Smaller charcoal chamber in WSM 22" for lower temps?

[Ellis Batson]

I rewarded myself with a new WSM 22" a few months ago. It has performed great for cooking large hunks of various meat at steady 225-240 degree temps.
There have been some things (like a Canadian bacon recipe or slow-smoked salmon and others) that I want to cook at about 170-180 degrees or so. I haven't been able to manage it. When I put in less charcoal it spreads out at the bottom and the fire even goes out if I'm not constantly fiddling with it.

It seems sorta logical that buying a 14" or 18" charcoal ring might help by keeping the fire steady but at lower temps in the 22" smoker.
Any ideas about that?

(Any other ideas about smoking at a lower temp are welcome, too.)

 

[Jim C in Denver]

You could try a couple of bricks or some char baskets to keep the coal pile together. Or lay out a charcoal snake.

But for that low a temperature, you might have better luck with sawdust or pellets in a tube or maze.

 

[EricV.]

I use a combination of the fuse/snake method along with an ATC to keep temps between 150-180 when smoking sausage in my WSM 20.

 

[MartinB]

Amount of charcoal is not how you control the temperature.... Necessarily. That really is mostly how long it burns. You control the temperature by limiting the air and limiting the rate of burn. But that also has a lot to do with how much coal's you light, does that fire try to grow or does it get smaller and go out etc.

For lower temperature is you should try the snake method around the charcoal basket. Or, splurge on a temperature controller and blower /damper. It's easy with the temp controller. I can run my 18 at whatever temperature I want it to be and I don't do anything goofy with the charcoal. I filll the charcoal ring up, I dump lit coals on top and spread them out evenly and I set the temperature and I forget about it. The heater meter does the rest. I go as low as 130-150 making bacon to prolong the smoke