How long does your WSM run on a single load of fuel?


 
S

Steve M.

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I'm currently on hour 16 on an overnight cook of two 7# pork butts, about to hit 195 degs.

I have developed a process to load the charcoal ring in a way that I consistently get +15 hour cooks at 225-240 (assuming that there's not a stiff breeze).

- I load the ring about 1/3 full, then sprinkle a small handful of wood chips, same flavor as smoke wood chunks.
- Then, shake the ring to settle and compact the briquets nice and tight
- Load another 1/3, more wood chips and shake again
- Load the final 1/3, shake, and add lit coals and wood chunks (at this point the briquets are slight mounded up higher than the top of the ring)

Not sure if the "shake & pack" is the reason, but I am constantly amazed how long (and steady) these little smokers run.

Low & slow baby.......

**NOTE: I'm using classic Kingsford
 
I forgot to mention that I'm using the 18" WSM.

Here's the finished product...... not dried out at all.... still glistening
 

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It kind of depends on the ambient outside temp. I once got a 24 hour burn using the older Kingsford Charcoal in a really brutal summer where it was in the high 90s at night and 110+ during the day. I just loaded it up with a full 20 pound bag with 5 or 6 wood chunks. 16 is pretty reasonable low and slow, provided you mound up the charcoal and put in 20 pounds. If you get in trouble you can always add some charcoal, but I prefer not to have to.
 
I like the shake n bake idea, especially if it keeps the cook temp even. I had a strange one over the past weekend. I put an 11 pound butt on at 11:00pm and got it stabilized at 250-ish then went to bed, as usual. I use an iGrill and like that it tracks the temp while you sleep, so you can get a better picture of how your cook proceeded overnight. I got up at around 7:00a and it was sitting nicely at 250°, but when I checked the overnight graph, it had shot up sharply to 310° at 3:00a and then took more than an hour to settle back to 250 and stabilize again. A head-scratcher.

I've had some similar occurrences over the years and wonder why temp spikes and drops seem to come out of nowhere. It was a bit breezy at the beginning of the cook, but dead still when I got up. I don't know if that had anything to do with it. I have a suspicion that a Minion fire may not grow in a linear fashion during a long cook. (I usually just dump the lit coals evenly on the top of the unlit.)

Any ideas?

Jeff
 
J Hasselberger said:
I like the shake n bake idea, especially if it keeps the cook temp even. I had a strange one over the past weekend. I put an 11 pound butt on at 11:00pm and got it stabilized at 250-ish then went to bed, as usual. I use an iGrill and like that it tracks the temp while you sleep, so you can get a better picture of how your cook proceeded overnight. I got up at around 7:00a and it was sitting nicely at 250°, but when I checked the overnight graph, it had shot up sharply to 310° at 3:00a and then took more than an hour to settle back to 250 and stabilize again. A head-scratcher.

I've had some similar occurrences over the years and wonder why temp spikes and drops seem to come out of nowhere. It was a bit breezy at the beginning of the cook, but dead still when I got up. I don't know if that had anything to do with it. I have a suspicion that a Minion fire may not grow in a linear fashion during a long cook. (I usually just dump the lit coals evenly on the top of the unlit.)

Any ideas?

Jeff
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I am guessing you are correct that the fire grows randomly. I try and space the lit coals out evenly hoping that does help it grow evenly. I do think that packing the briquets tightly together helps with that.
 
How long is an extremely difficult question to answer. A good answer is that it will run longer once it's broken in (seasoned) that it does when it's new
 
How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? One, two, threeee...CRUNCH!

It's a tough question. Different cooks require different charcoal loads, there's smoke wood to figure in, and if the WSM's been holding steady for what seems like a really long time I'm probably going to get nosy and refuel anyway even if I think the original load has life left.
 
I've gotten over 12 hours on my 18.5 WSM in 20 deg F weather overnight without adding coals. It wasn't windy which would make it consume more, but I used water in the water pan which isn't as efficient.
 
I should clarify when I got that crazy burn I also had gaskets, a cajun band door with the southco latch, and an empty pan. The older Kingsford had a longer burn time as well.
 
My coal ring is extended a little bit with expanded steel. .... And I use a temp controller..... And I have run it for 26 hours at 265 ish and had charcoal left.

The main reason the coal ring is extended is because you no longer have to knock down ash at 8 hrs or so. It extends that time to like 11:00 or 12 hours...... But the temp controller also negates that need.... When the heat drops off from Ash buildup...it just jacks up the airflow to bring it back up.

By my estimation I could probably get about 31 hours.... Attention-free
 
Bob Bass said:
A piece of smoking wood caught on fire ?
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A possibility. I usually just put the smoke wood on top of the unlit and then just make sure that at least couple of lit coals touch each piece of wood. Perhaps one didn't take fire until a few hours later. I don't bury any chunks in the unlit. I'll consider that issue more in the future.

Jeff
 
Steve M. said:
I am guessing you are correct that the fire grows randomly. I try and space the lit coals out evenly hoping that does help it grow evenly. I do think that packing the briquets tightly together helps with that.
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I may have to reconsider my Minion setup and pack the lit coals together. In the way back days, I often set a coffee can with both ends removed in the middle of the unlit coals, then dumped the lit coals into it and then yanked the can straight up and out, leaving the lit coals tight and buried in the unlit. I can't for the life of me remember if it actually worked as intended. Might be hard to source an actual coffee can anymore.

Jeff
 
J Hasselberger said:
I may have to reconsider my Minion setup and pack the lit coals together. In the way back days, I often set a coffee can with both ends removed in the middle of the unlit coals, then dumped the lit coals into it and then yanked the can straight up and out, leaving the lit coals tight and buried in the unlit. I can't for the life of me remember if it actually worked as intended. Might be hard to source an actual coffee can anymore.

Jeff
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Same here as A light-up assistance for my WSM 18” “Classic” from a old can that I can’t remember what it originally contained:rolleyes:
 

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MartinB said:
My coal ring is extended a little bit with expanded steel. .... And I use a temp controller..... And I have run it for 26 hours at 265 ish and had charcoal left.

The main reason the coal ring is extended is because you no longer have to knock down ash at 8 hrs or so. It extends that time to like 11:00 or 12 hours...... But the temp controller also negates that need.... When the heat drops off from Ash buildup...it just jacks up the airflow to bring it back up.

By my estimation I could probably get about 31 hours.... Attention-free
Click to expand...
Wow... that is awesome. I've been thinking about an ATC but getting 16+ hours is usually all that I need.
 
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