Hey all,
New WSM owner here. Trying to figure out if my issues are just a learning curve or maybe I'm making some mistakes. I'll try to give you as much information as possible.
1. Two cooks so far, same recipe, ribs (2 racks, on the top grate) @ 275 for two hours then about 1 1/2 hours foiled; i.e. texas crutch
2. First cook: 2 chimneys full of unlit charcaol, ~ 3 tennis ball chunks of wood on the outside, about 20 briquettes of lit K original spread out on top evenly. Assemble smoker, waited about one hour before adding ribs.
3. Second cook: 1 2/3 chimneys full of unlit charcoal, ~ 3 tennis ball chuncks of wood on the outside, about 11 briquettes of lit K original spread out on the top evenly. Assemble smoker, waited about one hour before adding ribs.
4. Both cooks, foiled top and bottom of water pan (new 2010 bigger style) with no water.
5. When I first got the WSM I made sure the middle section mated to the bottom section and made several small tweaks so I think I acheived a fairly nice air tight fit. It shipped a bit out of round. I also did the same to the door. The cooker seems to be fairly air tight with no obvious areas letting in air. I get a minor amount of smoke around the lid in the beginning and it almost completely goes away, with the occasional wisp coming out and through the door I get hardly anything but the occasional wisp of smoke.
6. I'm using the ET 73 (?) temperature probe with only the probe attached to the grate, no probe in the meat.
7. I constructed a wind shield out of three thin pieces of plywood and hinges and the smoker in both cases was protected well from the winds. In the first cook zero wind. Moderate occassional breezes in the second cook.
My problem is that temperatures aren't acting as I expected from everything I've read on this board. It's nowhere near the impression I get from people that you just set and forget.
In both cases with all three vents open on the smoker when I went to add the ribs the smoker had only achieved ~ 240-255F. On my first attempt I mistakenly let the temperature severely overshoot my target of 275F because I misread some of the examples that a good starting point would be that the 3 bottom grates should be at 25% once you were 25F below your target temperature. I thought this meant 25% closed but looking back I now realize this means only 25% open. So on my first cook the temperature got up to about 355F and I had a heck of a time geting it back down to 275F. By the time I finally did get it down (I finally just closed all the bottom grates) my cook time of 2 hours (~ 3 hours of assembled cooker time) was up and I needed to foil the ribs.
In my second cook I was a lot more aggressive and once I hit 250F, I really choked down the vents but still ran up to 300F and then back down to 250F and then final got it to hold at ~ 280F. But by this time I was already 1 hour and 30 minutes into having the ribs on the cooker.
So my first question is:
Is this normal? Does it take you guys 2 1/2 hours to get your smoker to achieve a stable temperature using the minion method? Also, bringing it down seems to be very slow. Typical?
My final question revovles around opening the smoker. I'm just following a recipe and it says to open the smoker, add brown sugar and honey to the ribs, foil and put back on. I know people talk about foiling in all sorts of cooks all of the time and it's quite commmon.
However, on my first attempt, I just left the cover laying on the ground while I added the brown sugar and honey and did the foiling. When I put the cover back on the temperature at the top grate had climbed to over 400F. In fact it pegged the display on the temperature probe to read HHH.
On my second attempt. I removed the ribs, replaced the cover, then preped the ribs, removed the cover, put the ribs back on the grate and replaced the cover. This time the grate temperature rose to 350F. I closed two vents completely and left the third just barely cracked. In the next 1 1/2 hours the temperature slowly fell but it was still at 296F when I pulled the ribs.
Everything I read seems to indicate that opening your smoker adds to your cooking time. However, I've got some pretty strong evidence that it actually speeds up the cooking time because it REALLY raises the temperature at the grate. I'm assumming this is because of the huge rush of oxygen to the coals.
Am I just over reacting. Too much fuel? I eventually want to start trying some longer smokes using 225-250F but I'm a little hesitant to believe I can get the smoker to run this cool. Also, I've read of several people indicating they can run their smoker not using water and I'd like to do the same. I went looking for a clay saucer but it's winter here and all the home improvement stores have pretty sparse pickings in the home and garden sections.
Just looking for some guidance.
