First smoke on the WSM - disappointed. Help!


 
Christopher H

Christopher H

TVWBB Fan
Hi all,

I got my brand new 2014 WSM 18.5" 2 weekends ago. I assembled it and ran 16 coals and a chunk of wood through it. Yesterday I did my first smoke on it and I was unhappy with my temps. While the temp stayed steady, it failed to get to the desired temp I wanted. I was doing chicken wings and brats and I wanted to be in the 250-275 range for 1.5-2 hours. I used no water and I placed a double wrapped 14" clay saucer in the water pan.

Outside temperature at the start was 73 degrees and it was sunny with a little breeze. I started a 1/2 chimney at 2pm and the coals were nice and white at 230. I used the minion method and I filled the charcoal grate about 1/3 and poured the hot coals in the middle. I left every vent at 100% open. 3pm rolled around and my dome temp read about 210 and I tossed 2 apple wood chunks on. I even opened the door for a few minutes to try to get the heat up but that didn't work either. I decided to throw the meat on at 310 when the dome read 225. At this point I closed the vents to about 50% leaving the dome vent at 100%.

In my opinion the meat turned out OK and everyone ate it up but it wasn't my usual success (with my old ECB)

What did I do wrong? Should I have spread the coals out? Used more fuel? Left the vents 100% the entire cook? Just looking for advice to be able to get to 250-275 because I do a lot of chicken and I want the skin crisp.

Please help! I thought WSMs tended to run hot until a seasoning built up? I had far from that issue!

Here is my pic from yesterday:
MwnDN.jpg
 
Christopher, Sorry to hear that your cook was not as you hoped. The basics are, higher temps are = to more oxygen and more fuel. I competed with the 18.5 an 22 for a couple years and cooked my briskie at or near 300F-350F. At first I flipped the door upside down to allow more air into the chamber. Later, I added extra lower vents and even an extra upper vent. There are various methods for increasing the cooking temp listed in these forums. The WSM as is, was designed for a low and slow cook.

Mark
 
More fuel.

1) Take a coffee can, cut off the bottom (and top ring if exists) = cylinder.

2) Put the plastic lid on it and invert it

3) Using this as a measure, fill it up with good quality briquettes

4) Dump these into you chimney starter

5) Remove plastic lid and plastic coffee can cylinder in center of WSM charcoal ring

6) Fill area outside of can with briquettes

7) Torch off briquettes in chimney starter

8) Once briquettes are roaring nicely, pour them into the coffee can cylinder

9) Using gloves/pliers lift out coffee can cylinder

10) Assemble WSM and catch your temp ON THE WAY UP.



Don't worry about using too much fuel.
Just "catch your temp" on the way up and when the cook is done, snuff it out (close all dampers) and you will have some fuel left for your next cook.

Scary easy.
 
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Joe F said:
More fuel.

Don't worry about using too much fuel.
Just "catch your temp" on the way up and when the cook is done, snuff it out (close all dampers) and you will have some fuel left for your next cook.

Scary easy.
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I'm just worried about "wasting" charcoal. I guess I did use on the low end for my chicken but I never had a problem with that before. Also why use a coffee can if I have a chimney starter?
 
Even though it is designed for low and slow it doesn't seem like anyone else on this site has issues getting the temps to 275 or even 300. When I heard they would run hot until seasoned well (maybe 6-12 cooks) I was thinking 275+ not 225 steady. I can't complain about how long and consistent it stayed at 225 but I wanted/needed more.
 
Christopher H said:
I'm just worried about "wasting" charcoal.
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I sensed that and that's why I came back and added those last few words.

I guess I did use on the low end for my chicken but I never had a problem with that before.
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Not sure what this means.

Also why use a coffee can if I have a chimney starter?
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You might want to re-read my post.

The coffee can becomes a unit of measure.
Since you are displacing "coffee can volume" in the center of your WSM's charcoal ring, using the coffee can as a vessel to carry measured charcoal to your chimney starter, you will have the perfect amount of charcoal to dump into your smoker.

Capiche ?
 
Christopher H said:
I was a little low on the charcoal to smoke chicken but when I used my ECB I could have used the same amount with 0 issues.
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different smokers use differing amounts of fuel to achieve the same cooking temp. Kinda like different cars use differing amount of gasoline to go the same distance at the same speed.

Mark
 
MK Evenson said:
different smokers use differing amounts of fuel to achieve the same cooking temp. Kinda like different cars use differing amount of gasoline to go the same distance at the same speed.

