Temp control tips for 14.5


 
E

Eric Michaud

TVWBB Super Fan
I am looking for any advice for temp control on the 14.5. I have done 1 smoke and really had trouble with temp spiking and control overall. I am dialed in on my 18.5 and 22.5. I loaded the ring with lump and used briqs to ignite. I was doing chicken thighs and was afraid I could not bring it up to temp so probably used too much lit. Any advice is appreciated. Thank you in advance.
 
Eric - I use Weber briquettes in my 14.5 and use the coffee can style start. Rings of unlit with a small chimney of lit poured in the middle.
bottom vents at 50% top wide open - it'll run 12 hrs straight in the smoke zone without being touched (water in the pan)
I think yours will settle down
Chris
 
My 14.5 was a handful for the first few cooks until it gunked up a bit. Now its super stable, but I use KBB, don't know if the lump might be affecting it.
 
Eric Michaud said:
I am looking for any advice for temp control on the 14.5. I have done 1 smoke and really had trouble with temp spiking and control overall. I am dialed in on my 18.5 and 22.5
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If you've mastered the 18 & 22, it will be just a matter of time until you're down with the 14 too. When I start my 18, I generally start with about a dozen fully lit charcoals. When I start my mini (just a tad smaller than your 14) I generally start with about a half dozen fully lit charcoals. If I'm doing a high-heat cook (which is normally the case when doing chicken) I double up with the lit charcoals from above
 
I cook on a wsm mini...I load the charcoal put lighter fluid on and light immediately ,let burn 20 minutes,and no it doesn't taste any different. Put lid on and run about 20 minutes, while dialing in your cooking temp, before putting meat on. No water in pan or no pan at all.I cook at about 275 degrees though. Just my way of doing it.
 
I've been trying a number of strategies on my smokey joe mod cooker, slight variation each time in hopes of maintainting a consistent temp consistently. i know...not the same cooker but similar. tonite i did a fuse method fire with 30 stubbs briquettes around half the smoker, 3 good wood chunks on top and a nice round baseball sized rock in the middle and lit them with 4 hot briqs. held 250 on the nose with the bottom and top wide open for about 4 hours, but it did take a long time to come up to temp. so far it's by far been my most consistent and easy to manage fire, came up to a max temp and held it great, but it was also the best tasting cook I've done so far. really nice smoke flavor, i did a whole chicken spatchcocked, but at the lower temp the skin wasn't very tasty/crispy/rendered. water in a 9x9x2 pan. next cook I'm going to try lighting with 6 briquettes to see about holding a slightly higher temp, usually like to cook at 275 for larger cuts. after then ill ditch the water in the pan and see how that goes. any ways may two cents on the smaller cooker size.
 
The Mini-Joe and the 14.5 act a bit different than the 18.5" WSM. I use the tin can Minion method with all. The two smaller units get a full ring of Kingsford Original with 8 lit briquettes in the tin can. I leave ALL vents open until I reach my target temp then close down the bottom vents (generally find that two closed and one open about 25% works well - YMMV). My target temp for Boston Butts and Ribs is 275 degrees. I use an empty water pan.

When I do Hot and Fast Chicken, I remove the water pan (deflector) and dump a full lit chimney of briqs in the charcoal ring. It comes to temp rapidly so I am ready as soon as I get the rig assembled. It runs about 350 degrees for the duration of the cook.

After the cooks, I immediately shut down all vents and save the charcoal for use with my grills. When I use the smokers, I want new coals so I have consistent results.

The important difference between the small and large smokers is I don't close the vents down until I reach target temp on the smaller units. However, the 18.5 requires that I catch the temperature on the way up and close down the vents when the temp hits 200-225 (when I am targeting 275 degrees) to avoid over shooting my temperatures. It's a lot harder to get the temps down than catch them on the way up. After the temps stabilize it is a cinch to maintain temps.

I use a Maverick 732 on all of the smokers.

Keep on smokin',
Dale53:wsm:
 
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Thank you all for your input, much appreciated. So far my trials have been less than successful. Now I have new ammo in my arsenal. Thanks again.
 
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