I am really stumped by my WSM.

[James Harvey]

I'm with Dave. As I read this thread I didn't see any mention of testing the thermometer(s).

I don't see how the chickens (especially chickens) could be that much higher internal than external unless the temps had been dropping for at least an hour or the therm(s) were off.

Any thought to just doing a single butt and seeing if that works as expected?

 

[Richard F]

Eighth line of my original post - I tested it with two additional thermometers.

 

[James Harvey]

Sorry Richard. Read it a few times and still missed it.

James

 

[Vince B]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Randy Hill:
I cook 6 butts all the time on 18 WSM I have 2 18" and a 22" and never had the problem you described. One thing that caught my attention was you said "did cook 6 whole chickens split. After 4 hours, I couldn't get the temps over 160 degrees trying everything I could think of to do. Checked internal temperatures of birds and two were at 180+ degrees and the other 4 were 165+ degrees." If you never got over 160 cooking temp there is no way you could get 165+ and 180+ internal temp of the bird my guess of your problem would be possibly your cooking temp probes were touching the meat thus giving you a false reading of cooking temp or if you were checking temp from under the cooking rack juices were possibly running onto your probes and causing them to read low. Just a guess but I think your temp is higher than you think. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>


I was thinking the same thing. Does not make sense that you could get birds to 185* in a 160* cooker. I also agree that your probe is probably touching the meat. Vince

 

[Tim Quon]

Hey Richard, I'm running a 22.5 and have started with a full ring of unlit with a full Weber Chimney of lit. As soon as I add the lit, I added my six pork butts.(straight from the fridge) With the bottom vents opened at 100%, I can hit 200 degrees within 10 to 15 mins. I then close the vents to adjust to my target temp. No more adjustments needed for the next 6 to 7 hours. Maybe your issue is with humid briquettes.