Newbie, not having good results...


 
D

Dan_S

New member
Hi everyone, I'm new here and need some advice.

I purchased a wsm 18.5 this year after having my weber genesis e-320 propane bbq for a couple years and absolutely loving it. I made some pulled pork and ribs that were to die for, using indirect Heat and a smoker box on genesis so I figured I would get the wsm!

To be honest my results have not been good. My first cook (was eager to just make something on it), was not well researched, I didn't season the wsm, I used too much wood (didn't realize I needed thin blue smoke) and I didn't really use proper vent control (top vent full open, bottom vents almost completely open...). Also I started with cowboy lump which didn't work that well for me (a lot of it just fell below the grate) The whole chickens I made turned out disgusting from what I read it must be creosote because they were bitter and tasted like stale smoke.

So after the first failure I did some research (ran a few heat cycles on the wsm) and thought maybe the gross flavour was from using too much hickory wood and the cowboy lump. So I switched to Kingston blue bag charcoal, and tried to make ribs. (Forgot to mention both times I had been filling the water bowl during these cooks). Deffinately had lighter smoke on this cook, but had some issues with temp control and still was running the bottom vent almost full open. The results were ribs that also tasted like stale smoke, but not as bad this time...

Attempt 3, I really knew I was messing things up because I've read many reviews saying this smoker is amazing... This time i used the minion menthod (about 15 briquettes used to start), used 3 pieces of Apple wood spread throughout. Closed all the bottom cents to about 1/8 top vent full
Open. This time I also left the water bowl empty. I had much better smoke (thin blue or very little) throughout the cook. The end result was a chicken that still had a very slight bitter gross stale taste.

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong? The results I'm getting are pretty bad, Im wondering if anyone has any suggestions?
 
Dan I just got my first WSM but i have done some smoking on a mini WSM and on a kettle and a few the things i have learned are helping me hit the ground running on the new smoker:

I've read from people way more experienced then me that you always keep the top vent open to allow proper exhausting and airflow. Ideally you want want the exiting smoke to quickly and lightly touch your food on its way out, Choking down the fire using the top vent will cause a "dirty fire" and the smoke will hover in the smoker where your food is. I would really try to keep the top vent 3/4 to fully open at all times.

Hickory is a stronger flavor wood. Fruit woods are lighter, it sounds like you are already switched over to apple so this might be getting better already. Poultry is a sponge for smoke so i will either use a single chunk of apple or no wood at all some times. The wood flavor of all natural charcoal is sometimes enough for some peoples tastes. Pork will take a bit more so 2-3 chunks for ribs or pulled pork should work.

The Vent setting are trial and error. I use a temperature controller (pitmaster iq 110) so i am speaking more out research then practice but the approach that many people use is to keep all vents open until you start getting close, say 50 degrees away from your target temp then shut the vents down a bit. some folks will shut two and manage temp with only one vent. As you are learning to dial it this might be a decent approach. You need some air flow to keep the fire burning clean.

If lump charcoal falling through the grate is an issue get a second charcoal grate turned 90 degrees to go under your current grate. this creates a grid that will hold the lump together better. Expanded metal can be used for this as well. My extra grate was a cooking grate from a cheapo non weber grill.

You can also try a different charcoal. All Natural Briquettes ( Stubbs, Trader Joes, Kingsford competition) have less additives so they produce less ash that traditional kingsford but they are still briquettes so their uniformed size means more even burning. Some folks with way more experience then me like Kingsford Bluebag (KBB) because its cheap, but for an occasional cook like me, risking expensive meat with cheap charcoal just doesn't seem to add up.

I just did my first smoke on Kingsford since i was given a few bags free and I was out of my normal trader joes and their was so much ash it choked my fire - an issue ive never had before.

After typing this i see that you are in Canada so the available charcoal brands might be different and the temperatures might need to be converted.

After a little practice and a ton of research the three things i have found are: Allow the cook extra time, when in doubt less is more, and don't stress the details.

Allow the cook extra time.
The biggest mistakes i have made were under or overcooking food as a result of not allowing the meat to finish at its own pace.
You end up running out of time so you either crank up the heat to get the meat to safe temperature, but its not as tender as it should be, or you serve it at safe temperature but not the tenderness it should be.

When in doubt, less is more.
Too little smoke is more edible then too much smoke.
Too low temperature can cook fine just longer but too high temperature can overcook food unevenly too fast.

Don't stress the details:
You read enough posts and watch enough BBQ Pitmasters on TV and you start to think you need to have every inch of meat perfectly rubbed with exact amounts of each ingredient, and then the cook must maintain an exact temperature or meat will be ruined. After stressing my way through a few cooks I realized this is a hobby
and i really try to get remind myself of that. Since then i have done longer cooks with less management and gotten better results. Check out Aaron Franklins youtube videos. They are short videos. He uses an offset woodburner but many of the principles can be transferred to a WSM.


