp. Had the water tray filled so there was no direct heat and plenty of moisture?
* Lots of white smoke seeping out around the front door panel and top lid. Going to spend more time bending the front door panel to improve.
If I was to guess at possible mods they would be a better temp gauge (see above) and wheels (really hard to move around).
Recommendations appreciated.
 
The WSM should seal itself after some time.

You might try closing the bottom vents a bit and opening the top vent slightly.

Since smoke is coming out the door you might have more intake air than exhaust.

keep cooking and practice and you'll get it.
 
DanHoo said:
The WSM should seal itself after some time.

You might try closing the bottom vents a bit and opening the top vent slightly.

Since smoke is coming out the door you might have more intake air than exhaust.

keep cooking and practice and you'll get it.
Click to expand...
I was running the Top Vent fully open. The lower vents were open to the diameter of a Tee. I liked the stability of the temp. Right at 225. My next cook I think I will go with two closed at the bottom and see if I can maintain the temp at say 200-210.
 
I think you had too much inlet air, and if it was puffing out the wide open top vent and the door I think you need less intake.

You might also want to get the coal going a bit hotter at the start before putting meat on. It will overshoot your initial temp on startup but it will come down after putting meat on and closing up the bottom. Maybe close all the bottom vents and see where the temp settles in at.

caveat and disclaimer, I'm not a WSM expert. I owned one for a short time but mine was used and pre-gunked-up and well sealed.
 
Your temps seem fine.

I wouldn't sweat the white/blue smoke. Many on here (including me) just fire the wsm up and start cooking right away. Some folks bury the chunks (I do); others put on top. Hard to say one way is any better than another.

Did you do any wrapping? Lots of people do that once the bark is set. Speeds up the cook and give you more tender. At the risk of perhaps mushier bark.

Did you spritz the ribs?

How much lit did you start with? Shouldn't take 40 minutes to get up to 225F. Maybe more lit coals and/or less water next time.
 
First welcome to the group.You didn't say if you had the top vent wide open or not but that is something you want to do and control temps from the bottom vents.Also you can test your lid thermometer by the water boil test to see how accurate it is,But I prefer to use a seperate thermometer mounted right on the grill so you know exactly the temp right where the food is.Surprised at the white smoke as you stated that you buried the wood as that seems to combust the wood and not burn it,usually it take some time but they seem to settle down to light blue smoke.As for the smoke leaking from door and possibly from the lid you are introducing more air into the chamber so suspect your temps were higher than you thought,Install a gasket kit to the inside of the door and around the lip where the lid sits.Also how long did you cook the ribs as it doesn't state.Hope some of this helps as the WSM is a awesome smoker once you get the hang of it.There are plenty of you tube vids for mods on the WSM.Don't give up as it's all a learning curve with a new smoker.
 
To get away from dark bark, you may want to mop or spritz, otherwise you should try wrapping the ribs after about 2-2.5 hours. The meat usually doesn't take on much more smoke after that timeframe.
 
Thank you all for your suggestions. I am digesting it all. Yes, puns intended. I am due to go over to my 88-year-old Mother this coming weekend. I will try again because I always get a smile when I BBQ for her. Warning I am an Accountant. Meaning I wrote down all my last steps in a log from the last cook. I will integrate your recommendations and report back after my next cook. I am sure I will over think the process.
 
Hello David
It sound like everything went well for one of your first smokes!! When I first started out I had the same results. Until I measured the grate temp and kept the grate temp at 225. Unfortunately just like me. You were thinking you were smoking at 225 and you were probably much higher than that. The temp gauge on the WSM reads lower than the grate temp. Also what kind of rub did you use. And did you put sauce on to early? If you put the sauce on too early that could have made the bark over done too. Especially if it had a lot of sugar in it.
 
The Weber temp probe is typically off, but I don't think that was the problem. With all the white smoke, it sounds more to me like your fire was choked. I'm not sure where this magic temp of 225* came from. Not like they had fancy thermometers a hundred years ago. When I had my WSM, I liked to let it find where it liked to run, usually around 275*. At that temperature, a rack of unwrapped STL spares usually took about four hours. Wrapping them at some point saves a little time (like 15 minutes), and will make them juicier, but not enough to me to make me go through the effort, especially if I am doing several racks.

I used to use a weed burner to light the coals right in front of the lower vent I was going to open up. I buried the wood chunks in the charcoal. When the temp got around 250*, I'd close the other two vents completely, and the third to just a sliver. Top vent wide open.

How did you judge when they were done? I usually do the bend test. Pick them up with a pair of tongs by the thick end. They should bend over almost 90*, and you should see some cracking along the top of the meat.
 
HelloTHoey
For me, years ago I used to go by the WSM thermometer and tried to keep it at 225 and I wrap ribs. They came out good fall off the bone. Then I wanted to know how to do it if I didn’t wrap them and kept the temp at 225 with the WSM thermometer. Well they came out ok but a little dry. So then I thought about the grate temp instead of the WSM thermometer. One Super Bowl Sunday I made 3 racks of ribs used the grate temp and kept it at 225. That is when I noticed that the WSM thermometer was running 20 to 25 degrees higher than the grate. When they were done they were the best ribs I had ever made.
So What I took out of that smoke was that when I smoked with the WSM thermometer I was really smoking at a higher temp than I wanted to be at. When I smoked at the grate temp which was were I wanted to be at 225, a lower temp, I realized the fat rendered much much better. Which I feel gave the ribs better taste and texture. So just like all of us, when you find something that worked I stayed with it. There are plenty of guys, like yourself that have great success doing ribs at higher temps and that’s great. Maybe what I tried to explain is where the 225 degrees came from?
 
Could never run my 22 at 225, it liked 250 and I learned to use that.
I’d wrap them ribs using a 3-2-1 or 2-2-1 type method. Good luck.
 
David-SoCal said:
............My next cook I think I will go with two closed at the bottom and see if I can maintain the temp at say 200-210.
Click to expand...
I don't know why you would cook at such a low temp. Apart from that the cook is going to take much longer.
240-275 cook range.....you're golden. Don't chase the temps. I found that out pdq.
I'm doing a an Iberico Shoulder tomorrow morning. If I can keep my temps in that range I'm a happy camper.
 
something to try in the future to mitigate white smoke is to use smaller than fist sized chunks of smoke wood , chop them down to say 1 inch thick x 4 inches long. Going even further, Preheat them in the oven at about 300 degrees for 30 min on a metal pan before putting them in the fire, also shoot for higher temperatures 240-275 degrees

light grey-blue smoke is the desired color, clear-blue will not produce a heavy smoke flavor and less likely in normal operation of the wsm. On my offset I 'dirty" up the exhaust color by closing the intake damper to light grey-blue during the beginning of cook
 
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