How hot can it get?

[Pat McCreight]

I'm wondering, what temp do you think the WSM could get to and run for, say, 45 minutes? I'm thinking if you started with 2 full lit chimneys of lump, vents wide open, door propped (or off?), assuming 60 degree ambient temperature.

I have no experience with high heat cooks on the wsm.

Better yet, how about two answers? 1 with an empty, foiled water pan. 1 with no water pan in place, aka mini-drum. I'm just looking for approximations of what you've seen in the past. I'm trying to determine if I could get to 500 at the lid.

 

[Bryan S]

Pat I do it all the time when grilling on the lower grate in the WSM, no water pan and just leave the lid hang off the rim by about a 1/4" is all you need (no more than the upper cooking grate tabs). I can peg my Tel-True in the lid no problem. Dump 1 lit on your unlit with vents wide open with the lid askew by a 1/4" HTH.

 

[Pat McCreight]

Thanks Bryan. Do you need to crack the access door at all?

Also, do you think temps that high are achievable with an empty water pan in place?

 

[Bryan S]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Thanks Bryan. Do you need to crack the access door at all?

Also, do you think temps that high are achievable with an empty water pan in place? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I leave the door alone. My theory is that with the water pan in place and the door ajar your heat hits the bottom of the water pan and alot of the heat rolls out the door. Not as bad if you use the door upside down, but... I LOVE the lid off a 1/4" way. Empty pan won't hurt you too much. I like the lid off because all the heat is rising up and your lid temps are accurate verses the door ajar and then wait to see where the teemps fall in at when you close the door. JMO Let me know how it works out for you.

 

[Pat McCreight]

Ok, that makes sense. I want to use the water pan so I can create more of an oven environment, versus a grill. I don't want flare ups or real hot spots.

I never thought about the lid off a bit, but that makes a lot of sense. I'll play with it next week and see what I can do.

Thanks

 

[Tom Chips]

Pat, my WSM goes all the way to 11.

 

[Pat McCreight]

I ended up putting some chicken on the smoker last night to see how hot it could get. I lit one full chimney of lump and dumped that on a mostly full ring of lump. I left the vents all open and assembled the cooker. I had a foiled, empty water pan in place and was measuring dome temps.

After 15-20 minutes, it looked to be stuck at 350 or so. Earlier, I did the door prop mod so I decided to prop the door and also move the lid off slightly. That got things moving and I was at 475 pretty quickly. It maintained 425+ with me messing with the chicken quite a bit. I'm sure I could have gotten greater temps by removing the pan entirely, and I will probably try that next time out. I just didn't want to burn the skin at all.

 

[r benash]

Pat I've done Bryan's roadside chicken recipe several times using bottom and top racks as well.

Top off, no pan. Door open when I wanted to rasie temps.

Works great. With lid on get to 425 deg. Use the lid on/off to control flares, but with the racks up as high as they are in the WSM flares aren't as big a deal to work with than if you were using a grill.

I really like using the WSM this way for grilling chicken.