Might as well go ahead and post. I just bought my WSM 22" about a month ago or so. I have three or four cooks under my belt, but I've been having problems with the top vent and the lid sticking ever since the first cook. I read that you can wipe the rim of the lid down while hot and that will help. I've done that and the lid still sticks, but never to the point of it being completely stuck. Unfortunately, the top vent seems to be quite stuck, thankfully in the open position. Normally, I'd expect it to loosen up a bit while in use, but no such luck. Has anyone else ever ran into this problem with the top vent? If so, what are some solutions to help fix it.
Top Vent Sticking
- Thread starter Matt M
- Start date
George Curtis
TVWBB Olympian
if you are using water then yer bound to get a lot more residue. this stuff becomes like glue. try using a cleaner on the vent, forcing it under the vent and see if that loosens things up. as far as te lid sticking, yea, you will need to wipe the lid and the section that it sits in. first time i used my wsm the lid got sticky.
Dwain Pannell
TVWBB Hall of Fame
When mine sticks, at the end of a cook when it's warm is when I try cleaning/losening it. I remove the food because when it comes unstuck bits and pieces of stuff that made it stick will fall thru the vent. I spray greased lightning between the lid and the vent. I wide the seam on the mid section with a shop towel to keep it from sticking. I've had it stick to where I couldn't take the lid off before. Great for no air/smoke escaping but bad for trying to cook.
BTW -- welcome aboard.
BTW -- welcome aboard.
Thanks for the tips and the welcome. Yeah, I have been using water for the first few cooks. I'm thinking about trying one this weekend without water to see how it goes. My main motivation for wanting to try without water is to hopefully cook at a higher temperature (around 275 F). It seems with water I can't push it much higher than 250 and it's hard to sustain that for more than a couple of hours. I'm hoping that I can shave a little bit of time of cooking a brisket if I cook a bit higher and wrap with butcher paper. The two that I have done have taken about 15-18 hours for 10-11 pound briskets @ 225-250F.
I do kind of worry about the lack of moisture for the meat, but I guess I'll find out.
I do kind of worry about the lack of moisture for the meat, but I guess I'll find out.
Gary S
TVWBB Guru
Matt, it won't be a problem using something like a dry pan or a clay saucer. Once your brisket hits the stall you will see plenty of moisture on it as it starts to sweat. You may find it a little harder to dial in the temp until you get used to cooking this way but a lot of the members here do not use water.
Dwain Pannell
TVWBB Hall of Fame
Like Gary said, once you get the hang of temp control without water it's all good. Look forward to your cook to see how it goes.
Bruce Bissonnette
TVWBB Guru
Try a little Greased Lightning on the lid vent, should loosen it right up.
George Curtis
TVWBB Olympian
yep, surprise ! yer cooking utensils do need some maintenance. glad that worked for you.
That's the thing though, I've been pretty diligent about cleaning everything, except for the interior walls, after every cook. I ran into the same problem with the lid and the vent this weekend after a cook. Luckily, I got after it while the smoker was still warm and it was a bit easier to free.
Isn't the substance that's causing this creosote? I really haven't been focusing all too much on the quality of the smoke, but I'd say it's usually the proper thin blue smoke more often than not. I usually only get a white smoke at the beginning or whenever i add more fuel later on in the cook.
Here's my general procedure for starting a smoke using the minion method. Let me know if something stands out as wrong. Load up the smoker with charcoal with a small dip in the center. Light a chimney that is about a quarter full of charcoal. Let that get going until the top coals are ashing over and glowing (20 min or so). Dump the chimney into the center area and then add 5-6 wood chunks spread around the outside and middle. I'll put the mid section on, add water, cover and wait until it gets up to temp. All vents are open at this point, once i get it up to temp I'll trim the bottom vents to stabilize and then add the meat within 5 minutes. I've rarely had to completely close the bottom vents. They're usually about 3/4 of the way closed at the start to fully opened towards the end when the fuel starts to get low. The top vent remains open the entire cook, unless I have some crazy spike in temperature, and then I'll only close it partially for a few minutes (this has happened once). Maybe if I let the fire get going for about 20-30 minutes without the top lid on I could avoid all white smoke and potentially the sticky goo.
The food has been good, so at least it's not affecting that. It just seems that this is something out of the ordinary and I'm trying to figure out if I can do anything to improve.
Isn't the substance that's causing this creosote? I really haven't been focusing all too much on the quality of the smoke, but I'd say it's usually the proper thin blue smoke more often than not. I usually only get a white smoke at the beginning or whenever i add more fuel later on in the cook.
