Need a little insight on wsm 18


 
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Daniel Turner

New member
I followed chris’s instructions on cooking a turkey at 325-350. It’s about 70 degrees where I’m located with little wind I can’t get my wsm above 300. I used a whole Weber chimney of blue Kingsford lit then a whole one unlit, waited till they was all ashed over put bird on and about 290 is all I can get measured at the grate. Vents all wide open What gives ? It will Cadillac low temps no problem
 
I did. I have been cooking with mine for maybe a yr. I have never really been able to obtain higher temps, I wish they had 2 vents in the top of them
 
I just cooked a 13 lb. turkey on my 18" WSM at 325 with no problem. Its about 45 degrees here. I use a DigiQ DX2 temperature controller. First put in one full unlit chimney then got a second full chimney scorching hot and dumped it on top. Assembled the smoker with an empty water pan covered in foil. It overshot 325 but once settled in the DigiQ did its thing and held steady at 325. Bottom vents all closed and top vent about 1/4" open. I use this method for just about all my cooks but change the amount of hot coals I add depending on the temperature I want to hit. At 225 in warm weather I will add about 15 lit coals. I know a lot of people don't like to use a temperature controller but it's been a game changer for me. Can hold a brisket exactly at 225 for 12 hours without adding charcoal if the outside temperature isn't freezing. Want to add that I use regular Kingsford charcoal. I also use a Smoke remote temperature gauge since my old DigiQ does not have a remote to monitor things inside the house. The DigiQ and Smoke temperatures are usually within 10 degrees of one another.
 
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Yeah I did one on my WSM today .... full open on all vents right around 290.
like was said above, I went and opened the door popped up to 340, threw apple wood in there, put the bird on with cheese cloth on top ( left that on a bit too long) and closed door cooked at 285-295 no problem. Juicy and flavorful!

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My bird turned out fine also. I’d just like to be able to run hotter for poultry. Even though 300 did fine. I’m pretty sure the temp was over 325 but when I put the turkey on it dropped which was expected but I also expected it to slowly get back and it never did 300 was it
 
Daniel Turner said:
I followed chris’s instructions on cooking a turkey at 325-350. It’s about 70 degrees where I’m located with little wind I can’t get my wsm above 300. I used a whole Weber chimney of blue Kingsford lit then a whole one unlit, waited till they was all ashed over put bird on and about 290 is all I can get measured at the grate. Vents all wide open What gives ? It will Cadillac low temps no problem
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If you waited until all the coals were ashed over it's possible the coals from your original chimney were spent and you were cooking on the unlit-but-now-lit coals only.

Michael mentioned the water pan. I use a dry pan in my 18" and usually have to really choke the bowl vents to keep the temps down, so what was your pan situation? Also, if it was a big turkey straight from the fridge it would've absorbed a lot of heat.

Glad to hear that things turned out OK, though!
 
Used the 18 with Bbq Guru at 325 and brought it down to 275 and finished out at 300. Spatchcocked.
 

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Weird...I get 350-400 all the time. Prop the door open halfway. I let the door rest on the cord from my grate probe and it is nicely half open. Also use lump to get higher....Jealous Devil burns really hot.
 
I struggled for the first time EVER to get my WSM 14 hot today, I actually had to follow the same advice I was giving Daniel to get mine to 350 today. 275, so I cracked the lid, 300, so I removed the foiled water pan and cracked the door, lid back on normal and I left it that way the whole cook and it cruised at 345. It was weird, but in the end turned out perfect for me.
IMG_20201126_215033.jpgIMG_20201126_215040.jpg
 
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I also cooked a Turkey today for the first time with my WSM. I have a pitmaster controller
pitmasteriq.com

pitmasterIQ IQ110 Kit

The pitmasterIQ IQ110 Automatic BBQ Controller makes precision charcoal smoking a breeze. For most pits including Weber, Gateway Drum Smoker, Big Green Egg, ...
pitmasteriq.com pitmasteriq.com
The temps struggled at first when I put the turkey on. But I opened the other 2 bottom vents and half hour later the gauge on the lid was pegged. So I closed the 2 vents again and it settled in fairly quickly. I have had that little controller for 2 or 3 years now and if something were to go wrong with it i would not hesitate to buy another. It's fairly cheap. Extremely simple to use (simple means i will use it) and it just works.
 
I have a WSM 18 and started yesterday with two chimneys of lit Kingsford briquettes. When the top briquettes just started to show gray, I dumped them both in with a dry pan, wood chunks, and 100% open vents.

In 30 minutes, it was about to bury the needle on the 350 dome thermometer (which tends to read about 25 degrees low), so I dialed back the vents and slowly got it down to the 300-325 area.

The cook lasted 4 hours, and it did peter out some near the end and go below 300. I stirred the coals and opened the vents. At the end, I opened the door/hatch and used long tongs to prop against it so that it was just open an inch or so.

You can also put a chimney starter under the door/hatch area and prop the upside-down door on it; it fits just right to leave a nice air opening at the bottom. I've done that for high-heat brisket cooks with good success.

If desperate for more heat, lift the lid and slide it over just a bit to let air in there as well. I did that yesterday after the cook was over, just to burn off the charcoal, and within a few minutes it roared back to life. Soon had smoke streaming from the turkey drippings that were being incinerated in the dry pan.
 
Hi All You can see here how the temps got away.Happens all the time with the rotisserie. I had to finished in the oven when the temps spiked.
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Turkey Temps WSM 22

Hi All I was going to use my rotisserie to cook my 13 lb turkey @ 350 *either on Saturday or Sunday. Here is my problem my Fireboard drive /fan cable crapped out on me. IF I want to use my WSM 22 , I'm going to have to revert back to OLD school way. Just using the vents..Any tips or tricks...
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Dan IMG_20201129_162804175[1].jpg
 
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