New WSM owner here. Trying to figure out if my issues are just a learning curve or maybe I'm making some mistakes. I'll try to give you as much information as possible.
1. Two cooks so far, same recipe, ribs (2 racks, on the top grate) @ 275 for two hours then about 1 1/2 hours foiled; i.e. texas crutch
2. First cook: 2 chimneys full of unlit charcaol, ~ 3 tennis ball chunks of wood on the outside, about 20 briquettes of lit K original spread out on top evenly. Assemble smoker, waited about one hour before adding ribs.
3. Second cook: 1 2/3 chimneys full of unlit charcoal, ~ 3 tennis ball chuncks of wood on the outside, about 11 briquettes of lit K original spread out on the top evenly. Assemble smoker, waited about one hour before adding ribs.
4. Both cooks, foiled top and bottom of water pan (new 2010 bigger style) with no water.
5. When I first got the WSM I made sure the middle section mated to the bottom section and made several small tweaks so I think I acheived a fairly nice air tight fit. It shipped a bit out of round. I also did the same to the door. The cooker seems to be fairly air tight with no obvious areas letting in air. I get a minor amount of smoke around the lid in the beginning and it almost completely goes away, with the occasional wisp coming out and through the door I get hardly anything but the occasional wisp of smoke.
6. I'm using the ET 73 (?) temperature probe with only the probe attached to the grate, no probe in the meat.
7. I constructed a wind shield out of three thin pieces of plywood and hinges and the smoker in both cases was protected well from the winds. In the first cook zero wind. Moderate occassional breezes in the second cook.
My problem is that temperatures aren't acting as I expected from everything I've read on this board. It's nowhere near the impression I get from people that you just set and forget.
In both cases with all three vents open on the smoker when I went to add the ribs the smoker had only achieved ~ 240-255F. On my first attempt I mistakenly let the temperature severely overshoot my target of 275F because I misread some of the examples that a good starting point would be that the 3 bottom grates should be at 25% once you were 25F below your target temperature. I thought this meant 25% closed but looking back I now realize this means only 25% open. So on my first cook the temperature got up to about 355F and I had a heck of a time geting it back down to 275F. By the time I finally did get it down (I finally just closed all the bottom grates) my cook time of 2 hours (~ 3 hours of assembled cooker time) was up and I needed to foil the ribs.
In my second cook I was a lot more aggressive and once I hit 250F, I really choked down the vents but still ran up to 300F and then back down to 250F and then final got it to hold at ~ 280F. But by this time I was already 1 hour and 30 minutes into having the ribs on the cooker.
So my first question is:
Is this normal? Does it take you guys 2 1/2 hours to get your smoker to achieve a stable temperature using the minion method? Also, bringing it down seems to be very slow. Typical?
My final question revovles around opening the smoker. I'm just following a recipe and it says to open the smoker, add brown sugar and honey to the ribs, foil and put back on. I know people talk about foiling in all sorts of cooks all of the time and it's quite commmon.
However, on my first attempt, I just left the cover laying on the ground while I added the brown sugar and honey and did the foiling. When I put the cover back on the temperature at the top grate had climbed to over 400F. In fact it pegged the display on the temperature probe to read HHH.
On my second attempt. I removed the ribs, replaced the cover, then preped the ribs, removed the cover, put the ribs back on the grate and replaced the cover. This time the grate temperature rose to 350F. I closed two vents completely and left the third just barely cracked. In the next 1 1/2 hours the temperature slowly fell but it was still at 296F when I pulled the ribs.
Everything I read seems to indicate that opening your smoker adds to your cooking time. However, I've got some pretty strong evidence that it actually speeds up the cooking time because it REALLY raises the temperature at the grate. I'm assumming this is because of the huge rush of oxygen to the coals.
Am I just over reacting. Too much fuel? I eventually want to start trying some longer smokes using 225-250F but I'm a little hesitant to believe I can get the smoker to run this cool. Also, I've read of several people indicating they can run their smoker not using water and I'd like to do the same. I went looking for a clay saucer but it's winter here and all the home improvement stores have pretty sparse pickings in the home and garden sections.
Just looking for some guidance.
