Christopher Cashell
New member
[Note: I know this is a rather long post, so for those who don't want to read the whole thing, the short story is this: Fired up my 22.5" WSM with 2 bone-in pork butts. They went great. However, it ran hotter than expected. Top vent was always open 100%, 2 bottom vents were closed 100%, one open 25%, and it still pushed upwards of 250 degrees the whole time. After pulling the meat and closing all bottom vents, it stayed over 240. Should I be concerned?]
I fired up my new WSM for the first real smoker this past weekend. I did a short cooking with a handful of chicken hindquarters earlier last week, but that was just cooking for 2 hours with a little over one chimney of charcoal.
For this one, I piled up one full bag of Kingsford blue, along with some chunks of hickory, then lit up a half chimney of additional charcoal. Once the coals were ready, I added them to the pile, put down the water pan, and filled it with a few gallons of almost boiling water. Finally, the two bone-in pork butts went on, one about 10 pounds, the other about 8. I put the bigger one on the top rack, and the smaller one below it.
It was after dark when I started, no wind to speak of, and temp outside was low 70's. Time was around 1am when I put the meat on.
I ran it with all the vents open wide until the temp went past 225, then closed the bottom vents to about 25% each. After about half an hour or so, I checked the temperature again. It was around 240. At that point, I closed two of the vents fully, and left one at 25%. An hour later, and the temp was up to 250.
There was some smoke leaking around the lid, and some coming out from the to of the side door.
I left if like that over night, checking after 3 hours. The temp was hovering around 250 still. After another 3-4 hours, the temp was still up around 250. The sun was up by now, and as it came around the house, with the direct sunlight hitting the smoker, the temp increased another 10-15 degrees.
I pulled the top pork butt at around 1:30pm, at a temp of 190. The second one was done about 40 minutes later, also temping at 190.
I closed all 3 bottom vents after pulling off the second pork butt. A few hours after that, I looked at the temp again, and it was still showing 265 degrees
The pork butts came out great. They were a big hit at the July 4th get-together I took them to. I was also really impressed at how long it held temperature. It'd been 12+ hours when I pulled the meat, and as mentioned above, it continued at good temp for another 2-3 hours after that.
Should I be concerned at all about the temp being high? I expected it to drop more when I closed the vents to the extent I did. Especially after I pulled the meat and closed them entirely.
Is this a case of a new smoker running a little hot? Or is it likely that I'm not getting a good enough seal? I'd love to know what some of you more experienced WSM owners think.
I fired up my new WSM for the first real smoker this past weekend. I did a short cooking with a handful of chicken hindquarters earlier last week, but that was just cooking for 2 hours with a little over one chimney of charcoal.
For this one, I piled up one full bag of Kingsford blue, along with some chunks of hickory, then lit up a half chimney of additional charcoal. Once the coals were ready, I added them to the pile, put down the water pan, and filled it with a few gallons of almost boiling water. Finally, the two bone-in pork butts went on, one about 10 pounds, the other about 8. I put the bigger one on the top rack, and the smaller one below it.
It was after dark when I started, no wind to speak of, and temp outside was low 70's. Time was around 1am when I put the meat on.
I ran it with all the vents open wide until the temp went past 225, then closed the bottom vents to about 25% each. After about half an hour or so, I checked the temperature again. It was around 240. At that point, I closed two of the vents fully, and left one at 25%. An hour later, and the temp was up to 250.
There was some smoke leaking around the lid, and some coming out from the to of the side door.
I left if like that over night, checking after 3 hours. The temp was hovering around 250 still. After another 3-4 hours, the temp was still up around 250. The sun was up by now, and as it came around the house, with the direct sunlight hitting the smoker, the temp increased another 10-15 degrees.
I pulled the top pork butt at around 1:30pm, at a temp of 190. The second one was done about 40 minutes later, also temping at 190.
I closed all 3 bottom vents after pulling off the second pork butt. A few hours after that, I looked at the temp again, and it was still showing 265 degrees
The pork butts came out great. They were a big hit at the July 4th get-together I took them to. I was also really impressed at how long it held temperature. It'd been 12+ hours when I pulled the meat, and as mentioned above, it continued at good temp for another 2-3 hours after that.
Should I be concerned at all about the temp being high? I expected it to drop more when I closed the vents to the extent I did. Especially after I pulled the meat and closed them entirely.
Is this a case of a new smoker running a little hot? Or is it likely that I'm not getting a good enough seal? I'd love to know what some of you more experienced WSM owners think.
