Hard time with temp control WSM 22


 
A

Andre A

TVWBB Member
Hey guys I hope all are well and safe. So I broke out the trusty WSM 22 to cook three rack of ribs. First cook of the year. I have a Digi Q Dx2 and a maverick to help with cook temps. Not sure what happened, but this cook was rough. It was windy here in VA this past Saturday and it felt like with each gust of wind, by temp spiked. Additionally both of the my thermometers were given me wildly different reading. Since I did not have a grate, I will chuck that up to probe placement. with the probes just hanging in the grill a couple of inches can cause a big difference in temp. I will be testing the probes tonight in ice and hot water. By the way for those who hang there ribs in the wsm, were do you place your temp probe to help you get the best reading?

Finally my biggest concern is the WSM, several years I did place gaskets on both the lid and door but perhaps I didn't do it right or it has worn. The bottom line is though I just choose to do it again, how in the work do I remove the old gaskets strips with out destroying the smoker. I look forward to your feedback.
 
Andre, I wouldn't try or attempt to take the gaskets off. Most likely the wind was the cause of your problems. Try and smoke something else and see if you have the same problems. If you do, then I would start looking into where the problems may be, but I really think the culprit (in your situation) was the wind.
Tim
 
Wind is a big enemy to WSM temp control. I did a pork butt overnight the other day and it was pretty windy here. I had to keep all the vents wide open just to maintain about 240° for the first couple of hours before I turned in for the night. I use an IGrill2, which generates a line graph of temps over the course of the cook. When I checked in the morning, it was windy and the temp had dropped to 230°. The WSM was running out of fuel. The graph showed a spike in pit temp -- up to 280° -- between 3:30a and 4:30a, when the wind had died down for a spell. Other than that, the cook was normal. If I was awake and monitoring, I likely would have chased the temp with the vents. Glad I slept through it all.

Jeff
 
Where I live in the mountains of Arizona we have winds pretty much all of the time. It drives my 18.5 WSM nuts and me crazy chasing temps. On a rare calm day it's pretty much rock solid. I've tried wind breaks but the wind swirl's so much the wind break may be doing it's job and then I will see the temperature spike and I know the wind has changed direction.
Thats one of the reasons I got a pellet grill which doesn't seem to be affected by winds much at all.
 
It's funny because like others have said, wind is the biggest weather variable in my cooks. Chicago, in January with -5* temps, no big deal...unless it's windy. 🤷‍♂️
 
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