My second WSM smoke (aka the Witch's Cauldron)


 
R

Rudy Radelic

New member
I have smoked before--over the past couple of years, I've been doing small smokes on my 21" Weber kettle, and they have been coming out fine. But, temperature was a struggle, and I was constantly doing minor tweaks. By chance, someone on the local Craigslist was selling a WSM 18", practically brand new (used only three times, and complete with the official Weber cover for it) for a steal, so I took that as my cue to finally break down and buy one. And it's a beaut!

The first smoke was...OK. The ribs were done, but not smoked long enough. However, it was a cooler day and, despite my better judgment, I lit up over half a chimney of coals and dumped them on top of the unlit, and had spells of too low of a temperature (200), and I think one or two flare-ups to near 300. I did use water in the pan. And as for the door, I actually took the time to work with it the day I brought the smoker home, and got it sealing up really nice (considering its shortcomings).

Smoke #2 was this past Saturday--75 degrees and sunny. Stacked the ring full of briquettes (Kingsford "blue"), put 20 lit coals a la Minion Method on top, and away we went! I use a thermometer at the grill surface, and it seemed to hold the temperature quite well throughout the day, although I did have to leave the bottom vents open most of the time to get to 225 and keep it there. Two racks of baby-back ribs this time. They may have been a shade overdone, but not by much--they pulled apart easily, and I had immediate requests for me to make them again, like, really soon, please! :D

Witch's cauldron? That's my question. During the last hour or two, the water in the pan was actually boiling. Not just a few bubbles, but almost like a rolling boil. Is this normal? The ribs came out with a nice bark, so it seems the water didn't affect it that much. I never had to add water--I had it filled within an inch or so of the top, and after six hours of heat (about 5-1/2 of that with the ribs on), it had only dropped a couple of inches.

So the smoke itself was successful, but the boiling water just has me slightly curious at this point...
 
Never had it boil--maybe steam a bit but not boil. I don't know that it can boil as there is an air barrier between the coals and the bowl.

BUT you say you had a full ring. Maybe your bowl was actually touching the burning coals instead of sitting above them. That would definitely get the water boiling, being in direct contact.

There should be an air space between the bowl and coals. Air is a poor conductor (thats why you can stick your hand in a 325o oven and not get burnt. However, touch a pot in that oven and you will).
 
By the time it was boiling, the coals had burned down a bit, at least a third of the way down into the ring. I will have to watch it more closely next time and see where the bowl and the coals lie. I filled the ring only up to the top, didn't mound them in the middle. And the bowl was seated correctly.

I agree, too--I never expected it would boil with that air gap being there.
 
I did baby-backs a couple of weeks ago that were fall-apart delicious. The pot wasn't boiling this time, but I had it nearly full to the top with water, and it helped keep that WSM at a perfect roasting temperature of about 225-235, barely fluctuating. I haven't had it boil since back in May. It is easy to tell when it boils--you can hear the water droplets splashing out, and onto the coals. I haven't had that happen in my last couple of smokes.

I'm doing a 9 pound bone-in pork shoulder starting tonight, though, and with the colder temps (upper 40s/low 50s) I am going to have to keep an eye on it throughout the night. It has also been breezy but I am putting up a wind barrier to help cut it down a little. I'm allowing 2 hours per pound, plus an hour or two, to play it safe, and another hour or two to rest it before pulling.
 
Of course the water boils as the temperature in the cooker can exceed 212F.

Try foiling the pan and running with no water. Lots of people do that.
 
The new 18" WSM bowl is so deep that it sits right on top of the coals so with a good amount of lit coals right under the bowl i could see the water boiling momentarily. Im sure it would die down in a bit.
 
Naturally yes, water does boil at 212, but why in subsequent smokes, occasionally drifting to higher temperatures (250-ish, at the grill surface), does it NOT boil? Air is a poor conductor of heat, so that partly explains its lack of boiling in normal circumstances. It was in the sun also. I am trying to recall, though, if I used hot tap water. That might have been part of the cause, as the water would already have been hot to start with.

When I witnessed the boiling, the coals had already burned down at least an hour, if not two, and they were packed to be level with the ring to start, as I always do. On my most recent rib smoke, I had that bowl nearly full, and it did a fantastic job of regulating the temperature.

I'm not worried since it was a one time fluke--just more curious than anything. I figure I'm probably trying to use my WSM on top of some kind of prehistoric sacred burial ground or something. :D Rudy's Paranormal Ribs. Yeah, that'll please the neighbors... ;)
 
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