Had trouble maintaining cooking temp? Running cold. Not sure why


 
T

Tom G

New member
So I did my first pork butt a couple days ago but ran into some small issues maybe you guys could give some guidance on.

10lb pork butt, top rack, Kingsford charcoal, brand new 18" WSM

I started the smoker early in the morning... and I mean early... 3:30am since we found out late friends were coming over the following evening I figured if I started then by the time they showed up we should be able to try it out (ie 16'ish hours later)

So loaded up the WSM, I bought a 16lb bag of charcoal and wasn't able to use the whole thing but lit it up the Minion way using my weber chimney to start a whack of coals and dump the lit ones overtop of the ones on the bottom.

Filled the pan with hot water, set the butt on the rack, all vents at 100% open, and went inside and did the dishes (Wife was thankful even though it was 4am me clanking around)

Anyway, did the dishes so went back out and temp was around 210 or so on the gauge, just inside the "Smoke" zone on the dial on the top of the WSM. Perfect, set the bottom vents all at 25% and went inside for awhile, checked back maybe 1/2 hour or 45min later give or take and temp was still around 215'ish so went back to bed.

Woke up, checked, still sitting in the lower 210-220 mark! So I was happy. Lunch rolls around and the wife wants to take the kids out so I checked and the water was a bit low so filled it up with very hot tap water, I wasn't sure how long we'd be gone so I threw in a bunch of new coals over the burning ones, shut the side door, opened the vents to 100% and waited. Well I checked a few times and the temp dropped down to 160 and wasn't climbing even after 45min or so...

I know adding water likely would've cooled it all down some but thought maybe I put to many coals in the side and was smothering it somehow?? I had to leave so what I did was open the side again, pulled out probably 10-15 coals and put them in the chimney and lit them up then put them back into the WSM. Basically get some more heat back in. Since I was leaving I shut the bottom vents back to 25% or so


Anyway came back a few hours later and the temps were still sitting around 175... I cracked all the bottom vents to 100% open and waited... still wouldn't climb...

I got frustrated so I pulled the top/middle off the base, stirred the coals around good (lots still in there) then lit up even more in the chimney good and hot and put them on and put the WSM back together with again all vents open 100%. This resulted in the temps climbing at least back into the 220 mark for the rest of the time I was cooking.

Needless to say, around 8:30pm that evening (16hrs on the WSM) I took a meat temp and everywhere I checked was only 160 internal... I took the butt off the grill and fired up my convection oven to 260 and put it in there for a couple hours to finally get the temps up to 190 so I could let the meat rest and pull it apart that night... at like 1am...

SO... not a great WSM start. The meat however... very very very tastey! Love the smoke flavor and cant wait to get doing more on it!! But I can't for the life of me figure out why the temp wouldn't climb up??? Top vent was always at 100%... bottom ones more often then not were 100%... there was basically no wind that day although I did dig a wind break out of a snowbank plus surrounded the WSM with plywood so wind couldn't have been a factor, it wasn't particularly cold that day maybe -8C or 17F

I have no idea. It seemed to be working great for the first 7-8 hours before I put in the new coals and refilled the water. After that something happened... the bottom vents were not blocked either I thought maybe a coal plugged them up or something but nope.


Any thoughts???
 
How much charcoal did you put in the ring? How many did you use in the chimney to start the fire? I have one overnight cook under my belt (a 15 pound brisket) so am by no means an expert but it sounds like you might not of had the ring packed full. You said it was raining... Is there a chance To much rain was getting to your fire? It was cold but I have heard of people cooking with temps that cold without any problems. The full water pan will affect temps some, but not like it did on your cook. (when I cooked my brisket I used a water pan)

Someone who has a lot more experience than I do will post in this thread shortly... I'll be interested to hear what they have to say because I am thinking about smoking a couple butts for the race on Sunday!

Glad you were able to save the cook and te butt turned out good!
 
1) abandon the water. Keeping that water hot chews through a lot of charcoal. I just use rocks in my pan with foil on top, some use sand, others use nothing.

2) and I know some on here my shoot me, but for very long cooks I don't use K. Ever since they changed their briquettes I have found that they simply don't last long enough nor burn hot enough. I will say that this is my experience smoking in the cold winter weather in Boston.
Try using good lump charcoal when cooking for as long as you did.
 
Are you using the dome guage on the wsm?I would consider getting a maverick or other such digital thermometer. I have found that the one built in the wsm is not very accurate, especially in cold weather. I bet temps at grate level were higher. A 10 pounder is a very big hunk of meat maybe try two smaller ones in future. I also think closing vents down to 25% might be a bit small for cold whether. Do not be afraid to let those temps get up to around 250. I started out keeping temps close to 225 but after reading around these forums I've been going higher with good results.
 
