New "22 rookie mistakes


 
C

Christopher Sockrider

New member
I did my first smoke on my new WSM "22 today as a trial run for big family gathering tomorrow. It's also my first smoke of any type at all, so I expected some issues.

I filled the chimney starter and followed directions found online. Then I added 4 pieces of soaked hickory. I put on a standard slab of pork ribs that had a rub on them from overnight.

I lost heat, pretty soon. By 2 hours I was down to 175 degrees with vents wide open and no peeking. My coals were used up. I started a new fire and got about 3 hours out of it at 225 degrees.

Looks like I used way too little charcoal and too much water.

Tomorrow, I am doing 2 whole chickens, 2 slabs of ribs and sausage. I plan on filing the ring and using the method suggested here on the VWB.

Despite my mistakes, the ribs were still pretty darn good!
 
For a big rig like that, you're going to need more fuel. And if you use too much, when you shut down the vents, you can reuse whatever is leftover on the next cook. I'm still learning myself, but have found it's better to have too much than not enough, and then save the leftovers for the next cook. I think it's also a learning process. You learn as you go along.
 
Did you fill the charcoal ring with unlit charcoal and then dump lit charcoal on top? I don't see how you ran out of charcoal in only three hours.
 
Trail B. said:
Did you fill the charcoal ring with unlit charcoal and then dump lit charcoal on top? I don't see how you ran out of charcoal in only three hours.
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Sounds like he just put 1 lit chimney of coal in it with no unlit coal. When I do just a couple of chickens in my 18.5 I probably have a layer of Kingsford unlit 2 deep and smoking wood on the bottom and pour a full chimney of lit on top. If you going to do a long cook then fill the ring clear up and put about a 1/2 chimney of lit on top. Like the guys said you can always shut the vents down and use the coal later on. If you double up the coal grate and use a couple U bolts and hose clamps to attach the coal ring you can grab the assembly and shake it like a sifter to get rid of the ash after it as cooled down.
 
Christopher Sockrider said:
Tomorrow, I am doing 2 whole chickens, 2 slabs of ribs and sausage. I plan on filing the ring and using the method suggested here
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The chicken is the odd man out in that cook. You can do high heat for the ribs and sausages, should you want to do all three at the same time, but if you want to go low and slow, you might want to cook the chicken differently
 
I would cook the ribs and sausages low and slow and when they are done tent them to rest and open up your smoker getting it as hot as you can and cook your chicken then, will take a little over an hour to cook the chicken if you can get 300 degrees temp in your 22, which you should have no problem doing. The hour rest for ribs is good, you might want eat the sausages during the chicken cook
 
Thanks. I'm up early and should have time to do that and make a hungry crowd happy this afternoon. Worst case, I could finish one or the other in the oven if I had to overlap.

I appreciate the help.

Chris
 
Thanks. I decided to go without water today. Maybe a mistake. I'm learning. I put about 3/4 chimney on top of a ring 3/4 full with charcoal and some hickory. It got to about 250 and started to climb. I've got all three vents closed now and its been about 240 for the last hour. I can see where a little water may have helped. I'm a little worried about spilling some on the coals. I have a few hours left though and may have to add some warm water to the pan. So far I've been good and not opened any doors etc to peek.
 
Hey Chris, I use water but I only use about one quart of hot tap water and I put it in when I noticed the temperature starting to spike (basically I use it to adjust temps) On a short cook I wouldn't put more than a quart or so, good luck, enjoy your new smoker!

I use one of those little plastic watering cans, the type you use indoors so I never have any worries about spilling on the coals.
 
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Big success today. I did end up adding about 1 liter of warm water. It evaporated within about an hour and I don't think it helped much.

The ribs were really good. The sausage was a little overdone, but it all got eaten.

I couldn't get the WSM over about 310 (this was after 4 hours of ribs on 240). I cooked the chicken beer can style (with water) for two hours. It turned out great. I checked it with a probe and it was 165 in the breast with a nice crispy skin.
 
That sounds awesome! There's nothing like a really successful cook to soften up my chief financial officer (wife) for the next grill/smoker purchase.

...just sayin'
 
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Round 3 this weekend.

I did three slabs of St Louis style pork ribs each with a different dry rub. No water in the pan this time. All was going well at the 2 hour mark I was running about 265 degrees. I had my 3 vents about 50%. I had put about 4/5 full Kingsford charcoal so there was plenty of fuel to go. I had to go and run and errand for about 2 hours. When I came back it was up to about 325 degrees and they were crispy like an overdone pizza. About half the meat was salvaged. In retrospect, I should have either closed all three vents to 0% or just put them in the oven super low until I returned.

Despite my obvious mistake, opinions/advice is appreciated.

This is serious fun and I'm really enjoying the trial and error.
 
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