I am really stumped by my WSM.


 
R

Richard F

TVWBB Member
I have been smoking meat and fish on my WSM for at least two years. I love it and probably do two cooks a month. However, I have recently run into a problem that I can't figure out so any ideas would be appreciated.

I put 6 pork butts on, 3 at each level. I have been using a clay plate instead of water for over a year and that was in place. Just regular Kingsford Charcoal and hickory wood for the fire.
I started with Minion method and the bottom vents were open at half to start. Temperatures went up slowly, but stopped at about 150 degrees. Open vents all the way and it stayed the same. Opened door for a while, checked the fire and it seemed good. Nothing got the temp up. Checked it with two other thermometers and same temp. Finally, after 6 hours, took four butts off and put in oven. They had an internal temperature of around 150 degrees (!), but had to finish them in oven. Went back to cooker to cover the other two butts and the temperature gauge had jumped to over 200 degrees in just the time it took to set the oven up with the butts. In a short while it was well over 300 degrees. Finished the last two butts in cooker.
Did a cook last weekend of spare ribs and everything worked normal, including temperatures.
Finally, did a cook today with 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 at 165+ degrees, so I took them off. Put smoker back together and took chicken upstairs to cover etc... 20 minutes later, went down to check temps and it was at 325 degrees already.

I think I have put all of the conditions down, so any ideas?
 
It seems like the food is acting as a heat sink. As you take food out,it frees up heat to cook with. Try not loading it up so much. HTH
 
i think phil has it. to much meat. course you could just cook it way longer and you would need to add some charcoal eventually. that much would eventually cook but more meat =more time.
 
Yeah, I've done 6 small butts with no problems.

Are you putting the meat on and then starting the fire?
Or starting the fire, stabilizing the temp, and then adding the meat?
 
Phil got it right. That much cool/cold mass takes quite a while to come up to temperature. It would eventually get there but getting probably >50 lbs of meat going takes a LOT of BTUs.

Russ
 
Too much meat being put on at the wrong temp. Starting how you start is perfect but I wouldn't put the meat on until you see the temp rising to at least 200. As soon as you put the meat on the temp will slow and stop pretty quick.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Chuck_B:
Too much meat being put on at the wrong temp. Starting how you start is perfect but I wouldn't put the meat on until you see the temp rising to at least 200. As soon as you put the meat on the temp will slow and stop pretty quick. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Agreed. I usually don't put meat on until 200-250, depending on how much I'm putting on.
 
You either have too little air flow or too little charcoal, for the amount of meat you are cooking. I did a cook with four whole picnics on each shelf and did not have the trouble you describe. It took 24 hours to cook instead of the usual 12. I think you should have just loaded it up with more charcoal and let it go. For a smoke like this I would use the method you describe, but make sure that your charcoal ring is very full.

I start with a huge Minion pile. Throw on 15 lit briquets. Open all the vents all the way until the temp reaches 250 or so. Close to half vent on the bottom. I put the meat on when I light the fire.
 
Richard, Phil is right. The meat is acting as a heat sink and soaking it all up. When I do that many butts. I let the temps get up to about 230-250 before I put the meat on. I know it will drop and it will take a long time before it gets back up. My suggestion is to start earlier, let the temps get higher before you put the meat on,and be patient. I've cooked that many on my 18" WSM a lot. Also. make sure you've got plenty of charcoal in the ring. Fill it as high as you can. Hey, it's all a learning experience. Have fun
 
Just adding my 2 cents, I agree with what has been said about the meat absorbing the heat. That being the case, I would leave the bottom vents wide open after adding the meat until the dome temp comes back up to about 200-210. Having the vent half open will only slow down the progression of the temp as it tries to climb back up.
 
Leaving the meat sit out off refrigeration for an hour or two before starting to cook, along with more lit coals to start, will help when trying to do several butts at once.
 
Wow, great stuff thank you.

I have been loading the WSM with NEW charcoal to the brim, and then drop on about 12-15 hot briquets and immediately put on the meat. I did this because of the problem of trying to lower the heat once it gets too hot, but never really took into account the amount of meat in the cooker.

Thank you for all the responses. I have been adding more and more into every cook and didn't think that it would make a difference, especially with chicken. But I will let the heat get up first from now on.
 
There you go! I think your on the right track now thanks to all great people that belong to this form.
 
Chalk it up to a little experience.

You're all over the map with meat type and quantity. Don't get discouraged.

6 butts in (I'm assuming) an 18" WSM is surely packing it full, but not at all a trivial task for the cooker. You need to make sure you are prepared mentally and physically. You should have had the charcoal ring packed slam full, shaken down, etc., leaving just enough room on top to pour a decent amount more of hot, lit coals onto the dry charcoal pile. I'm gonna say that you didn't have enough hot, lit charcoal to start. If you would have had a power draft controller, it might have made things a little easier.

Same with the chicken. You probably needed a few more hot coals than normal to start and had the smoker set to cook at a higher temperature.

I got really discouraged this past winter while cooking BONELESS butts. I couldn't get the things done. Unless I was running the smoker up past 325°F after 8+ hours and the internal sitting at 165°F or so. After I started competing this spring, of course the weather temps were higher, I was using bone-in butts. I was planning on 12+ hour cooks and my butts were getting done in 8 hours or so. And I was letting the temp come up SLOWLY, taking 90+ minutes to get to 225°F. The bone made the difference.

Anyway, like I said, don't sweat it. If someone tells you they haven't ever had to throw a butt in the oven, either they're lying or been extremely lucky. I would not worry about setting the meat out beforehand. Practice building a better fire, more suited to your meat of the day.
 
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.
 
Just to reiterate what a couple of other people have said, you also want to have your bottom vents open full whack when you're starting with the Minion method. You said you're starting with your bottom vents at 50% open. I don't take my vents down to 50% until I'm at 200 or 225 degrees.

Constricted airflow = cooler temps. Add on that much cold meat and no wonder you're having trouble revving it up!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Posted April 27, 2010 07:41 AM Hide Post
Leaving the meat sit out off refrigeration for an hour or two before starting to cook, along with more lit coals to start, will help when trying to do several butts at once. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Lotza good info here...but Doug really hit the nail on the head!
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...room temp meat and a full chimney of lit will do the trick!!
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