Smoker too hot


 
B

Bill Greenberg

New member
I used about one half bag of Kingsford and was having no problem with the temperature for about 4 hours smoking two boneless pork shoulders totaling about 11 pounds. The top vents on my WSM 22 were fully open and I had earlier and gradually closed all three bottom vents about 3/4 of the way. When the temp starting climbing above 250, and rather quickly I closed one vent. The temperature rose so fast and beyond 300 degrees. The water pan was full. I read the Troubleshooting section re the smoker being too hot and can only surmise there was too much fuel. Any thoughts on control of the vents to prevent this from happening or curing the problem if it arises again. I was afraid to close vents completely for fear of extinguishing the fire.

Thanks
 
If you are warried about too much lit fuel, IMO it all depends on the 3 bottom vents. You leave them open and progressly you closed them.but too late. I usually leave just one bottom vent from the beginning and O regolate this one first. If not sufficient, i start closing the top vent partially. The upper vent causes a great T influence.
 
Did you go from full shade to full sun? That can cause a big spike if not careful. You can close the top vent briefly to control temp spikes but keep an eye on your therm.
Personally I do all my butts and picnics @ 300deg measured at the top vent with a turkey fryer therm and they always come off perfect.( milk the start at the beginning and let the WSM slowly come up to 300)

Tim
 
Bill Greenberg said:
I was afraid to close vents completely for fear of extinguishing the fire.
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If you were afraid to close the bottom vents completely, don't be. Close them until the temp starts coming down. My guess is that you just needed to close the vents more. When I'm cooking at my typical 275ish degrees, I only have one vent open and it's only open about half way. It doesn't take a lot to keep the temp in the BBQ range.

I would not cut down on the fuel in the WSM. Load that ring up so you don't have to refuel. The fire is controlled by the amount of air. I would also look into cooking without water, but that's another matter.
 
You say you were not having temp problems the first 4 hours in the cook. Were you constantly having to adjust the vents those 4 hours?

You used a half bag of charcoal? How did you start the charcoal? Did you light the whole half bag then dump them in the WSM?
 
Bob Ivey said:
Was the charcoal fully lit from the beginning or did you use the minion method?
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This was what I was going to ask. But Bill says he had no problems for the first 4 hrs, so I'm guessing he wasn't using a half bag of fully lit, otherwise it would have gone into orbit quickly. I think.

Bill, is your smoker new? Mine ran hot till I got it gunked up. Just a thought. As Jerry says, don't be afraid to close the vents to bring the temps down.
 
I'm with Jerry. Running at 275* for me is usually top vent wide open, two bottom vents completely closed, third bottom vent open anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 depending on the external temperature.
 
I'd almost completely close bottom vents and then close the top to about 2/3 to get the temp to drop back down. You might have to open the top vent back up once your temp stablizes. I've made the mistake a couple of times while in a hurry of accidently not putting the lid on right and then finding an immediate giant spike in temp. One of the downsides of a vertical smoker is that once you get a hot temp, it can take a while to recover. Don't be afraid to turn your vents all the way down. There is still air getting in. Don't be afraid to adjust the top down to as much as 1/2 closed. I wouldn't go beyond that.
 
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