Raising temperature


 
E

Erik V

New member
I bought my 22.5 WSM at the beginning of the summer and have used it about 8 times. The problem that I am having is raising the temp. When I first start my smoke, it takes forever to raise the temp to about 250. I use a full chimney of Kingsford Competition briquettes and place about 60 briquettes in the WSM. I use the Minion Method and keep all four vents open to the max. Even during the middle of the smoke I get to 250 tops. I never open the top until it's about done and the environment temp is always around 80. I am using the stock thermometer but I doubt it is off by 50 degrees.

Can anybody give me any pointers?
 
I use the stock pan. Everything about it is stock. The pan has water straight out of the hose. My guess is the water is prob about 60 degrees.
 
Always use a 3/4-full ring of unlit and then add 12-20 lit. Also use hot tap water to start or use a dry foiled pan.
 
Thank you. I'll try that this weekend. I am doing a 10 hour cook this weekend and didn't want to extend the time due to temp issues.
 
How full is your ring with 60 briqs? I have an 18" and have never counted so I can't picture it.
How hot does your chimney fuel get before you add (partially grey or full on hot red/grey)?
Not to be funny, but is everything assembled properly?
It seems that you shouldn't be having this issue. Just the opposite actually starting with a full chimney of lit. That should get hot fast even with a full bowl of cool water.
 
The Minion method, as I'm sure you know, involves topping a load of unlit with a small amount of lit. 60 unlit, if I am reading your post correctly, covered by a full chimney of lit, or about 100 lit, isn't the Minion method. Not enough unlit, and too much lit. Your 60 are buring up quickly and in total, there's not enough fuel in your cooker to generate the lasting heat you are looking for. In other words, see Glenn's post above
 
No offense taken. I said 60 as an estimate but it was a poor estimate. The ring is about 3/4 full. The chimney is to the point where they are partially grey on top and fully grey/red on the bottom. I usually have it going for about 20 minutes. And yes, it is assembled correctly. I agree I shouldn't be having this issue so I'm trying to fix it

Thanks for the replies, guys.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Erik V:
I am using the stock thermometer but I doubt it is off by 50 degrees.
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I don't know about that. I don't have the 22, but I've heard some weird things about the installed therms. Ever double check with another thermo?
 
Dave - You would know better than me but wouldn't a full, hot chimney over even half a ring at least give an initial heat spike over 250F before burning out or would the water eat this "starter heat" up before coming to temp?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by James Harvey:
Dave - You would know better than me

That's very testy.
icon_smile.gif


but wouldn't a full, hot chimney over even half a ring at least give an initial heat spike over 250F before burning out </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I would think so, but I have no experience with the 22.
 
Hello Erik, A full ring in the 22.5 is 21.6 lbs.
http://www.youtube.com/virtual...rb#p/u/6/nzWqsih7gu8
This is the amount I use for a MM start. I add 40 lit on top. Close it up with the top vent always at 100% opened and bottom three vents 100% opened. No water, just a couple of foiled wrapped fire bricks in the foiled lined pan. When the temperature hits 200,(10-15 min) I close all three bottom vents to about 25% which usually gets me to my desired temp (225) in about 5-10 minutes. I now add my butts and after a little spike, my temps usually settles to between 225-250. I usually end up with my vents opened at about 20% & the unit chugging away at 225-235 before I hit the sack. When I awake, 8 hrs later. The unit is usually between 215-225. I give the the WSM legs a little tap with my foot to knock some of the ash build-up to expose the hot coals this will increase the temps a tad. A full ring will keep me going for about 11-13 hours at 225. I will add more coals if I want to extend the cooking longer. This is the way I do it. Others may have other tecniques.

My 22.5 has a very good seal because I have been smoking with it without cleaning the insides since 2009. I just wipe off the flaky parts. A newer unit may burn hotter and faster at the beginning.

Hope this helps Erik
 
Erik like Dave/G mentioned check your built in thermo with another. A $6-7 thermo similar to this picked up @ lowes or HD clipped into the top vent will get you consistent and accurate readings every-time.
Compare the 2 and see if you get the same readings..

Edit...
Erik if you check out this post i put up in May, it seems we both used about the same amount of lit-unlit albeit on two different sized WSM's.You'll notice that my built in Tel-Tru was running 100deg cooler than my turkey fryer therm stuck into the top vent.Even at the end it was still about 50deg cooler than the one @ the vent.

HTH

Tim
 
Just a guess but:

Even putting that much lit over unlit, you've still got a lot of cold air between the coals and the thermometer that needs to be moved/heated.

That might be why it's slow to rise?
 
Just a suggestion....Take the guesswork out and get yourself a Maverick ET-732. Not cheap, but worth it for the peace of mind.
 
A couple of things:

1) If you're using Kingsford, that much heated completely to grey will put a lot of ash on top of your unlit which may be suffocating your fire from the beginning. (Not saying this will always happen, but it is a fairly high probability -- has happened to me.) I'd go with about a 1/2 chimney heated until the top briquettes start to get a good grey around the edges. Spread that on top of your unlit, open the top vent completely and the lower vents about 1/2 each. This will drive a breeze through the coals ("blow on the fire").

I seldom open the bottom vents completely and it doesn't seem to generate more heat unless the coals are already very hot.

2) I highly recommend the access door mod here: http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/accessdoor.html . There is nothing that I've done that is better to helping to control (both raise and lower) temps than this mod. You can find a number of threads discussing this topic here at TVWB.

Rich
 
I was referring to item #2. I thought Weber had resolved the problem with the door latch starting witht the 2009 models. Sorry. I'll re-read your solution.
 
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