Hello all - Running hot

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While I have long been a message board lurker, this is my first post ever to any board. I am a tinkerer, and last father's day my long suffering wife gave me a WSM as a gift (with some coaching from yours truly). After some disastrous (for me, but not the dog) first attempts, I was guided to this site by a co-worker, and things have gone great since. Following Chris's posted recipes, I have barbecued back ribs (great), brisket (a little dry), a leg of lamb (fantastic), a standing rib roast (great) and last night an all night cook of a pork butt (great).

I have noticed that in most of these cooks I have really had to fight to get the temperature down to the 225 range. Even with the all nighter using the Minion Method for the first time the temperature ran up to 270, wouldn't drop much when I closed the vents, and I resorted to taking out some coals to get down to a good stable temperature before going to bed. I think this cost me, as I needed to add coals later to get the 15 hours I needed.

I noticed a couple things - the cables from my thermoters run under the lid and I notice smoke coming out under the lid. Also, one of the vents is very slightly bent, but not much. Any other suggestions???

Many thanks for a great site and a great discussion board.

TD
 
Hi TD!

Running the cables under the lid should not leak too much air. Been there and still doing it after 5 years.

Your problem may be the bent vent. I struggled with this for a couple of years after my WSM got blown around in some storms. They are impossible to make flush again and really do affect how the unit operates.

I finally had to re-order a bottom section. All 3 of my bottoms vents were bent.

Here is the single most important piece of advice I recieved in regards to temp control.... you should try to control the temp from the bottom up...in other words, start closing those vents when the temp reaches 180-190?. If you close all 3 bottom vents and it still climbs to 270?...you have some leakage problems. Most likely caused by out-of-round mid section or bent vents.

You can also PARTIALLY close the top vent. I know this is heresey to many, but when your cooker is leaky, it is a very good alternative. I have done this many times and never had a problem with creosote. It is so much easier than taking coals out.

Hope this helps!
 
A few things to consider:
brand of charcoal?
Was it windy?
When in the cook did the temp run in the 270 range?

Different brands will burn hotter than others.
The wind will effect your temps, if it's windy only open a down wind vent.
You stated that this was an all night cook,
if the 270 temps was late in the cook try adding cold water to the water pan.
And lastly 270? is still in the BBQ cooking range. I know competitors that cook in that range on a regular basis.

When we have a long cook at the start the pit will be around 200? for a couple hours, slowly climb to the 225? range and stay that way for a long time but late in the cook the temps could be 255 to 270?. Stay below 275? so you don't burn the sugar in the rubs.
I just don't worry about temps in the 200 to 270 range, you will make good Q.
Jim
 
I used Kingsford, it was not windy, and probably in the mid 50s at night. When I put the midsection on, added the hot water and put on the meat, the temp already read around 220, I waited for a while to see if the temp would stay there, but it steadily incresed to 240, so I closed the vents to around 50% (maybe an hour and a half after adding the meat), but got to 260 after maybe an hour more, so I closed the vents all the way, and shrotly after it read 270, and stayed there for half an hour. At this point it was late, and I was ready to hit the hay, so I took out some coals, opened the vents up to about 25%, and went to bed.

woke up once 4 hours later, temp at 210, opended the vents to 50% back to bed, woke up 4 hours later (about 11 hours in) temp at 190, coals almost gone, fired half a chimney and finished about 4 hours later.
 
TD
Once the pit temp got 220? you can close the vents except for one and set it way down. It's easier to open the vents a little for more heat than to try to close them down to get the temp down. I normally cook with the down wind vent as the temp control, the other two closed. The unit is not air tight and it's very hard to put out charcoal at the start of a cook, so don't need to worry if all the vents are even.
Jim
 
'Afternoon TD:
Can't resist getting involved with this topic so here's my two cents worth! Until I gave in following the expert advice from this site (check out Chris's VWB pages on water pans) and replaced the original Weber water pan with the larger (capacity) Brinkman, I suffered as you with temp control. All of the other advice so generously given is right on and necessary but the final 'water-pan' step, I believe, will allow you to overcome this problem as it has me. With my replacement pan in place (and full) I now can hit 250 degrees and hold it for at least 12-14 hours without any other intervention. They're relatively inexpensive and available; you might consider giving it a try.
…John
 
Many thanks to all for the learned advice. I think I will get myself a brinkman water pan, and next time I cook a la Minoon I will start shutting down the vents a little earlier in the process.

I have a follow up question - my coworker is trying to talk me into "graduating" from Kingsford to mesquite lump. I have read lots of posts on both sides of the taste issue, but I have been very satisfied with the taste of the Q using Kingsford, so I will probably stick with it for a while until I have a good understanding of how my WSM works with different food. But is Mesquite lump generally cheaper than Kingsford? If I were to change over, would I just follow the same starting techniques I see on this site, substituting lump for Kingsford? Any general rules for how much less lump I need to use as a proportion of Kingsford?

Thanks again. By the way, have any of the other newbys noticed when they first started smoking Q that family, friends and neighbors seem to drop by more often? I live next to a fireman, and when I did my first early morning fire up, he came by wondering if there was a problem. Now he comes by hungry.

Great weekend to you all.

TD
 
TD
I'm crushed!! /infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif
Using lump is ok it's has it's good points and some drawbacks but I'll tell you that mesquite lump would not be my choice. Mesquite is great for grilling but hours of it is a bit much, IMHO.
Jim

[ 10-13-2001: Message edited by: Jim Minion ]
 
Jim,

What kind of lump would you recommend (I am in southern california, if that makes a difference on availability), and do you have any general rule about how much in proportion to Kingsford?

Thanks for your help, I appreciate the chance this board gives us new guys to ask the experts.

TD
 
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