Here's my general procedure for starting a smoke using the minion method. Let me know if something stands out as wrong. Load up the smoker with charcoal with a small dip in the center. Light a chimney that is about a quarter full of charcoal. Let that get going until the top coals are ashing over and glowing (20 min or so). Dump the chimney into the center area and then add 5-6 wood chunks spread around the outside and middle. I'll put the mid section on, add water, cover and wait until it gets up to temp. All vents are open at this point, once i get it up to temp I'll trim the bottom vents to stabilize and then add the meat within 5 minutes. I've rarely had to completely close the bottom vents. They're usually about 3/4 of the way closed at the start to fully opened towards the end when the fuel starts to get low. The top vent remains open the entire cook, unless I have some crazy spike in temperature, and then I'll only close it partially for a few minutes (this has happened once). Maybe if I let the fire get going for about 20-30 minutes without the top lid on I could avoid all white smoke and potentially the sticky goo.
The food has been good, so at least it's not affecting that. It just seems that this is something out of the ordinary and I'm trying to figure out if I can do anything to improve.
Here are a few pictures from this weekend.
Brisket about 6 hours in before I wrapped in butcher paper.
Pork butt before pulling.
The brisket, forgot to take a picture before I started cutting.
Everything all together.
I used Stubbs briquettes with pieces of oak wood. On the brisket I used a Texas rub of kosher salt and black pepper (heavy on the pepper). On the pork butt I used a pretty standard pork rub. It was my first pork butt and third brisket. Both were pretty good, but the brisket was better and the best one I've cooked so far.
Brisket about 6 hours in before I wrapped in butcher paper.
Pork butt before pulling.
The brisket, forgot to take a picture before I started cutting.
Everything all together.
I used Stubbs briquettes with pieces of oak wood. On the brisket I used a Texas rub of kosher salt and black pepper (heavy on the pepper). On the pork butt I used a pretty standard pork rub. It was my first pork butt and third brisket. Both were pretty good, but the brisket was better and the best one I've cooked so far.
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Gary S
TVWBB Guru
Well Matt, nothing wrong with those photos. Cook looks great. Everybody has there own style in getting the smoker up to temp and when they put their meat on so nothing in what I read would suggest you are doing anything wrong.
I have noticed that some of the vent rivets are more tight than others. Weber's replacement kit comes with a 1/4" screw and a nut so you can tighten accordingly. I would just get in the habit of working it, maybe it just needs to wear in a bit. Pam would be a good lubricant or a tiny amount of silcone spray but you would not want any drips to come into contact inside. It can't rust so it should resolve itself at some point.
I have noticed that some of the vent rivets are more tight than others. Weber's replacement kit comes with a 1/4" screw and a nut so you can tighten accordingly. I would just get in the habit of working it, maybe it just needs to wear in a bit. Pam would be a good lubricant or a tiny amount of silcone spray but you would not want any drips to come into contact inside. It can't rust so it should resolve itself at some point.
timothy
TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
Creosote is not the problem, cause if it was than you would have noticed it with the look and taste of the meat. Creosote is caused by an improperly combusted fire, and it shouldn't have any thing to do with parts getting stuck IMO as in you're first pic the lip on the mid-section looks almost good as new. Mine you can barely tell the gunk from metal
I still think you have an out of round condition that seizes in one spot. Have you rotated the lid on the mid-section and see if it has no friction?
Tim
I still think you have an out of round condition that seizes in one spot. Have you rotated the lid on the mid-section and see if it has no friction?
Tim
Creosote is not the problem, cause if it was than you would have noticed it with the look and taste of the meat. Creosote is caused by an improperly combusted fire, and it shouldn't have any thing to do with parts getting stuck IMO as in you're first pic the lip on the mid-section looks almost good as new. Mine you can barely tell the gunk from metal
I still think you have an out of round condition that seizes in one spot. Have you rotated the lid on the mid-section and see if it has no friction?
Tim
No I haven't, but I'll have to try that next time I uncover the smoker. I'm really hoping that you're wrong, but I'm afraid you may be onto something! When I was putting it together I discovered that the original lid had a pretty good sized dent in it along the rim. It was the last 22" they had that was packaged in a box, so I swapped out the lid with the floor model. I inspected it and didn't notice any problems with it, so it didn't bother me too much. If I hadn't already had a bunch of stuff to smoke I probably would've just returned the entire thing and waited until they had another in stock.
The reason I was wondering about it being creosote is because I noticed a few spots of a black tar looking substance on the lid. The top vent also had a good accumulation of dark gunk. Anyways, that's for the help. I'll look into the lid this weekend and also see about getting a vent replacement.
David
TVWBB Pro
99 percent sure that you have a slight out of round mid section or lid. I dropped mine one time so that I have to slap it with my hand for it to seat fully, not a big deal in my case. Measure the lid and see if you can push in the long side, very gently, or if new, call weber and they will most likely send you a new one out......of course, it might be out of round also.
Sounds like Timothy and I have the same issue with the hand slap...............................d
Sounds like Timothy and I have the same issue with the hand slap...............................d