How easy is it to hold a consistent temp?

[Jogan Thomas]

Michael,
I just posted

Joan,
Was the beef the only cook today and now you are just letting the WSM run to see how she processed? I did that with my first attempt at ribs. Or do you have some other meats on it now?

Yep, just threw the lump of rib eye on for 1.5 hours, let it run, it is still going now at 235 with all vents open, it has been going now for 20 hours. Honestly amazed by it

 

[Michael Richards]

Yep, just threw the lump of rib eye on for 1.5 hours, let it run, it is still going now at 235 with all vents open, it has been going now for 20 hours. Honestly amazed by it

Jogan,
I promise I spelled your name right in my last post, auto correct is a pain sometime. You got it right the WSM is a great cooking tool. I look forward to hearing more of your experience with it in the future.
Michael

 

[Lee Ingraham]

Tell me more please. How does this impact performance? And, what can I do to remedy it? If I try to tweak the middle section am I at risk of cracking the ceramic?

The top vent is going to be your chokepoint for the WSM when it's well sealed, so it meters the amount of air that can flow through and provide oxygen to the coals. When you have a lot of leaks if your middle section is out of round, the door doesn't fit properly or the lid doesn't fit properly it allows more air to be pulled through your coals which is going to make the smoker hotter.

I haven't had to adjust an out of round middle section, but I've seen several posts on the forums regarding this. It seems to be a pretty common situation, most people say just find out where it needs to be adjusted and give it a bear hug to try and bend it back a bit. As long as you don't go crazy on it and just do little adjustments the porcelain should hold up. You can do the same with your door to give it a better fitment before purchasing a gasket set.

 

[MichaelM]

The top vent is going to be your chokepoint for the WSM when it's well sealed, so it meters the amount of air that can flow through and provide oxygen to the coals. When you have a lot of leaks if your middle section is out of round, the door doesn't fit properly or the lid doesn't fit properly it allows more air to be pulled through your coals which is going to make the smoker hotter.

I haven't had to adjust an out of round middle section, but I've seen several posts on the forums regarding this. It seems to be a pretty common situation, most people say just find out where it needs to be adjusted and give it a bear hug to try and bend it back a bit. As long as you don't go crazy on it and just do little adjustments the porcelain should hold up. You can do the same with your door to give it a better fitment before purchasing a gasket set.

Thank you!! I already tweaked the door.. it's as good as it is going to get short of replacing it or doing the gasket.

I'll try turn my attention to the out-of-round issue. It isn't horrible, but it does need some coaxing to get the upper and lower sections to mate.

 

[MartinB]

The top vent is going to be your chokepoint for the WSM when it's well sealed, so it meters the amount of air that can flow through and provide oxygen to the coals. When you have a lot of leaks if your middle section is out of round, the door doesn't fit properly or the lid doesn't fit properly it allows more air to be pulled through your coals which is going to make the smoker hotter.

I haven't had to adjust an out of round middle section, but I've seen several posts on the forums regarding this. It seems to be a pretty common situation, most people say just find out where it needs to be adjusted and give it a bear hug to try and bend it back a bit. As long as you don't go crazy on it and just do little adjustments the porcelain should hold up. You can do the same with your door to give it a better fitment before purchasing a gasket set.

Try dropping lid, it will knock it the hell out of round.
Easy to adjust...just hit side lightly against deck post.
It really bends out of round very easy.
A slightly bent lid sitting off center can do some damage to temp control.