Paul Kneipp
New member
Hi. Forgive the long post, but if someone could help me with this it would be great.
My WSM worked really well the first half-dozen times. I used it for slower smokes plus a waterless fast smoked turkey in two hours.
Then it stopped being able to hold temperature above 200F.
Here's what happened the last time.
Ambient temp was about 60F. Virtually no wind. Located in shade.
Used the Standard method (I think)...
Used a Chimney starter with about 3kg of brickettes (Heat Bead brand). Took about 20 mins, but eventually top layer were beginning to ash over and I dumped them into the grate and spread them out. Put another layer (about 1kg) of unlit brickettes on top.
As a backup I did another half chimney of brickettes. They were ready at exactly the same time as the top layer already in the bullet were completely ashed over, so I dumped the chimney on top. Everything looked ashed and glowing red.
I then assembled the rest of the bullet, added water (not quite cold, I topped it up with boiling water), added the meat and put the lid on. All vents, except the top one were open.
After 10 mins, the temp was just going over 280F, so I closed all the vents.
After 30 mins, the temp was 240F which I thought was perfect.
After 60 mins, the temp was 150F, so I opened the bottom vents, but it was no good. After 90 mins, the temp was 125F and I gave up and opened it up.
The brickettes looked nice and ashed, but they were cool enough to handle. The hardwood looked barely charred.
On the plus side, I'm getting a fantastic, if subtle, smoke flavour. It's just that I have to finish the meat in the oven. But it's brilliant for smoking sausages. One hour is the perfect time to cook through and the smoke penetrates them really well.
The failures have always included a full two racks of meat. Maybe I need to cut back on the volume I'm smoking in case it's sucking up the heat...?
Thanks for your help.
My WSM worked really well the first half-dozen times. I used it for slower smokes plus a waterless fast smoked turkey in two hours.
Then it stopped being able to hold temperature above 200F.
Here's what happened the last time.
Ambient temp was about 60F. Virtually no wind. Located in shade.
Used the Standard method (I think)...
Used a Chimney starter with about 3kg of brickettes (Heat Bead brand). Took about 20 mins, but eventually top layer were beginning to ash over and I dumped them into the grate and spread them out. Put another layer (about 1kg) of unlit brickettes on top.
As a backup I did another half chimney of brickettes. They were ready at exactly the same time as the top layer already in the bullet were completely ashed over, so I dumped the chimney on top. Everything looked ashed and glowing red.
I then assembled the rest of the bullet, added water (not quite cold, I topped it up with boiling water), added the meat and put the lid on. All vents, except the top one were open.
After 10 mins, the temp was just going over 280F, so I closed all the vents.
After 30 mins, the temp was 240F which I thought was perfect.
After 60 mins, the temp was 150F, so I opened the bottom vents, but it was no good. After 90 mins, the temp was 125F and I gave up and opened it up.
The brickettes looked nice and ashed, but they were cool enough to handle. The hardwood looked barely charred.
On the plus side, I'm getting a fantastic, if subtle, smoke flavour. It's just that I have to finish the meat in the oven. But it's brilliant for smoking sausages. One hour is the perfect time to cook through and the smoke penetrates them really well.
The failures have always included a full two racks of meat. Maybe I need to cut back on the volume I'm smoking in case it's sucking up the heat...?
Thanks for your help.
