New WSM 22.5-First Cook Vent Help


 
Russell C.

Russell C.

New member
I've been wanting a WSM for a long time and finally bit the bullet on the 22.5 last Sunday. She's all put together and looking great and I finally get to throw some meat on her tomorrow. I decided for my first cook on a new piece of equipment that I would go with some beef jerky. From what I've read there can be a bit of a learning curve with controlling the heat, especially on the first couple cooks. I figured I would learn on $15 worth of meat that you're supposed to dry out instead of a $50 brisket that can be fussy.

My main question is this: with the 3 separate bottom vents, if you are trying to keep your temp down is it best to just close a couple of the vents all the way and try and dial it in with one vent? Or try and keep all 3 vents at least opened a little? I've grilled/smoked for years on Weber Kettle's but they've all had the one touch system. I guess I'm just a little intimidated by the 3 vents to control.

Any tips or techniques would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 
It really depends on the cooking temperature. On a new WSM, unless you are cooking high heat, I'd bet you end up shutting all 3 bottom vents. That said, I like to start out using just one bottom vent and not open more than 1/8". If you need more air, open the second vent about 1/8" and so on. If after opening all three 1/8" you need more heat then open one a little more and so on. No exact way to do it, just whatever works for you.
 
And wind (if any) direction will influence which of the vents you open as well unless the vents are sheltered.
 
I start with all vents wide open, top & bottom. Once I get close to my target temp I close 2 bottom vent and adjust the 3rd bottom vent for temperature control. If I add a lot of cold meat I may open more bottom vents until the pit temperature recovers from the cold meat.
 
Thanks guys. Looks like I'll just have to play around and see what works. But isn't that the fun of it!!! I've got nothing else to do tomorrow and a full cooler so if I spend all day tinkering with vents it's still a win.

Thanks again for the responses!
 
Russell C. said:
...From what I've read there can be a bit of a learning curve with controlling the heat, especially on the first couple cooks.

My main question is this: with the 3 separate bottom vents, if you are trying to keep your temp down is it best to just close a couple of the vents all the way and try and dial it in with one vent? Or try and keep all 3 vents at least opened a little? I've grilled/smoked for years on Weber Kettle's but they've all had the one touch system. I guess I'm just a little intimidated by the 3 vents to control.

Any tips or techniques would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
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Study up some on the informative part of tvwb site and I suggest starting off by using water in the pan. Chris documented how he set vent positions on several cooks here on his site. With water in the pan, it's reasonable to make small adjustments to all three bottom vents, assuming one isn't more wind exposed. Generally, you'll get a more even fire that way. With a dry pan though, the cooker is more sensitive to vent changes and you might use one to make adjustments. Personally, I like to leave all three a little cracked, but it really depends on how tight your cooker is. Make small adjustments to the vents, especially if not using water, and always allow enough time between vent adjustments. It just takes experience and observation. The tighter your cooker is and the more wind sheltered, the easier things will be. Use hot water in the pan if convenient.
 
This is how I cook on my WSM at low temp. I crack all three of my bottom vents just barely open since I don't get a lot of wind. Then I just use my lid vent to control the temp.
 
James Lake said:
This is how I cook on my WSM at low temp. I crack all three of my bottom vents just barely open since I don't get a lot of wind. Then I just use my lid vent to control the temp.
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Harry Soo teaches the same, and I've done it some once the smoke is fairly thin. I've learned firsthand that more smoke held in means more smoke on the meat. I notice one thing though, that is really no surprise when you think about it. It might depend on how windy..I'm not sure, but when you shut the top vent a bit, the temp will often go UP a couple of degrees before starting to drop. To tell you the truth, I'm not really sure why top vent adjustment is considered more efficient than just using the bottom vents, but Harry Soo swears by it.
 
Dave Russell said:
Harry Soo teaches the same, and I've done it some once the smoke is fairly thin. I've learned firsthand that more smoke held in means more smoke on the meat. I notice one thing though, that is really no surprise when you think about it. It might depend on how windy..I'm not sure, but when you shut the top vent a bit, the temp will often go UP a couple of degrees before starting to drop. To tell you the truth, I'm not really sure why top vent adjustment is considered more efficient than just using the bottom vents, but Harry Soo swears by it.
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This what I was told when I attended his class and it works for me.
 
Thanks again for all the helpful tips. Well I fired everything up this morning around 8:30 using KBB, a couple chunks of apple and hickory wood and a full water pan. With the bottom vents open 1/3 and the top wide open she was holding steady at 200ish so I threw the jerky on at 9:30. She held rock solid for the first hour. Then I noticed on my Maverick that the temp was starting to climb. It went from 200 to 240 in about 20 mins so I went outside to check things out. The wind had picked up and the sun had peaked over my neighbor's house putting the WSM in full sun. I'm guessing that's the reason.

I closed the bottom vents all the way and took the top vent down to barely open to try and back the temp down a bit. I was able to get it back down to 225 but not down to the 180-200 I was shooting for. Too many coals had gotten going with the wind I suppose. Regardless I was still really happy with how the WSM performed on its first run. I can already tell that once both myself and the cooker get a little more seasoned I'll be able to dial this baby in tight!

Most importantly the jerky turned out pretty tasty and I had a blast! Already dreaming about what to throw on there next.

Thank you again for all the input. I look forward to bouncing tricks, ideas, recipes, etc back and forth with everyone.
 
I measure grate temp with a Maverick. Every time I look at the dome gauge, I have to ask is it sunny? Windy? Meat still relatively cool?
 
Dave Russell said:
Harry Soo teaches the same, and I've done it some once the smoke is fairly thin. I've learned firsthand that more smoke held in means more smoke on the meat. I notice one thing though, that is really no surprise when you think about it. It might depend on how windy..I'm not sure, but when you shut the top vent a bit, the temp will often go UP a couple of degrees before starting to drop. To tell you the truth, I'm not really sure why top vent adjustment is considered more efficient than just using the bottom vents, but Harry Soo swears by it.
Click to expand...

Harry says its like a vaccum effect, if you stop exhaust less air will feed in.
 
It's like a jet engine. Large air intake/small exit means greater air flow through the body. Close off the top (exit), you will get faster air flow but closing off the intakes (bottom vents) will limit that airflow. A lot depends on the sequence. That's why if you close off the top vent without adjusting the bottom vents, you'll get the observed temp spike. Close off the bottom vents prevents the increase of air and even with the top mostly closed off, the temps will drop again (though not slowly because you got all that fuel burning for a short period of time.

Think of it like a hose (fixed intake/fixed amt of air/water). Hose exit is open, steady outflow. But put your thumb over the end and the water volume is halved coming out but the "flow through"(the air flow in the WSM) is much faster, hence increased temps. Turn the faucet handle more closed (WSM bottom vent) the flow adjusts accordingly. I agree with Harry on this.

At least, that's how I see it.
 
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