Unlit fuel tossed on top of low heat fuel will choke your smoker. If you add, make sure your pit is hot or you add hot to help.
 
Sounds like throwing on the charcoal may have choked it off.

For overnight cooks I use the recipe with great results.

http://virtualweberbullet.com/pork2.html

Except I use the minion method, I have had to add some hot coals in the morning to keep it going, I will toss in a few unlit coals near any hot areas of the fire occasionally.

Really pack in the charcoal in the ring to avoid running out of fuel.

A better thermometer might help out. Make sure you test your new thermometer by checking the boiling point of water.

I use this one.

http://www.amazon.com/Polder-O...id=1330820698&sr=8-5

I used a cork soaked in water, make the initial hole with a very small phillips screw driver, then insert the temperature probe through the cork, before cooking with the lid off push the cork through one of the three vent holes on top of the WSM. It will shave off part of the cork so it fits tightly. The probe will reach down in the WSM and has worked well for me. You are restricting the top vent by covering one of the holes but the WSM still holds temp like a champ.

Now I use a stoker so I get a true grate temp, you could use a similar clamp to hold any temp probe just above the grate and skip the cork.

Good luck with your next cook.

Sometimes things don't work out but overall the WSM does a great job.
 
My bet is the new briquettes as well. It's not the water, it does not take much energy to heat up a bit of already hot water. If you want to add coals, add a few briquettes, wait, then add a few more and so on. I see you have freezing temps. I do as well, and I've learned to store the coals indoors, not outside. They will be soggy, and the extra energy needed to dry them out as well as to bringing them up to glow temperature is huge.
 
Off topic completely, but regarding the water pan, starting cooks with as much boiling water as convenient is a much more efficient use of fuel and time. I often use both of my tea kettles, and later will add no more than a two liter soda bottle's worth of hot tap at a time, but NOT at the same time that I need to add charcoal, since doing either temporarily saps the cooker of btu's.

The Weber manual suggests adding only about a dozen unlit briquettes at a time for the little wsm and 18-20 for the big bullet. My preference for added unlit is natural briquettes like K Comp or lump, NOT regular Kbb.

All that aside though, from the detail given regarding this cook,<span class="ev_code_RED">CHARCOAL EXPOSED TO MOISTURE WAS THE ISSUE.</span>. Been there, done that, and the problem can arise after simply leaving charcoal outside overnight or outside during damp weather, even if covered. Not too much fun smoking in a tropical depression, either. I'll attest to that. I'll also contend that the problem won't necessarily show up right away. The charcoal might seem to burn just fine in your chimney or after lighting with a torch or starter cubes, but temps eventually start to drop once oxygen deprived.

Nowadays I keep any charcoal inside that's going to be used soon for a smoke. I try to remember to rotate bags out of the shed, and no longer keep any but lump in my Performer bin. Yes, Kbb can have ash issues, but sounds to me like there was more going on in this cook.
 
For sure damp charcoal is the culprit! I use water for certian things and it is perfectly fine. Water will not hender temps below 275ish and doesn't use that much extra charcoal. It also does a great job keeping temp from bouncing to much, enables one to have an actual clean burning fire (clean smoke), and does wonders on exterior/bark moistness as well. A tip is to spray or oil the pan before each use for ease of clean up.

Oh yeah, I have tried "ALL" methods and if I am cooking less than 275..........I use water....it just works!

wsmsmile8gm.gif
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Glenn W:
I use water....it just works!

wsmsmile8gm.gif
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Can I steal that for my new signature, Glenn W?
icon_biggrin.gif
....Now where's my soap box?
icon_razz.gif


If only more folks would just TRY using the wsm as designed...
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After all, foiling steams the meat and wins contests so it should be no surprise that it's not necessary with a water smoker. (Read brotha Glenn W's entire post above AGAIN!)

So why don't more folks use water in the wsm pan? Well, a lot do. They just don't post about it on sites frequented by a lot of bbq-obsesssed anal types such as myself.

Anyway, it stands to reason that the pre-'09 wsm's water pan volume and placement high over the coals are probably the biggest reasons many folks saw little benefit to using water. With "low and slow" being the popular mantra, a simmering little pan needing to be refilled with water fairly often, and the popularity of the slow start-up Minion method, I can see how the benefits of water in the wsm haven't always been appreciated. However, <span class="ev_code_RED">NEWS FLASH</span> !!! Weber fixed this with the '09 wsm pan. Now we have a big ole pan that 'll hold over two gallons of water and sits right above the fire like the water smokers costing thousands of dollars and used by big dog bbq competitors! If you want more room for charcoal for long cooks try getting a Brinkman pan. Refueling a bit towards the end of a cook isn't a big deal, though.
 
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