some general questions


 
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Rick Moore

TVWBB Super Fan
After reading about the long smokes on here - in the 15 - 18 hour range (mine have usually been around 10 hours to get shoulders to 175 - but I'm going to do butts this weekend and shoot for the upper 180's to 190) - do you have to add charcoal during the smoke? If so, do you place them through the door or pick up the top half of the WSM to add coals? Through the door seems tedious, but lifting the top half you risk dumping water, putting out the coals that are in there - and I assume steam burns... Plus that top half is heavy with water and meat and there aren't any handles - just the ring around the top to grab on to.

Also - when you are finished smoking, do you shut the vents to put the fire out or open all the way and let it burn out? I have always opened her up and let it go to turn everything to ash - but saw in another thread this am that some may shut her down and reuse the remaining wood/charcoal in the next smoke.

Thanks again for the help! Sorry for all the questions this am - I guess they have been building up over my first year with the WSM!!! Glad I finally found this place! And of course, some of the threads bring up more questions...oh the vicious cycle...
 
Rick, on the occasion that I needed to get inside, I lifted the section. Heavy and awkward, but it works. Do it carefully and you won't have any spills.

I always close the vents and snuff the fire. I don't reuse the coals, but I'm interested in putting the thing up, not letting it perk for a few more hours.
 
Rick, I would take your own advice in the last two sentences of your first paragraph. It would only take about 3 seconds to turn a nice BBQ into a trip to the emergency room. A piece of sheet metal cut and bent to form a chute would make adding coals thru the door a simple matter. Wear gloves.

Regarding charcoal, I close the vents to put it out, and make a judgment call the next day as to whether it's worth re-using. Lots of small pieces mixed in with fresh briquets seem to affect air flow thru the bed, plus they don't burn as evenly as all fresh.
 
I add charcoal to my WSM with tongs through the access door. I usually have to add more coals after about 10 hours for overnight cooks. It's kind of a pain, but I've gotten pretty good at it.
I also use welding gloves whenever doing this.

Jeff
 
Rick-

Cook two butts next time and take one to 190? internal, and let the other go to 202?. See which one you like better.....

I have never had a cook go long enough that I needed to add coals. However, if I did.....first, you'd have to check and make sure that there's enough left in the bowl to ignite the new charcoal, if so, I'd pop the new stuff through the door (your choice if you want to toss 'em in cold, or fire 'em up in a chimney first.)

If there's not enough charcoal remaining in the bowl to get anything new lit, then I'd fill a chimney, get it nicely lit, and add that through the door. You might get a spike in temp, but you should be able to control that w/the vents.

Also, you can look in the modification sections on this board to see how some folks have gone about adding handles to the center section. If I were planning to move a full center section with any frequency, I would add handles to mine.

HTH,
Rich G.
 
Welcome Rick.
I always shut down my WSM after a cook. And I do reuse the leftovers. I start out with my chimney about a third full and add the smaller unburned pcs to about the 1/2 way mark and finish with fresh. Seems to help get it going.
Dump the fully lit on the grate and add the rest, topping off with new. The reused pcs have a smaller footprint and help to get things going.
Example: You have 1 lit coal touching another unlit brick. That's only one point of contact. If you have 3 smaller pcs touching a new one, that's 3 points of contact. I would'nt do this with the Minion method however.
IMHO
 
Rick, I shut my vents and smother fire out. I do re-use some of the charcoal. I made me a "charcoal reclamation unit" or as we call it here in the south, a sive or sane...lol. A pine 1 by 4 by 8 cut in 4 equal lentghts to make a square frame, and a piece of hardware cloth nailed or stapled to the bottom of the frame. Empty ash and leftover coals in it and whatever dont fall thru gets reused. Leftover ashes are good to put around those tomato plants next spring! /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

I bought a small fireplace shovel to add coals thru WSM door. It works pretty well, just have to be careful not to stir up a ash cloud!! /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif
 
Rick,
I smoked a butt last weekend (7.8lb boneless). It reached 193 degree internal temp about 13 and a half hours into the cook. I did not add any coals to the WSM.
I have added handles to the middle section (super easy). About 11 hours into the cook, I removed the mid section and gave my coals a good stir to clear out the ashes. In less than 10 minutes it was hitting 255 at the lid.
I only had one butt on and the water pan was less than half full when I removed the middle section. Worked well for me.
Instead of shutting everything down after pulling the butt, I took off the mid section, added about a half a ring of unlit coals, a few chunks of wood, got it all going good and threw on three racks of ribs. Keep on cookin'!!!

Wayne
 
Hi Rick,

I have cooked up to 15 hours on a single load of charcoal. Other times I hae had to add. The last time I fired 1/2 a chimney then added the charcoal using a tongs. That easily got me throught the last few hours and only took a few minutes, even though it was one lit coal at a time.

I reuse, but don't really pick through the ashes that carefully.

Have fun,
Tony
 
Thanks for all the help everyone! I think I am going to add some handles to the midsection of the WSM - seems easy and I like the idea of being able to give the coals a good stir to clean out some of the ashes. Hopefully, the very brief time the midsection is off won't bring the temps down to quickly - and with the fresh coals, it shouldn't have a problem getting back to temp!

I like the way you think Wayne - kepp on cooking!!
 
Rick
I cook butts, brisket, rolls and clods without adding coal unless the winds is more than can be handled. I have never had to remove ash during a cook to make the cooker work.
Other than adding wood for smoke (which I almost never do) or water if using it, can all be done through the door.
Jim
 
Rick

Sounds like you know what you're doing, but I would be extremly careful removing the center section during a cook. I believe you could accomplish everything you need to do through the door and avoid the possibility of a bad accident. Using a broom handle you can dislodge sufficient ashes from the coals to get it going. Sometimes just taping the legs or the ring is sufficient. You can also add lit coals, one by one with long tongs. You won't need many more coals to complete a very long cook. I did a 17 hr overnight cook and probably only added 10 lit coals at the 13th hour to finish. Temp came back up to 250 very quickly.

Good luck.

PRG
 
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