Set it and forget it, a brother's got to sleep


 
B

Bryan West

New member
Okay friends, I have had a an 18" WSM for a dozen years and I routinely would use the Minion method to bring the temp up to around 235 at 11PM and I'd smoke all night long and it would be at 235 the next morning. I could dial in the temp like I was setting an oven. I always ran the 18" with water in the pan. So I've "upgraded" (I think) to the 22" WSM and the fire properties are much different. I have had some difficulty getting to 250 (I am trying to go a little hotter) any way I have been running hot water in the pan and in addition to taking more fuel to get to 250 I have to refill the water pan after it empties out because obviously I get a big temp spike when that heat sync is gone. Additionally I can't run the long burn times that I was used to with the 18" WSM.
So my small brain tells me I should run the 22" without water in the pan, smaller fire, dial it in with the bottom vents nearly closed or closed maybe, and then I can get the longer cook times I need plus if there never was any water why would it spike?
I ask you gentle reader, am I right in my reasoning that no water in the pan will allow me to go back to the glory days of set it and forget it?
Furthermore, I don't think that steam had been helping my briskets in anyway I think briskets will taste better without it??

Gracias in advance

Brown
 
Welcome Bryan. I have only had my 18 WSM for 3 years, unlike your 12, but I have only used water on one or two of the first couple of cooks. Since then it has been lump with a dry foiled pan, and everything works fine. All the advice that I can give you is to give it a try, the food willl still turn out fine, and you will be that much wiser.
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I don't have a 22, but the process you describe is how I run my 18 and it's as close to set it and forget it as you describe with your 18 using water. I'm not sure that the 22 will operate the same, but I think your plan is certainly worth a try. The main thing I think you'll have to ensure is that it's out of the wind. With no water, the wind will really cause the temps to go crazy.
 
I haven't used water since the piedmont pan surfaced however many years ago. Later I built my own 22" smoker based off a weber kettle. I found the plans here called the magnum. I used the same configuration of double pans spaced out. Later I took out the second pan and used a clay saucer in the pan and liked it better. I found I used less fuel using the piedmont pan and still had the same control. You have to jump on the temp earlier than you do with water.

There are so many advantages to not using water. You don't get the mold growing on the inside of the smoker if you forget to dump the water pan within a day or two of the smoke. You don't have to worry about running out of water and spiking the temp. I foil the top pan or clay saucer and remove to clean up.
 
Can't help ya, since I don't own a 22" wsm, and personally, I have more confidence sleeping with water in the pan. If I had a 22" though, I'd probably only rarely use it for long cooks for reasons you mentioned.

It would be great to have one for large rib and chicken cooks though, and I'd practice a good bit on those cooks with no water before I tried a overnighter. I'd be sure to cook enough meat as well, as that will be your main heat sink. For instance, I wouldn't fire up the big wsm for a solitary 14 lb. brisket just 'cause it fits on the grate better. Of course, that might be stating the obvious, but I've heard folks say they wanted a big wsm for big briskets.
 
first attempt at using a wsm 22 today temps hoovering around 30 outside a bag of k blue label and 2 pieces of maple 3"dia X6"long the minon meth temp still around 235 for the last three hours all three bottom vents about 1/2 closed top open full I will follow up with final details
 
I have had my 22 wsm less than a year, got it for my first father's day last summer, about the 3rd time i used it was for forth of july overnight packer brisket, started it 10:00 baby sat it with company until 3 am, didn't need any adjustment, filled the water pan went to bed temp 275* vents closed, temp 250* at 8 when i got up added some k and put the chickens 10:30 all meat off at 2:30 only added fuel the one time had to open vents more during the morning, plenty of fuel left at end of cook
 
My first couple of smokes in my new 18"WSM had temp spikes and was hard to set, but after the 3rd cook I think the previous cooks had sealed up all the leaks. It went great after that. Maybe that helps if you've only used it acouple times.
 
I just smoked a butt last night in my 22. Put it on around 1045, had the smoker at ~215 by 11. Kept an eye on it til around 1 then went to bed. Woke up at 4 and it was still chugging right along where I wanted. When I woke up around 7 this morning the temp had went down to around 200 so I knocked the ashes off and finished the cook around 1 this afternoon. Smoker just now started cooling down, so I figure I could do 12-14 hours on a load of Kingsford no problem.
 
This weekend I went 19 hours at 260-285 on a 23 lb bag of blue bag K, with 1/2 of chimney of stubbs to start the MM. Very little adjustments had to be made. Most of the time I was right at 275.

Foiled pan, no water. A little windy to start the cook, but it calmed down.

I added the K a to the ring a little bit at a time and packed it down. Then added more and so on.
 
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