Smoking in the Sunlight Temp Issues?


 
B

Brian Johnson

TVWBB Pro
So I've started my 3rd cook on my WSM. Meat has been on for about 1.5 hours, doing two boneless pork shoulders from Costco, about 12.6 lbs total before trimming them down. Anyway it's about 75F ambient at the moment and my smoker temp keeps wanting to trend up. Last I checked, about 5 minutes ago, it was holding steady at about 250F (dome temp measured with included thermometer), but I'm not seeing any smoke whatsoever and am concerned that the water pan (which is full to help control temps) and the sun are the only thing maintaining the temperature inside. If I were a few more hours into the cook I wouldn't be as worried...

Well lost my train of thought somebody rang the doorbell sending the dog into a fit but I digress... Oh yeah, I remember where I was going now.

I don't really have a way of shading my smoker from the sun because of how my lot is laid out, so I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions for keeping the temp down on sunny days?

-Brian

EDIT: I should point out that I'm not so much worried about the temp on this cook (as long as they stay below 300F) since pork butts are pretty forgiving, but I am concerned about a lack of smoke during the first few hours of the process, or a potentially bitter taste because the fire went out and the smoke wood wasn't smoking efficiently.
 
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Don't worry about seeing smoke. How many chunks of wood did you use and what type of wood?
 
I used 4 fist sized chunks of hickory and maybe 1/3 handful of apple chips (it was the last bit in the bag and I still need to find a good source for smoke wood).
 
I think you will be fine. I smoke on the sunlight all the time just control your temps with the bottom vents.
 
You're probably right. I made a few adjustments to the vents, closed one down to about 1/3 open and the other two are about half open. Then walked away to do something else. Last I checked the dome temp was a little under 250F (and ambient of 80F).

Like I said before I'm not too terribly worried for this particular cook, but it is just the beginning of the summer and it's only going to get hotter. I guess I am just a little paranoid about trying something less forgiving like a brisket later on in the summer and screwing it up by trying to cook it on a sunny day.
 
I like to keep me and my Webys comfortable in the hot sun, so I use a cheap umbrella.

Tim
 
With all due respect sir, just relax. Your smoker is at 250F and meat is cooking.............awesome.
Forget about the wood chips and use only wood chunks right on top of the hot coals and you will
get some great smoke.
Great sourse of wood is Fruitawoodchunks.com
Hope this helps.

Peter
 
Hey Brian just did my second cook yesterday, and as the sun came over the house i got worried about the same. had to adjust the vents a little but but it wasn't till a while after it got in the sun, so i'm not sure if it was the sun or just time to adjust the vents anyway. i would say make your adjustments as needed , don't worry, and keep smoking!
 
PeterZ said:
With all due respect sir, just relax. Your smoker is at 250F and meat is cooking.............awesome.
Forget about the wood chips and use only wood chunks right on top of the hot coals and you will
get some great smoke.
Great sourse of wood is Fruitawoodchunks.com
Hope this helps.

Peter
Click to expand...

As far as smoke wood goes, the only reason I've used chips is to get rid of them. Maybe 2 or 3 years ago I bought Weber’s Charcoal Grilling: The Art of Cooking With Live Fire™ cookbook and several of the recipes call for chips when adding smoke wood to a kettle. Since that's how I got started, I just went ahead and bought chips. Now that I've got my WSM, I doubt I'll by chips again... unless I need smoke wood and that's my only option.

Thanks for the link though, I've been looking for a good source.
 
justin.williams said:
Hey Brian just did my second cook yesterday, and as the sun came over the house i got worried about the same. . .
Click to expand...

Glad to hear I'm not the only one who has had this worry early on in their smoking journey. haha

Yeah, after I started this thread and got a response or two I felt a little silly. Once I got distracted by other things and stopped worrying about my dome temps I noticed that they had in fact stabilized at 250F after they'd gotten up to about 275F and I adjusted vents. So that made feel a little better.

Bottom line, I don't think I'm totally comfortable with temp control yet. Which I guess is to be expected since it's only my third cook. Suppose it just means I need more practice before attempting a brisket
 
The only thing you should notice with the cooker in the sun is that it will be more fuel efficient and you may have to shut down the bottom vents a little more. Once the meat gets 140 or so the cooker should settle into its range and stay there.
 
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