The Elusive 225


 
John_NJ

John_NJ

TVWBB Wizard
I need some advice Weber Summit Charcoal Kamado owners:

I have done a few low and slow cooks and as the thread title alludes to- I cannot get the grill to keep 225 degrees.

I have been “fine tuning” both upper, and to a lesser extent lower vents, but as I am approaching a steady 225, the coals seem to extinguish- I guess lack of oxygen.

I am not ready to throw in the towel and get an electronic temp controller just yet.

Anyone have similar issues or advice?

Thanks in advance.
 
timothy said:
I don't own a WSK, but I learned not to fret over some " magical" number because the only thing magic about 225 is it takes longer.
Find your smokers sweet spot or where it settles in. Mine was/is 275.
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I understand what you are saying, and I am pretty new to the coal grilling scene.

I’ve done a few pork spareribs, a pork shoulder and today is beef brisket day.

I have the Weber Summit cookbook that came with the grill as my guide, and all those cooks say try to stay as close to 225 as possible.

So there has to be a way I am thinking.
 
Holding 225F is a common BGE discussion topic. Many suggest going with 250F or 275F.

On the BGE I can hold 225 F with the billows, yet there is not much coal or smoke wood burning and I don't get as much smoke flavor. I think 250 ends up with better results.

Tomorrow I'll be cooking ribs on the WSK. I'll see if i can get it to settle in at 225.
 
you gotta really choke the airflow down to keep temp that low, 250-275 is more realistic and imo better results
 
John_NJ said:
I need some advice Weber Summit Charcoal Kamado owners:

I have done a few low and slow cooks and as the thread title alludes to- I cannot get the grill to keep 225 degrees.

I have been “fine tuning” both upper, and to a lesser extent lower vents, but as I am approaching a steady 225, the coals seem to extinguish- I guess lack of oxygen.

I am not ready to throw in the towel and get an electronic temp controller just yet.

Anyone have similar issues or advice?

Thanks in advance.
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I’ve gotten fed 218-250 on many LAS cooks. Everything comes out fine. So longs as I don’t go above 275° for an extended time, I’m okay with the temps. Usually it trends 240-245.
 
DanHoo said:
Holding 225F is a common BGE discussion topic. Many suggest going with 250F or 275F.

On the BGE I can hold 225 F with the billows, yet there is not much coal or smoke wood burning and I don't get as much smoke flavor. I think 250 ends up with better results.

Tomorrow I'll be cooking ribs on the WSK. I'll see if i can get it to settle in at 225.
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I’m doing 2 or 3 slabs St Lou’s for the Sunday game (where the Niners beat the Cowgirls).
 
John, many years ago, there were three heat settings...LO - MED - HI...and things cooked just fine, once you learned how to cook with just those three settings.

Then came digital thermometers, and suddenly things had to be cooked at a given temp, and now we expect things to be regulated within a few degrees of the setpoint.

I'm just as guilty of that as anybody else, but the truth of the matter is that it really doesn't matter.

It's all time vs temp, and because we are cooking outdoors, we are also subject to the vagaries of the weather.

I prefer an ATC with charcoal because it reduces the amount of effort for me to regulate temps, but if I were you without an ATC I would experiment to see what is the lowest, most reliable temp I could achieve and adjust the cooking times accordingly.

There is no substitute for experience.
 
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just like my WSM, my WSK seems to go iinto cadillac mode at higher temps. The WSM just operated better at 260 and I Quit screwing with it. On the WSK, I have the lower damper in smoke and crack open the top. I’ve killed the coals trying to needle down that top vent. If it’s under 275, I just let it ride.
 
The more I do, the less demanding I seem to get about critical temperature cookery. When I started using a WSM I began hawk eyeing the pit temperature then, I got chatting with all you folks and I started to realize that the ten degree window was just way too much work. One member really made me see the far more important fact to enjoy the cook, not obsess over five or ten degrees, have another cocktail and just wait.
Thank you all for helping me understand that it’s not intense WORK but, great pleasure.

Gary, if I had found an old “Deuce and a Quarter” and made that into a grill I might feel differently. Grill under the hood, cooler in the trunk, convertible top and seating for six!
 
I started my “low and slow” journey during the past few northeast cold weather months so that’s probably skewing the results.

The grill can hold between 240 - 250 without much effort.

I understand all the “don’t sweat the small stuff” advice.

I’ll keep experimenting and will probably go the ATC route at some point if I can’t get the 225 range, because I am not adverse to using stupid robots, lol.

Thanks everyone for the replies so far.

Cheers
 
A final data point. An aluminum tray of AJ, how much depends on length of your smoke session, will help regulate and keep lower temps. This has helped me on packer briskets to maintain those low temps on the overnight smoke session. But again, don’t overthink it. Just enjoy the process. And share pics of your cooks.
 
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I generally target 250 myself, and even that is choked down a lot. Which was frustrating at first because I adjusted it like my kettle and it just wouldn’t stay low, it was always well north of 300 and I just couldn’t figure it out. One day I got mad and choked the top vent waaaaay down and voila!

I have used my Billows and gotten to 225 or so, and it almost never runs. It’s really a burst of air here and there. I don’t recall if I’ve manually adjusted and held 225.

The more I cook the more I get it pretty close to desired and let it ride. More time to enjoy a game or drink(s) or family stuff instead of fretting over the temp it’s holding. Cheers and good luck, I may try to get mine at 225 next time I use her
 
Brett-EDH said:
And share pics of your cooks.
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This was last night- beef brisket.

The Weber cookbook advised cooking as close to 225 as possible and cook for 4 hours to 160, wrap with foil and cook for 6 more hours to 190-195.

I couldn’t get the low temp, and it cooked too fast in my opinion.

It tasted ok, but was a little tough at 7 hours total cook time.

Hence the thread:

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Edit: I also mistakenly cooked the first leg fat side down - the recipe called for fat side up the whole cook. That probably didn’t help.
 
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