Heat Issues: Not consistent:


 
G

Greg Mestre

New member
Hello all and Happy New Years Eve!! Hope the holidays has treated everyone well!

I’m hoping to get some help with temp control...I tried a lot of things so far and have been cooking on my 22.5 for close to 6 months or so, and still can’t lock down temps.

Using the minion method, I start shutting down vents about 25 degrees out from my target. Put wood on top of pile directly, put wood on outside of parameter of the fire, use less charcoal in my chimney, use more; nothings seems to work. My temps always work their way to 290 -300 degrees no matter what. I’m doing a flat today and I started the vents down to 50% @ 225, after bringing the pit up to temp and adding the brisket. Added my pecan and hickory chunks on top of the fire and let it role; within 30 minutes I was already up to 295?
I don’t use water in the pan, and just tried using the clay saucer inside the pan; unfortunately I was only able to find a 14”, but due to the season, stores are mostly out of stock on the bigger sizes.

Does anyone know what I doing wrong, or what I can do to fix it?
 
Greg, you didnt say how many lit coals you are using on top of the unlit. I have an 18.5 and I realized quickly that you dont need to many lit coals on your pile. For butts and such I only use about 20 lit coals, and the temp will come up fairly quick (30 min roughly). If the temp doesnt come up, I just open the door for a short time and let it go a little bit, then shut the door and adjust vents as necessary. For ribs, which I cook a little higher, I sometimes use more, but even then only maybe 25-30.

I find it easier to adjust the temps to get heat up, then to cool it down..

This is the first think I can think of offhand, but I'm sure others will chime in

EDIT: I also use a 14" clay saucer, but if these ideas dont work, then you can use water in pan. It will keep the temps down longer, but it is a pain IMHO
 
If I'm reading right, you let the pit come up to temp, added the brisket than added chunks on top of the fire?
If so try something different. Add the chunks on top of the unlit, pour the lit over, assemble the WSM and add the meat immediately.
IME if you wait till the WSM gets close to target than open the lid and add the meat you let oxygen in which causes heat spikes.
It usually settles down after a bit, but wood chunks placed on top of lit can ignite and make it harder to control.

Tim
 
timothy said:
If I'm reading right, you let the pit come up to temp, added the brisket than added chunks on top of the fire?
If so try something different. Add the chunks on top of the unlit, pour the lit over, assemble the WSM and add the meat immediately.
IME if you wait till the WSM gets close to target than open the lid and add the meat you let oxygen in which causes heat spikes.
It usually settles down after a bit, but wood chunks placed on top of lit can ignite and make it harder to control.

Tim
Click to expand...

I agree with Tim and I note you said you let it roll. You can cut the bottom vents back more than 50% and you may have to do that. The other thing you can do is check for air leaks by placing a light inside the smoker at night. If you close all of the vents, top & bottom you should be able to snuff out the fire if not you have added air coming in and this will increase your temps.
 
I fill my charcoal ring to the top with 4 or 5 fist sized chunks of wood mixed in the charcoal.
I light it in 3 places, in between the vents, with a high output propane torch.
I let it go for about 10 or 15 minutes then put the WSM together.
I bring the cooker slowly up to my cooking temperature, then put the meat on.
I do not use water, I use a foiled clay flower pot base in the foiled water pan.

Hope this helps.

Bob
 
I see you don't list a location on where ya schmoking at?. If you live in a warmer climate starting out on a day cook in the shade then going to full sun can also cause temp spikes.
If this happens the same on night cooks than don't pay any attention to me, just had to ask.:wsm:

Tim
 
Greg Mestre said:
I don’t use water in the pan
Click to expand...

I think this is your problem. Others will disagree....but the WSM is a water smoker. I like to fill the water to within 1" of the top of the pan. It ALWAYS settles in at 250 - 275* with vents WIDE open. I can reduce temp range to 225 - 250* by closing vents to about 75% open. ...and it will stay there FOREVER.
 
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I've only used my 18.5 once so far and that was 2 days ago. I've got 2-11" clay saucers in the water pan, no water, top vent open all the way, bottom vents open all the way until temp came up to 275, put meat on (2-8.5lb pork butts), closed 2 bottom vents all the way and left third bottom vent (front one) open about 1/3. My temperature was locked onto about 225 to240 according to the dome thermometer for the complete 11 hour cook. At about 9 hours I had to add some more coal (may have been fine if I had just opened the vents a little more as when I pulled the meat off 2 hours later most of the coal hadn't even started to burn). The WSM is a slowwww cooker and also is slow to adjust to changes. I think most people's temperature concerns would go away if they would be more patient and wait for the smoker to settle down to it's running temp. When cooking something for most of the day a temperature spike of 50 degrees for 20 minutes up or down isn't going to hurt anything. Good luck with your next cook, enjoy the process of learning what works best for you, after reading many discussions on smoking meat I've learned there are many different ways to smoke the same piece of meat.
 
Is the lid on tight? I had a crazy spike last night because my lid was propped open. I also used too many coals on my ladt smoke and hovered around 300 for most of the smoke.
 
Although I like a clay saucer for certain cooks, there's nothing magical about it. Any mass in the pan other than water will slowly but surely keep getting hotter if the fire is getting hotter, which it will surely do given enough air. So if you want LOWER temps, you'll have to identify and fix any out of round issues and/or shut the vents back more. If you want STEADIER temps, use water in the pan as Dwain suggested. Spraying some Pam in the pan before filling with water seems to help, but I find clean up not to be an issue. It takes longer to foil my 22.5" wsm pan than it does to clean it out after a cook.
 
IMO if you close all the bottom vents completely and the top 50% my guess is you have air coming getting in somewhere. I had to reshape my center section a little and even put a piece of heavy duty foil over the opening behind the access door which seems to have corrected my problem.
 
Greg Mestre said:
Does anyone know what I doing wrong, or what I can do to fix it?
Click to expand...

Newer WSMs tend to run a little hotter.

I run mine with just a foiled pan (no water or flower pot base) and temps can be maintained in the 275 range which is where I want them most of the time.

In addiiton to the previous recommendations, I add meat right away (minion, assemble, add meat) and allow the unit to come to temp with the meat. Close off two bottom vents and control only with one if needed.

Opening the lid later (to add meat) will cause an air rush .. potentially causing a temp spike.
 
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