Mark
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True, but ECB using less than a WSM makes little sense if the WSM is supposed to be more efficient.
 
Christopher H said:
True, but ECB using less than a WSM makes little sense if the WSM is supposed to be more efficient.
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After using a WSM, no one goes back to an ECB.
Get comfortable with the WSM and then see what you think.


For an extreme fuel-sipping smoker for smaller cooks such as the one you did, I would have recommended you build a Mini WSM.
There is a sub-forum here dedicated to the mini.
 
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You said you tried opening the door for a few minutes? That always works for me, but sometimes it takes more than a few minutes. Remember when you pour the hot coals on and assemble the cooker, you are choking down the coals and the temps are probably gonna come up slow.
Although the temps should come up with all 4 vents wide open, don't be afraid to open the door longer. The temp may not show an increase while the door is open cuz some of the heat is getting out, but when you close the door it will because you would have gotten the coals much more heated up.

Also you may have just simply not given the smoker enough time to come up to 250-275 before you put the food on and shut the vents down. Be patient grasshopper!!!

Also, as far as wasting charcoal, you shouldn't use too much for a 1.5 hour cook. Load that thing up, get it to temp and let it go. I bet when you are done you will have plenty of leftover charcoal to use for your next cook.

I don't know if I've ever heard anyone say the WSM is "efficient", just way easier to use and manage temps
 
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I was having the same problem and now I am a cheater!!! I bought the DigiQ, I smoke pork shoulder over the weekend and never had to worry about the temperature. I know it's kind of cheating but it is one less thing that I have to worry about.
 
My first few cooks had temps all over the place. This is mainly because your WSM is not gunked up with seasoning. After about 4 cooks, it behaved much more consistently. The second factor I had in the early days was my own behavior with charcoal. I used the coffee can method at the start and the same amount of charcoal every time to get it sorted. I literally counted the KB briquets each time. I'm not sure which technique yielded the temp consistency in the end. You also need to be patient waiting for your WSM temp to settle; which could take 20-30 minutes.

Now, I'm so consistent in temps on my WSM that I have not purchased an ATC even though I'm a gadget geek at heart.
 
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Ralph Q said:
My first few cooks had temps all over the place. This is mainly because your WSM is not gunked up with seasoning. After about 4 cooks, it behaved much more consistently. The second factor I had in the early days was my own behavior with charcoal. I used the coffee can method at the start and the same amount of charcoal every time to get it sorted. I literally counted the KB briquets each time. I'm not sure which technique yielded the temp consistency in the end. You also need to be patient waiting for your WSM temp to settle; which could take 20-30 minutes.

Now, I'm so consistent in temps on my WSM that I have not purchased an ATC even though I'm a gadget geek at heart.
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+1

Developing a routine seems to come naturally after a few reps.
 
Joe F said:
After using a WSM, no one goes back to an ECB.
Get comfortable with the WSM and then see what you think.


For an extreme fuel-sipping smoker for smaller cooks such as the one you did, I would have recommended you build a Mini WSM.
There is a sub-forum here dedicated to the mini.
Click to expand...

Trust me, I would never go back to my ECB unless I need extra cooking room.
 
I plan on doing another smoke of chicken thighs and brats this Friday since I'll be working from home. One of the major + I like with the WSM is choking out the coals at the end of the cook and using them next time compared to before I would have to wait hours/overnight until I could touch the coals.
 
Christopher H said:
I plan on doing another smoke of chicken thighs and brats this Friday since I'll be working from home. One of the major + I like with the WSM is choking out the coals at the end of the cook and using them next time compared to before I would have to wait hours/overnight until I could touch the coals.
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Exactly.....I'm seeing the picture now.....
That leaky ECB trained you to be super-stingy with your charcoal because you would be losing it all !

Use the coffee can method, fill that WSM with fuel, achieve your temp and then snuff it out after the cook.
 
If I'm cooking chicken then I start with a whole chimney full of lit and leave all the vents open 100%, you'll get your high temps in no time. If you use the coffee can/minion method with only a few coals lit it'll take an age to reach 300+.
 
James Mundy said:
If I'm cooking chicken then I start with a whole chimney full of lit and leave all the vents open 100%, you'll get your high temps in no time. If you use the coffee can/minion method with only a few coals lit it'll take an age to reach 300+.
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I would agree with this for a high heat cook.
Coffee can is about 1/2 of a the large Weber chimney and the method works well for long duration cooks at lower temps.
 
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