Low Temp Issue - input appreciated


 
C

Clay Cope

TVWBB Fan
So I've been noticing the past few smokes that my smoker seems to be running low on temp. Last night verified it. I fired up using the MM, and put on 2 14# briskets. After an hour I propped the side door because my temps had only risen to 195 ish, and got it up to 225. It seemed steady there so at 4am I got some snooze and left all vents wide open.

I woke up at 8 to find my temps back at 195ish. The outside temp is 55. I just cracked the door again, and propped the lid open, so it heated up quickly to 260 ish. After closing the top lid but leaving my side door cracked, it seems to want to settle at 235 to 240.

This is 6 hours into my smoke now and I'm wondering how much time I've lost. should I take the heat up to 260ish to try and "catch up" on the smoke if that's possible. These went on at 2 am and I'm feeding a party around 6 ish tonight. Also, does anyone experience having to leave the side door propped open to maintain temperature?

Thoughts? Ideas? Direction?
 
Yes, you can raise the heat to speed the cook.

I crack the door to maintain temps on high heat cooks only.

What method did you use to start? What fuel?
 
Yeah, I have been double checking with an oven temp. It wouldn't surprise me if it was a moist coal issue being as how I'm in Seattle and all this charcoal came from Home Depot during the 1/2 off sale a few weeks back.

One other possibility, I just noticed that although my top vent was wide open, it actually wasn't. The tab that stops it from spinning looked almost bent, so although the vent was open, it wasn't completely open. I just bent it (by forcing the top vent to open all the way) open and temp picked up about 10 more degrees.

A little extra air flow out the top seems to have a big impact on the temps, so we'll see how this effects things. Thanks for the feedback.
 
It also makes a difference with how you're using your water pan. Are you starting with hot water, cold water, or something different? Since your ambient is low to begin with, using cold water at the start might have an effect. I just did my first clay saucer cook last night, and I found that I could maintain 260* at the lid with all the bottom vents closed for almost the entire cook.

The top vent issue might account for what you're seeing as well, I fooled around with adjusting it on one of my earlier cooks and I was amazed at how much effect it had on temps. Now I just leave it open 100% all the time.
 
Just to close out this thread, (I know it's old, but I don't leaving things open), after using my WSM for 3 years now, I finally figured out my problem. Turns out, I was just stuffing my 18.5" WSM with so much meat that I was restricting the airflow. Lesson for me is if I'm smoking 30 to 35 lbs of brisket (which is my standard smoke these days), I gotta crack that lid to get enough air flow to keep the temps up. After the briskets shrink a little and the coals get settled, the temps will eventually settle and I can close the lid. Good smokin!
 
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