Trial and Error is the only way to figure out what works for you. Do a few cooks for yourself or some willing victims before you start cooking for guests or events. 2 of my first 3 pulled pork cooks were for guests and went poorly and while they weren't thrown off by it, i was embarrassed knowing that it wasnt what it should be. I did a few that were cooked specifically for myself and to be vacuum sealed for later use. It allowed me the freedom to try some new things and cook as long as i needed to without a schedule to keep.
 
First thing, welcome to the forum.

What Charlie told you is good advice. It is very smart to season the WSM with a couple of cooks of very fatty meat. Even if this meat is not eaten, it will help to seal and season the inside of the smoker. Ultimately the best advice you could be given is to not worry about the small stuff. Read the articles on the main page of the site and take small steps. There are times you will have failures but over time they will be fewer and fewer. We are all here to help. Like Charlie, I use a control unit (HeaterMeter) on my WSM so I don't have to worry as much about temperature control, BUT, the same rules apply. I leave me top vent open at least 3/4 and sometimes more. The controller opens and closes the one bottom vent to control temp. The controller only uses 1 vent and the other two are closed. The key here is to use the bottom vents to control your temps and allow the top vent stay mostly open. Good Luck and Good Cooking. It will get better!!

Remember, we are here to help. That is how we all learn.
 
Bob Correll said:
Check Chris' cooking topics for more tips, and how to's.
Click to expand...

yes follow the recipes and instructions to a T and you will put out good bbq. after that you can decide to personalize it to your liking. but get the foundation down. I still use chris' smoked salmon and ribs (http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/rib4.html) recipe and process even after doing this for a while. I've never not made something tasty if I've followed his instructions.
 
Some people just don't like the taste of BBQ cooked over a charcoal wood smoked pit. They prefer either an electric or propane fired rig with chips or pellets as the source of smoke.
Your taste-buds are accustomed to using a propane grill with a smoker box attachment. Like the others pointed out, use less or no wood, or add your smoker box and the usuall chips or pellets.
Allota folks wait for a clean burning fire before they add the meat, that might be what you should try.
Hope that helps and keep experimenting.:wsm:

Tim
 
Welcome Dan! I will only add a little to what the other guys have replied to you. Just starting out Italian Sausage is
inexpensive and fairly easy to do. It will help to get your smoker seasoned. It will probably be between 10 and 15 cooks
before your WSM is thoroughly seasoned and sealed. Once it is dialed in your smoking probably will be as well. Once you have
mastered the sausage, move on to your chicken or ribs and master them as well. Before you know it, smoking will become
second nature to you with enough practice. Keep your chin up, great meals will be coming from your WSM as the learning curve
fades away.
 
Dan I do tons of whole chickens, ribs and pork butts. Those are my favorites. My chickens took some trial and error. Here's what I've learned.

Use water in the bowl.

Always brine your chickens, it makes a huge difference. Soak them in ice water with one gallon of water and one cup of kosher salt for 4 hours. Cook low and slow, I gun for 250. Use high quality hickory wood, and make sure the wood is solid. A lot of the bags of smoke wood that I buy have junk pieces. Make sure the wood is solid and heavy. And last, with chicken only use smoke wood for the first 30 -45 minutes. Don't bury the wood, and just one piece on top of the coals. Pull all wood out after the 30-40 minutes. I use kbb for chicken.

For pork ribs I use hickory or oak. I use one piece at a time and smoke for the first two hours. 225 degrees for about 3 hours, then foil in BBQ sauce and then cook for another 1.5 hours.

Pork butts I use hickory or oak at 225 and smoke for the first 3 hours.
 
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I too was cooking BBQ on my weber 330 using foil bags with chips and chunks for the smoke before getting the WSM.
My experience with the WSM has been the exact opposite from yours.
I have only used the Kingsford blue bag charcoal.
I did a test run to learn how to control the temperature vs just reading about it and to measure the grate temp vs dome thermometer reading.
In my case the cooker has been really easy to adjust and hold temperatures.
Exhaust vent always 100% open! intake vents vary from one open ~1/8" (~210 degrees) to all intakes open and sometimes the lid cracked with a skewer (~350 deg).
My family and I like a good stout smoky flavor so I have wood chunks distributed across the top of the charcoal bed so there is some real wood smoke throughout the cook.
Maybe you would describe this as stale smoke flavor while we are describing it as awesome smoke flavor.
I have never detected a bitter creosote taste on anything I have cooked but there is a very distinct smoky flavor and aroma.
I cook everything with a dry foiled water pan.
In my part of the world various types of oak are the predominate trees used for firewood so I always have a good supply available in my wood pile.
I also have been using store bought pecan, apple, apricot, cherry, and hickory.
Hickory started out as my #1 favorite but I seldom use it anymore unless I am making jerky, the other woods I mentioned have become my go to choices and I switch them out every cook.

Someone else mentioned that some people simply do not like meat smoked on a charcoal fire.
I have seen a good number of people post in the other BBQ forums that they do not like charcoal cooked BBQ, enough people to make me wonder if I would fall into that group.
Fortunately the WSM fits my family's tastes just fine.

Good luck to you on figuring out your cooker or finding an acceptable alternative.
 
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