Nomex Gasket Mod and Temp Control


 
B

B Seas

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I am doing my first cook since making a couple of mods for my 22.5" WSM (Nomex gasket and grommet mods). Two 7-ish lb. pork butts on since about 8:00 this morning. I know there are lots of variables that deal with temp control (outside temp, humidity, type of charcoal, wind, etc.) and am having trouble getting my temp up to 225 deg. and keeping it there. I am using Kingsford blue, which is typically what I use, and got started off just like all other cooks I have done using and temp got to 225 as usual with all vents open.

I cranked the vents down to about 1/4 open and placed the butts on the upper grate. With the extra load in the cooker, the temps came down as you would expect, but would not climb much over 200 deg. I opened the vents back to wide open, and the temp started to climb a bit, but still wouldn't get much above 200 (over the course of 15 to 20 minutes).

Fired up another chimney of KBB and let them turn white and carefully added them, and the temp quickly came up to around 255, and has settled down to around 235. I am running with the vents wide open, and seem to be able to hold the temp OK for the moment.

I am guessing that with the gasket mod, the amount of air flow was decreased significantly and using my typical vent settings was actually choking the fire out. I will need to learn new vent settings given the decrease in air flow since the door and lid are now substantially sealed (which was, of course, the point of the mod). Assuming I am correct, it is somewhat surprising how much air was apparently leaking around the door.

Curious if others have had a similar experience? Thinking I will have a longer cook than expected today given the challenges of getting the temp up.

I will post some pics of the butts later.

B Seas
 
Here is a pic from this morning as I was getting started. It shows the gasket mod on the door. No leaks around the door except for very small areas at bottom left.

gasketmod1_zpsa82946d7.jpg
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Here is a pic of the grommet mod.

GrommetMod_zps4eb01c2b.jpg
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First time posting pics, so hope this worked OK.
 
I have found that no two cooks are the same. Some you may have all the vents closed down to a quarter, some 2 might be closed and one fully open. I think there are too many variables to set them the same and expect the same temp.

Also, if your temp drops and you have the need to get it up quicker and higher, just open the door for a short time and it will come up very fast. Then close it and adjust the vents accordingly
 
Thanks Rick, and I agree that each cook is different given all of the variables. Once I adjusted to the conditions, the cook went just fine. I guess it is obvious that if you improve the seals (especially around the door) that you will necessarily have to open the vents a bit more, all other things being equal.

Thanks for the tip on the door. I should have tried that before adding more KBB to the bullet.

I promised a pic of the finished product, so here it is.

PulledPork1_zpsbbb62c40.jpg
 
I have Nomex and I really like it. I also added a second vent to the dome which works very well for getting your temps up. One thing you can't control though is wind.
 
Thinking about adding an extra vent to the dome and the Nomex gasket. I would appreciate seeing some pics of the mods that anyone may have done. Thanks in advance.
 
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