Question from my first cook


 
B

Bill Gailey

New member
I recently sold my Lang 60 smoker and replaced it with a 22.5 WSM and did my first smoke on Sunday. Two pork butts, full ring of Kingsford coals, used the Minion method with a half chimney of lit coals to start. Used 4 fist sized hickory chunks buried in the coal for smoke. Came up to temp within the first 20 minutes. I filled the water pan full (3 gallons) according to directions with the cooker. Did not have to add any water. Temp stayed at 225-250 all day except for a periodic spike to 300 which I attributed to the hardwood chunk periodically catching fire. Foiled the btts at 160 and continued to 190 in about 8 hours. Pulled off smoker. placed in holding pan with towel wrapped for about 2 hours before pulling. Meat was perfectly smoked, good smoke ring and bark and very moist.

Nothing but great satisfaction until after the smoke. For most of the smoke I had the bottom dampers almost completely closed and the top damper about 50% closed. I closed all dampers after taking the meat off at 3pm. My problem is the the cooker was still at 150 degrees the next morning. It took nearly 24 hours to cool down to clean and cover.

I don't understand why the cooker didn't choke out the fire once the dampers were closed. I also have a Performer I have had for years and when you close the damper on it the fire is out and the cooker is cold in less than 2 hours. Do the little tabs on the damper that keeps them from completely closing really allow that much air in? The door didn't leak nearly as much as I had expected from reading the forum although I am sure it lets air into the cooker.

If this is normal for the fire to die out how in the world do you use one of these at a comp and ever get to pack up and go home? Do i need to clip[ off the tabs on the dampers? My performer doesn't have the tab so you can close both dampers completely.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.
 
Bill,Good morning, I wouldn't cut the tabs off. The only reasonable answer is that there is air getting in even tho all vents are closed. If all sections are in round and door is well fitting, and vents are working, then I would suspect that after a couple more smokes your cooker will develop enough residual gunk at the interface of all the parts and a good seal will develop. After a few smokes I have to pull hard to get the hood off the mid section due to the naturally sealing effect of the smoke/oil inside the smoker. Be patient. You could try foil as a gasket in the meantime if you just can't wait.
Mark
 
Welcome to the forum, Bill.

There's a lot more air in a WSM than a Performer, so it takes longer to cool. My WSM takes much longer than my kettle. Like Mark said, make sure all sections are round and the door fits well. If you search this site, you'll find that 22.5s have a tendency to leak air and run hot for the first few smokes. Even my 18.5 took forever to cool until I used it a few times.
 
Thanks for the info. I am usually quite short on patience except for the 12-14 hours it takes to cook low and slow...maybe it's the fact that it is a good excuse to consume some "adult beverages" while the meat is cooking. Once I eat I just want to get done, clean up and start thinking about the next smoke.

Actually there has been very little smoke leakage with this cooker. I was expecting a lot more. The door is the main culprit but planned on giving it some time to "cure itself" with gentle persuasions and then I am going to buy one of the SS doors from Cajun Bandit.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">bottom dampers almost completely closed and the top damper about 50% closed </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
That's the problem. If the top vent is slightly open it can create a chimney effect, sucking in air from the "almost completely closed" bottom vents, keeping the fire alive.
I completely close all vents post-smoke and the WSM is usually cool to the touch after 3 hours. I wait 24 hours before putting the cover on. Good luck.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I closed all dampers after taking the meat off at 3pm. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Gary, note that he did close all the dampers.
 
Just finished my second smoke. 1 whole chicken and 10 large chicken thighs. Had a little bit of rain off and on and temps in the upper 60's. Didn't fill the bottom with charcoal like in the first smoke. Temps took awhile to come up to 200 even though the cooker was out of the rain. Most of the cook was with the top damper completely open and 2 of the bottom dampers about 75% open and one completely closed. Temp settled in at 225 after about 2 hours of being at 200. Chicken hit 181 at 5 hours of cooking. The breast meat in the whole chicken was the most moist I have ever cooked. The thighs were magnificent! Had very little smoke escaping this time. I shut all the dampers at 4:00 pm today and it is sitting at 150 nearly 3 hours later. I hope it comes on down before going to bed tonight.

I can honestly say that I am not missing the Lang at all.....
 
My understanding is that the 22" model has a 3 gallon water pan? I don't know how much water is left after a 5 hour cook but there could be a whole lot of thermal mass there holding temp. The cooker might be warm from that even if the coals are going out. How much coal was left in the morning?

Generic advise would be tweak the door, look at the bottom of the center section and see if its fairly round, and wait til you get a nice layer of grease built up internally before worrying too much.
 
I only have 5 cooks on my WSM 22 BUT I will say ti cooks better and cools faster every cook ! after the last cook a brisket and 2 butts I tried to lift the lid and bottom sections off and they are sealed tight did a little twweaking with the door after the first cook and cured the door thing . Iam NOT a patient person at all except when cooking like you
wsmsmile8gm.gif


Give it a littel time and a few good grease cooks and it a be fine IMHO . I got a badge of honor on ine the last cook got a BIG ol grese drip running down my temp gauge in the lid but it sealed up and looks to of stoped . Enjoy I love mine . These WSM's are almost idiot proof I prove it evertime I have cooked
icon_biggrin.gif
 
On my first cook I did put 3 gallons of water in and most of it was still there after the cook. On the second cook I only used 1 gallon and still had at least half or more after the 5 hour cook. On the second cook I used less charcoal. The grease is building up and the midsection was difficult to lift off when I was putting the lit charcoal in before loading the meat.

It seems that most of the problems tend to disappear after 4-5 cooks so I only have a couple more weeks of frustration. I am going to do ribs on it this weekend and probably a brisket the following week. By brisket week it should be pretty much settled in and with that long a cook it will be interesting to see how long I can maintain the temp instead of how quick it goes out.

Thanks for all the suggestions....maybe the first thing Weber should say in the manual is prior to beginning assembly procur a very large dose of patience and thoroughly coat yourself with it....I guess it could be called the "Patience Rub"!
 
I see your out in Milford ! Iam Downriver area ! were pose to get rain all weekend 40% chance so it a rain but how much who knows just thought you would wana know ! I wana do a brisket this week end but I am going to do it Thursday night Friday so as to miss the rain . Good luck .
wsmsmile8gm.gif


I just did a brisket on the holiday but my son inlaw either ate it or took most of home
icon_rolleyes.gif
so I need me one now got a 12 lb packer from Wallyworld .
 
Guess I will be moving the cooker under the edge of the garage for the cook. Can't let a little rain stop the cooking. If the rain isn't going to have too much wind I will just put up the E-Z-Up and leave the cooker on the patio pad. Got to get time this summer to build the "Q-Shed" over my cookers! Got a nice 12x18 concrete pad just off the deck for creating the whole smoke kitchen concept.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top