To preheat or not to preheat?


 
S.Six

S.Six

TVWBB All-Star
I watched lots of videos where thay say to let your smoker get up to temp before you put your meat on. I've also heard to just throw the meat on as soon as you get your charcoal on. Does it really matter? Some of these guys said it takes about 30min. to get to temp (225-255). By that time it seems most of their smoke wood would be gone. Any tips on this?
 
I'd not preheat. You'll have trouble with temps rising out of your desired range. I've had good luck loading the meat on cold, right after I add my lit coals and smoke wood. I like to have the meat loaded and let the temp rise slowly to my desired range. Then the only thing left to do is adjust vents as needed. I have no experience smoking at altitude. I'm sure some of your neighbors will chime in on how they do it. If you're high enough, keeping temp up can be an issue from what I see. Good luck in Loveland.
 
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run with an empty water pan, no heatsink (sand/saucer), and your temperature changes are much more responsive. If you want to go low & slow then run water until you get the hang of it.

This thing's easy. I'm @ ~4450' elevation (I think my smoker might run a bit cooler than those @ sea level)
 
I'm sure everyone has their way of doing it, here's mine: I pour a lit chimney on a bed of unlit. When the unlit is engaged and all the nasty smoke clears I reassemble the cooker. I ensure the fire is clean burning (almost no smoke) and then I put smoke wood on the fire and meat on the cooking grate. From lighting the chimney to putting the meat on takes about an hour. My smoke wood is not burnt up because it doesn't go on until the meat goes on.
 
Dwain Pannell said:
I'm sure everyone has their way of doing it, here's mine: I pour a lit chimney on a bed of unlit. When the unlit is engaged and all the nasty smoke clears I reassemble the cooker. I ensure the fire is clean burning (almost no smoke) and then I put smoke wood on the fire and meat on the cooking grate. From lighting the chimney to putting the meat on takes about an hour. My smoke wood is not burnt up because it doesn't go on until the meat goes on.
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This is what I do now too. I used to throw the meat on immediately which I think made it taste oversmoked and ashy/creosote tasting. Now I bury my smoke wood in the unlit lump and wait until the white smoke clears (around 250 F) and throw meat on. I think my results have much improved
 
As to preheating, since the wsm is a sheet metal cooker, it really doesn't need much in terms of preheating, as opposed to a ceramic or heavy gauge steel cooker.

I find that if I start with enough lit charcoal and hot water, I get up to temp in no time, and actually try to overshoot it some depending on how much (cold) meat will go on the cooker. However, if I don't have water in the pan, I'll start with a little less lit charcoal and won't try to overshoot temps any. But that's what works for me. Both of my cookers run pretty cool and maybe your's runs hot.

As to wood and smoke, I find that if I dump the (fully-engaged) charcoal on unlit LUMP, I don't have to wait for the smoke to clean up. Virtually all of the "smoke" I'll see will be steam from the pan. To me, the worst smoke to start with is wood that catches fire before you get the smoker closed back up with meat on. If burying wood around the ring perimeter doesn't prevent this, then I'd strongly suggest adding your wood AFTER you get the meat on as Dwain suggested, but I do both, and leave a bit of depression in the center of the unlit lump to dump my lit in, not spreading out over the entire top of the ring. That way I can reach in and put a couple of chunks at the edge of the lit and the unlit so as to start smoking slowly after getting my meat on. Avg. amount of lit for me is the top of the chimney handle for the big bullet and about a half chimney or so for the smaller one. I have an extra top vent and will leave all vents 100% open until getting up to temp. I call it a "modified Minion" method.
 
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I don't pre-heat, I find it's easier to catch the temps on the way up. I do minion method with half my wood chunks buried at the bottom edges of the charcoal ring and the other half on top at the edges of the charcoal ring. Lit coals go in a depression in the middle, then the middle section gets put in place, meat goes on the racks, and the top goes on. Vents are wide open until the smoker reaches temp, then I close them down and figure out what setup will maintain the temp I want that day. I run a foiled, dry water pan. I usually spend about 30-60 minutes making bitty adjustments to my vents after I reach temp, then she's solid as a rock for the next 3-5 hours.
 
Dave Alvarado said:
I don't pre-heat, I find it's easier to catch the temps on the way up. I do minion method with half my wood chunks buried at the bottom edges of the charcoal ring and the other half on top at the edges of the charcoal ring. Lit coals go in a depression in the middle, then the middle section gets put in place, meat goes on the racks, and the top goes on. Vents are wide open until the smoker reaches temp, then I close them down and figure out what setup will maintain the temp I want that day. I run a foiled, dry water pan. I usually spend about 30-60 minutes making bitty adjustments to my vents after I reach temp, then she's solid as a rock for the next 3-5 hours.
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Thats almost what I did the first time I used my WSM ( just got it jan 31 ). I did the Minion method, had my smoke wood on the edges of the lit and unlit charcoal, but I did use water in the pan. I had all the vents open, it took a little time to get to temp, but once it did it hung out at 245-255 almost the whole time. I did pork ribs doing the 3-2-1 and fall off the bone yum!
 
I don't preheat with the Minion Method. If I'm cooking over 300 degrees, I like to bring it up first.
 
I'm with Ryan, I put the wood in same time the lit coal goes in Minion method, as soon as the dome thomometer passes 200 the meat goes in, the lid goes on, 2 bottom vents get closed, 3rd bottom vent about 1/3 to 1/2 open, top vent all open, walk away and don't look for a while.
 
I don't use KB so I don't have to worry about it burning off before coming clean. For LNS I like to get the meat on cold and when the coals are started using the minion method. I think I get better smoke flavor that way. I also have wood buried as well as adding it after the hot coals go on. For HH I like the smoker to come up to temp and overshoot a bit before I add the meat.
 
Jim Lampe said:
preheating.
time wasted.
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Agree and a waste of charcoal also.
The whole idea of the MM IMO is to let the smoker come up slowly to temp. Adding cold meat which is a heat sink later on kinda defeats that purpose cause whatever you gained is certainly gone when you lift the lid.
The same can be said on HH cooks with the MM. Once you open that lid you let more air in which feeds the fire and causes spikes.
Like my SIG say's, to each his own.. but that one I don't get:wsm:

Tim
 
I like how Chris A. sums it up. Only pro I'd add is that the MM is nearly a necessity for cooking low-n-slow with a dry pan, and the only con I'd add is that for the same reason he suggests it's not for HH cooking, it's also not for a full cooker, at least if on a schedule and cooking conventionally with water in pan.

The Minion Method

Pros

Designed for cooking sessions lasting 6-18 hours.
Perfect for overnight cooking.
Start cooking in just 15-30 minutes.
No need to add fuel during the cooking process.
Long, consistent burn times over many hours.
Less chance of the cooker running hotter than desired.

Cons

Not acceptable to those who prefer all briquettes to be fully lit during cooking.
Not for cooking in the 325-350°F range.

(Taken from Chris Allington's operating tips on firing up the bullet.)
 
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