Last 20% of every cook take forever! Help please
I have had Weber gas and charcoal performer for years. I have also had a pellet grill for about 2 years. I enjoyed the ease of the pellet pooper, but wanted something that was charcoal, nothing beats charcoal/real wood flavor, and also would be a little more hands on when not using a fan to regulate temp in the cold months. After lots of research and loving my previous Weber’s, I got a WSM 22. My first cook was an 8 lbs pork butt. It took 12 hrs and 10 min. I smoked it at 225. Normally this temp and butt would have been done on my pellet after about 8-10 hrs. I figured no but deal, every hunk of meat cooks different.
The woman wanted some ribs. So I got 2 monster baby back slabs and figured easy 3-2-1 method as she loves her falling off of the bone. I did them as normal, and they had just about a perfect amount of pull for me lol. But they were definitely not fall off the bone which seemed crazy as this timeframe had always produced that texture. I assumed it could have been that they were bigger than normal size. (Each rack was 2.75 lbs precook)
Yesterday I put a 3 bone slab of beef short ribs on. With the temp at 275* for this cook I assumed the normal 5-7 hrs. After 7 hrs they were at 180*, I then wrapped in butcher paper (wanted to wait u til 190, but couldn’t wait longer) and they took 4 more hrs to get to 203*?!?!? That is 11hrs at “275” ***? Good thing I only had 1 friend over because we had to grill burgers for dinner instead!
So, I am NOT going by the temp gauge in the dome. I have a bbq guru cyber Q to regulate the temp. The clip to check grate level temp it in, is placed 2” from the meat. I have tested the cyber q temp probes against my older Weber iGrill 2 and my ThermoWorks MK4. So then while these ribs were taking forever last night I put my Weber iGrill probes within 3” of the cyber Q temp probes and had almost the exact same numbers. I am completely stumped. Since I have used the Weber to make sure that the grate temp on the cyber Q, which is regulating my temp is correct. Then that rules out the cyber q keeping my grill cooler than the temp that it is saying. As of right now it seems the WSM is at the temp I want, but for some reason the last 20-30% of my cooks are taking 2-3 times as long as they should for my meat to get the last 10-30*. All 3 of the cooks I have done on this WSM have taken 2-5 hrs longer than the previous time I have smoked the same cuts of meat within the same parameters of weight, at the same temps, on a different smoker. so it doesn’t make sense to me. Does anyone have any thoughts? I have been racking my brain after each cook. Thanks in advance everyone.
I have had Weber gas and charcoal performer for years. I have also had a pellet grill for about 2 years. I enjoyed the ease of the pellet pooper, but wanted something that was charcoal, nothing beats charcoal/real wood flavor, and also would be a little more hands on when not using a fan to regulate temp in the cold months. After lots of research and loving my previous Weber’s, I got a WSM 22. My first cook was an 8 lbs pork butt. It took 12 hrs and 10 min. I smoked it at 225. Normally this temp and butt would have been done on my pellet after about 8-10 hrs. I figured no but deal, every hunk of meat cooks different.
The woman wanted some ribs. So I got 2 monster baby back slabs and figured easy 3-2-1 method as she loves her falling off of the bone. I did them as normal, and they had just about a perfect amount of pull for me lol. But they were definitely not fall off the bone which seemed crazy as this timeframe had always produced that texture. I assumed it could have been that they were bigger than normal size. (Each rack was 2.75 lbs precook)
Yesterday I put a 3 bone slab of beef short ribs on. With the temp at 275* for this cook I assumed the normal 5-7 hrs. After 7 hrs they were at 180*, I then wrapped in butcher paper (wanted to wait u til 190, but couldn’t wait longer) and they took 4 more hrs to get to 203*?!?!? That is 11hrs at “275” ***? Good thing I only had 1 friend over because we had to grill burgers for dinner instead!
So, I am NOT going by the temp gauge in the dome. I have a bbq guru cyber Q to regulate the temp. The clip to check grate level temp it in, is placed 2” from the meat. I have tested the cyber q temp probes against my older Weber iGrill 2 and my ThermoWorks MK4. So then while these ribs were taking forever last night I put my Weber iGrill probes within 3” of the cyber Q temp probes and had almost the exact same numbers. I am completely stumped. Since I have used the Weber to make sure that the grate temp on the cyber Q, which is regulating my temp is correct. Then that rules out the cyber q keeping my grill cooler than the temp that it is saying. As of right now it seems the WSM is at the temp I want, but for some reason the last 20-30% of my cooks are taking 2-3 times as long as they should for my meat to get the last 10-30*. All 3 of the cooks I have done on this WSM have taken 2-5 hrs longer than the previous time I have smoked the same cuts of meat within the same parameters of weight, at the same temps, on a different smoker. so it doesn’t make sense to me. Does anyone have any thoughts? I have been racking my brain after each cook. Thanks in advance everyone.
Last edited: