HELP! Anyone else up this late?


 
J

JasonG

TVWBB Member
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Well I decided that I either had to freeze or cook the 2 4.75 pound shoulder roasts I had in the fridge so I jumped in with my second cook ever on my WSM and the first using a clay saucer.

I followed the instructions on this site for and did the Minion method with 40 briquets (its cold'ish tonight but not windy) and within 5 minutes had to take the 3 bottom vents down to about 10% if that. Temperature hovered right around 252 for awhile and then has been slowly climbing for the past 2 hours.

About 45 min or so ago I shut down all the 3 bottom vents and the temp climbed from about 261 to 271. Within Chris's recommended 25 degree range but higher than I'd like.

I'm concerned about running it all night with the bottom vents 100% closed and that the fire might die out (even though it continues to climb slowly now).

What should I do? Open them ever so slightly open or run them closed all night?

As an FYI I'm using a maverick ET-73 and with the smoker probe I'm just hanging it inside the top most vent with the part where the probe ends and the fabric/mesh begins sitting on the lip.

Any ideas? Anyone awake still?
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Jason, how is your cook coming. I wouldn't have used as many briqettes. I only use about 20-25 on a long cook. Now on a hot and fast cook I'll use that many. When you use that many to start it really gets the heat going fast. I'd just keep the vents closed and wait it out until she settles down. As been said here before ,it's easier to control the temp on the way up rather than the way down. If you're in a hurry you can remove some of the charcoal.
 
Well my fears were unfounded! I turned in about 1:15am or so with the temp at 276 and when I woke up at 6am to check on it the temp was down to 265.

Here at 8am the temp is sitting at 255 and the meat is at 188. Almost time to pull it!

Thanks for the info on the briquets. I was afraid of too few so went with the more is better principle.
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Edit: For clarification I kept the three bottom vents completely closed all night.
 
Glad the smoker worked well all night. With all the vents closed without the fire getting cold seems to mean a leak to allow air to keep fire hot. Happened to me(another post below) and found the door is not flush but also that my lid/middle section out of round. Foil cured my problem. How many others see the temp stay up on cooks even with all the lower vents closed. Thanks
 
The first time I did I discovered an out-of-round condition (the cooker had gotten moved probably to roughly when preping for an impending hurricane). A foil gasket I have used ever since.

Unless a door is particularly gapped I don't find they need to be airtight. The door is a little to far from the fuel to cause much of a problem. An out-of-round point is closer.
 
I have noticed that when putting the middle section on the WSM I have to turn it around to a certain point where it will fall into place. Seems to be a decent fit but not super tight. The door definitely isn't snug against the frame but there isn't a huge gap either.
 
I think you are right. When I cooled down after overnight smoke foiled the door after 5 hrs at 175-no change. Foiled the lid/middle section and cool in 1 hour. Then measured and found out of round. Next smoke will foil at beginning to see if temps stay constant.
 
I have quite a few cooks under my belt since last October, and I know my wsm leaks like a sive. Most of my cooks, I allow temps to rise to within 10 degrees of where I want to keep them, then close all but one vent, and vary that vent between 0% and 50% for control. My door dosent fit very well, but I cant seem to get it bent right. *shrug* I'm not going to start making gaskets now, since I know how it works this way. However, I dont have any problems reaching 425
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Brandon
 
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