Hey guys,
I haven't been on here in a while! I recently bought the smallest WSM so I came here looking for some tips and experiences. Turns out, there isn't a whole lot of posts involving the 14"er yet.
I did my first cook on it Sunday, a 9.5lb pork shoulder that was probably closer to 8.5lbs after trimming. I did a fit-check with the meat still in the cryovac, it fit easily on the top or bottom grate with plenty of space for air flow around the edges.
After trimming, I applied the dry rub and allowed it to marinate overnight. At about 7:30pm, I took the meat out of the fridge and loaded Stubb's briquettes into the charcoal ring. I read that people were having a hard time getting more than 6 hours of cook time out of there 14"er, so I filled the charcoal ring up as much as I could! I then made a slight crater to add lit briquettes to.
I then heated water for the water pan and lit 20 briquettes in the chimney. When the lit briquettes ashed over, I added them to the charcoal ring and filled the water pan with near boiling water. I added my smoking wood; a combination of apple, pecan and hickory. Then I assembled the smoker and OOPS...
First lesson learned: The water pan sits very close to the charcoal ring. When I went to assemble the smoker, my stack of charcoal and wood was too high and made contact with the water pan. This caused the water pan to lift about 3 inches and tilt slightly, spilling some of the water; I'm not sure how much water fell onto the coals, but it did sizzle slightly. I didn't correct it and left the water pan in contact with the wood.
It was about 8:00pm when I assembled the smoker and I put the meat on the top grate at that time; all vents at 100% open btw. I use a maverick ET-732 to monitor my meat and cooker temps, so I plugged those probes in and set my alarm points to <200F >250F for the smoker temp and >190F for the meat temp. For the first hour and a half to two hours the smoker was having a hard time getting above 180F. I basted the meat once during that time with a 50/50 apple juice and vinegar mix. Then after 2 hours the temp kept climbing and climbing! I didn't baste the meat anymore because I was worried about the temp increasing from the lid being open. When the smoker temp got to 225F, I closed the bottom vents to 50%. When it got to 250F, I closed the bottom vents to 25%. When it got to 275F, I closed the bottom vents completely. It's about midnight now and I'm getting tired. The temp inside the smoker is hovering at 278F so I say to heck with it and go to bed. My maverick alarms at 6:45am, the meat has reached 190F! Smoker was at 253F.
I removed the meat from the smoker, wrapped in two layers of foil and stuck it in a small ice chest. I peaked in the door of the smoker and it looked like there was at least a pound of coal left! So I closed the top vent of the smoker to try and smother the coals.
It's 11:00am when I pull the pork, it's tender and juicy, just how I like it! The bark isn't as dark as I'm used to getting but that could be due to the lack of basting, or shorter cook time due to the high temp. I checked the temp of the smoker and at 11:00am, it's at 140F; I'm guessing my attempt to smother the remaining coals was unsuccessful. My 22" WSM isn't air tight enough to smother coals and it seems this one isn't either. Next time I'll just use less fuel.
In summary, I learned that this little guy can go the distance! It went 11 hours on the initial fuel load, with fuel to spare. I also learned that you shouldn't stack the fuel much above the top of the ring or you'll knock your water pan, and that you can't smother the remaining fuel. It was a great learning experience for me on a new unit and I hope you all can benefit from my sharing of it
I haven't been on here in a while! I recently bought the smallest WSM so I came here looking for some tips and experiences. Turns out, there isn't a whole lot of posts involving the 14"er yet.
I did my first cook on it Sunday, a 9.5lb pork shoulder that was probably closer to 8.5lbs after trimming. I did a fit-check with the meat still in the cryovac, it fit easily on the top or bottom grate with plenty of space for air flow around the edges.
After trimming, I applied the dry rub and allowed it to marinate overnight. At about 7:30pm, I took the meat out of the fridge and loaded Stubb's briquettes into the charcoal ring. I read that people were having a hard time getting more than 6 hours of cook time out of there 14"er, so I filled the charcoal ring up as much as I could! I then made a slight crater to add lit briquettes to.
I then heated water for the water pan and lit 20 briquettes in the chimney. When the lit briquettes ashed over, I added them to the charcoal ring and filled the water pan with near boiling water. I added my smoking wood; a combination of apple, pecan and hickory. Then I assembled the smoker and OOPS...
First lesson learned: The water pan sits very close to the charcoal ring. When I went to assemble the smoker, my stack of charcoal and wood was too high and made contact with the water pan. This caused the water pan to lift about 3 inches and tilt slightly, spilling some of the water; I'm not sure how much water fell onto the coals, but it did sizzle slightly. I didn't correct it and left the water pan in contact with the wood.
It was about 8:00pm when I assembled the smoker and I put the meat on the top grate at that time; all vents at 100% open btw. I use a maverick ET-732 to monitor my meat and cooker temps, so I plugged those probes in and set my alarm points to <200F >250F for the smoker temp and >190F for the meat temp. For the first hour and a half to two hours the smoker was having a hard time getting above 180F. I basted the meat once during that time with a 50/50 apple juice and vinegar mix. Then after 2 hours the temp kept climbing and climbing! I didn't baste the meat anymore because I was worried about the temp increasing from the lid being open. When the smoker temp got to 225F, I closed the bottom vents to 50%. When it got to 250F, I closed the bottom vents to 25%. When it got to 275F, I closed the bottom vents completely. It's about midnight now and I'm getting tired. The temp inside the smoker is hovering at 278F so I say to heck with it and go to bed. My maverick alarms at 6:45am, the meat has reached 190F! Smoker was at 253F.
I removed the meat from the smoker, wrapped in two layers of foil and stuck it in a small ice chest. I peaked in the door of the smoker and it looked like there was at least a pound of coal left! So I closed the top vent of the smoker to try and smother the coals.
It's 11:00am when I pull the pork, it's tender and juicy, just how I like it! The bark isn't as dark as I'm used to getting but that could be due to the lack of basting, or shorter cook time due to the high temp. I checked the temp of the smoker and at 11:00am, it's at 140F; I'm guessing my attempt to smother the remaining coals was unsuccessful. My 22" WSM isn't air tight enough to smother coals and it seems this one isn't either. Next time I'll just use less fuel.
In summary, I learned that this little guy can go the distance! It went 11 hours on the initial fuel load, with fuel to spare. I also learned that you shouldn't stack the fuel much above the top of the ring or you'll knock your water pan, and that you can't smother the remaining fuel. It was a great learning experience for me on a new unit and I hope you all can benefit from my sharing of it
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