How much meat at once?

[Guest]

Hello,

First and second cookouts remarks:
1st: "Chicken Skins" on 16/3 (at 300*F) came out awesome according to the original procedure. Knocked out my freinds.The WORD is out.
2nd: On 23/3 (over)loaded the Bullet with 2 whole chickens (butterflied) at bottom grate, 3 1" sirloin steaks and sausages at top grate, and 3lb of sliced potatoes in the water pan lined with Al foil. All this after the Bullet was running at 350*F. Aimed to cook at 300*F for 1hr, but the temp. stuck at 200-210 and reached only 250 after 2hrs (with all vents open, and a 3/4 full charcoals ring).
The result: (after 2hrs) Awesome steaks, chicken breasts and potatoes. Slightley undercooked chicken thighs and a little overcooked sausages.
I think I over did it this time, even though lucked out on the result.
Can anyone comment on the reason why the Bullet could not rise in temp. for so long? I think the potatoes are the main cause, but not sure.
In short- how much meat will the Bullet hold in the 300*F range?

Thanks,

Yehuda.

 

[Mark Etheridge]

YehudaS

A couple of possibilites come to mind.

1) That's alot of stuff you put in your WSM. A lot of cold meat like that means a big heat sink and will bring your temps down. The temp will recover some as everything gets warmer (as you described) but with your bullet loaded down like that and only a 3/4 ring of charcoal...I think you may have been a liitle short on charcoal.

2) It's possible that your charcoal may have been damp. I don't know how you store your charcoal but I can tell you that if moisture gets in your charcoal, you will be fighting temps for the whole cook. I store my charcoal in a storage bin now.

Both of these come from personal experience. I once threw 4 8lb butts on my WSM at once and I fought with the thing the whole time. Butts still turned out great though.

Hope this helps!!
------------------------
Mark WAR EAGLE!!

 

[Jim Minion]

I would suggest that you use lump charcoal for these higher temp cooks to start.
When you load a WSM to that extent they don't breath well and the pit temps will run low.
Jim