How hot can you run your WSM?

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So I'm trying to roast a chicken in my WSM right now. Put in a full lit chimney of lump and more lump on top with some hickory. I let it all get fully lit, then assembled the WSM with a dry pan. Vents are all wide open. My temps peaked at 350, and started dropping after about an hour. I added some more coals to keep my temps up, but when I opened the door and peeked, I noticed that the coals certainly weren't running as hot as they theoretically could be.

And therein lies the question. Can a WSM really be run at hotter than 350? I'm not saying I really needed to be hotter than 350 for a 7 pound chicken, but 375-400 might be nice at times. Problem is, with a nearly-full ring of fully lit lump and wide open vents, I couldn't have gone higher if I tried. And the problem seems to be that the fire just doesn't get enough air.

Is there a technique that would let a WSM run hotter, or am I doing something wrong?
 
I've maintained as high as 370* with a 10 lb. turkey, on a 45* day, using 2 Weber chimney-fulls of regular briquets lit Standard Method, dry pan. The key to burning hotter is more airflow-- do you think possibly the irregular shape of your lump may have in fact impeded airflow thru your charcoal bed?
 
With some modifications to your setup, you can theoretically get your temps up in the 500* range, although it seem you do have to sacrifice cooking capacity. See here.
 
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