Running hot with sand

[Guest]

I am doing an MM cook with sand. Started with all vents about 20%, temps were slow to rise so I opened all bottom vents to 33%. At 230 I closed all bottom vents down to 15% open and the temps continued to rise thru the 260's. They stayed in 260's for about three hours.

Am I rushing too fast to get temps up? Once the temps are up they do not seem to come down.
It is 37-40 degrees little wind.
Thanks for your help.
Steve

 

[Paul G.]

After many, many years of cooking with water in my WSM I tried sand last night and can give you some beginner thoughts. Within 30" of putting the meat on I was up to 260. With water this had often taken an hour or more. I think sand gets hotter and gets hotter faster. I had to be more careful in controlling the temp on the way up than I was accustomed to. If I were you I would probably pull it down a little and try to get it stable. I did like the sand though. I didn't realize how much trouble the water had been till I used the sand and really had no clean-up. I'm still not comfortable with it but I'm going to keep trying.

Now an aside. I used a BBQ cooking sauce called carolina treet (www.carolinatreet.com) which I got while in Hillsborough, NC. I sauced the two butts before putting them on and then used my apple spray during the cook. It did add an interesting touch of flavor and it might be worth a try .

Paul

 

[Bruce Bissonnette]

Steve,

I've been using sand for over 6 months now with the MM whenever I have a cook of 6 hours or longer.

What I do, is after assembling the cooker, I keep the bottom vents 100% open until the temp at the lid reaches 200 degrees.

At this point I start closing down the vents. I go to all at 25% until my lid temp hits 230, then I close two bottom vents completely leaving one vent (usually the one opposite the wind direction) open about 25-50%. I play with that vent until my lid temp stabilizes at 250, then I don't touch it unless temps start coming down, which is rare.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Doug and Bruce. I will have to back the vents down sooner and more. I have had all vents closed for 5 hours. In the last hour the temps have dropped to 238" make that 237" and the boneless shoulder is at 166"

I will have to try the Carolina Treet.

 

[John L]

I concur with what Bruce said exactly. Using the MM and sand, let the fire get going to around 200 then start shutting down vents, then one vent will control the WSM till you are almost done. Sand works great for an allniter, no messing with water.

That said, I've had better luck with sand in cooler temps than in warmer. This summer I will probably switch back to water when it gets real hot out.