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Guest
Guest
I am having trouble keeping my temp below 250 i am doing two 9 lbs butts ..i have closes all the bottom vents and its still racing to 270-280. Any advice
Lou Tarnay
TVWBB Fan
Hi Troy
Close her all down. Check temp in about 10 minutes and every five minutes after that. You don't want to open it up too often if you are using a "through the vent" probe or you will just slow down the colling process. You just have a little too much charcoal burning is all. Once she gets down to 200 degrees, open the top vent half way. Check 5-10 minutes later. If temps ar are stable or falling open the top vent fully. If temps start rising again, close to 1/4 open. She should stabilize real quickly once you reopen the top vent. Once you get to the point where the top vent can remain fully open without running away, open a bottom vent to bring the temp up to where you want.
Best Luck
Lou
PS This advise is only good for a briquette fire. Lump is a whole other game!
Close her all down. Check temp in about 10 minutes and every five minutes after that. You don't want to open it up too often if you are using a "through the vent" probe or you will just slow down the colling process. You just have a little too much charcoal burning is all. Once she gets down to 200 degrees, open the top vent half way. Check 5-10 minutes later. If temps ar are stable or falling open the top vent fully. If temps start rising again, close to 1/4 open. She should stabilize real quickly once you reopen the top vent. Once you get to the point where the top vent can remain fully open without running away, open a bottom vent to bring the temp up to where you want.
Best Luck
Lou
PS This advise is only good for a briquette fire. Lump is a whole other game!
G
Guest
Guest
I am using briquette, I started using minion, filled ring all the way, put lit on top, filled water pan, got it up to 300 then put my meat in ...was going good for the first two hours, bottom vents were at 25%, then it really started racing..i have gotten it back down now..should i have started with a little less lit, i started with about 20 lit coals. Thanks guys ...this is my fist smoke in my WSM.
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Guest
Guest
Sorry, I forgot ...i am using a mavrick thermometer, and got it on the top grate
K Kruger
TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
Congrats on your first cook and welcome to the board.
When doing a Minion start, 20 lit coals is fine. When you put the lit coals on assemble the smoker, put hot water in the pan, the put the meat right in. Leave all vents open. When the cooker is 30-40 degrees shy of your cook temp target start closing off lower vents (I usually shut all three a bit more than half way). Watch temps over the next 20 min and see if your rise slows and steadies, eventually hitting your target more or less or if you need to make slight vent adjustments. But close enough is close enough--no need to chase a particular number.
Good luck.
When doing a Minion start, 20 lit coals is fine. When you put the lit coals on assemble the smoker, put hot water in the pan, the put the meat right in. Leave all vents open. When the cooker is 30-40 degrees shy of your cook temp target start closing off lower vents (I usually shut all three a bit more than half way). Watch temps over the next 20 min and see if your rise slows and steadies, eventually hitting your target more or less or if you need to make slight vent adjustments. But close enough is close enough--no need to chase a particular number.
Good luck.
Steve Petrone
TVWBB Platinum Member
Troy, the temps you are at will not hurt butts. Kevin is right. If you want to cook cooler close those lower vents down to 10% or close all but one of them. Keep the upper vent open.
You will be fine. Relax.
You will be fine. Relax.
For whatever it's worth, my WSM seemed to be much less controllable until I taped the side door shut.
After trying the fixes recommended on this site, I still didn't feel like the fire was under control. Taped the door with aluminum tape, and then the vents really started to control the fire.
If you continue to get temp spikes, try taping the door for 1 cook & see what it does. You'll find it at Home Depot or Lowes near the ductwork.
As mentioned above, with butts it won't make much difference, 220-290 is a good range to cook. Enjoy it!
After trying the fixes recommended on this site, I still didn't feel like the fire was under control. Taped the door with aluminum tape, and then the vents really started to control the fire.
If you continue to get temp spikes, try taping the door for 1 cook & see what it does. You'll find it at Home Depot or Lowes near the ductwork.
As mentioned above, with butts it won't make much difference, 220-290 is a good range to cook. Enjoy it!