trying to upgrade to lump!


 

doug gillis

TVWBB Fan
For the last few smokes I've used some lump and liked the way in handled in the wsm- basically smoked chicken,fatty, and a tough roud roast. I'm now tying some lump smoking a butt-wow-1.49 per lb so had to try it! I'm cooking at a decent dome temp-about 250 but have to make adj. peroidotically- "tough word to spell". I'd assume my dome temp reads aprox. 25 deg. higher then what's on the rack. Like I said, temps seem ok but when peeking inside access door- the righ side is hotter and glowing red while the left side smolders. Tried closing right side vents and opening left side to no advail. It just seems an uneven burn. Using lump with a water pan I can stabilize 250 dome with about 10-20% draft open but as of to night- it started to drop to around 230 dome making me have to punch it up. Perhaps I need advice on lump such as decent brands- I may be using a crappy one!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by doug gillis:
For the last few smokes I've used some lump and liked the way in handled in the wsm- basically smoked chicken,fatty, and a tough roud roast. I'm now tying some lump smoking a butt-wow-1.49 per lb so had to try it! I'm cooking at a decent dome temp-about 250 but have to make adj. peroidotically- "tough word to spell". I'd assume my dome temp reads aprox. 25 deg. higher then what's on the rack. Like I said, temps seem ok but when peeking inside access door- the righ side is hotter and glowing red while the left side smolders. Tried closing right side vents and opening left side to no advail. It just seems an uneven burn. Using lump with a water pan I can stabilize 250 dome with about 10-20% draft open but as of to night- it started to drop to around 230 dome making me have to punch it up. Perhaps I need advice on lump such as decent brands- I may be using a crappy one! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

There should be about a 15º difference between the dome and the top grate. Don't worry about the one side of the coals being hotter than the other, they will eventually even out. I like to set all three bottom vents exactly the same, unless it's windy. In that case I will close the ones facing the wind.

Now, you temps may be fluctuating due to your peaking periodically into the access door. Every time you open the door you're letting in alot of oxygen, therefore causing your temps to spike up and down.

The key with lump is to control your temps very carefully on the way up, as not to overshoot your ideal cooking temp. When using lump I will leave all bottom vents 100% open until my dome temp hits 180º, then I shut my bottom vents down 75º and don't touch them again. The temperature will initially drop a couple to several degrees, however they will slowly begin to climb and settle in at the dome in the 245º-260º range for the length of the cook.
 
Thankyou Larry for the advice. Smoker has been running decent tonight or this morning rather- just had to do some tinkering but need to get where I can set and forget if possible-would make my wife happy-happy! I'm also trying to eventually ditch water pan and switch to lump-two tough things to do and keep temps in the 250 dept but sure it can be done! Anyway, have a boston butt on right now in about the 8th hour-already made the potato salad and bbq sauce to compliment- temps here in mid 50's-perfect smoking weather! The wsm just seems to even make a novice like me look good at times!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by doug gillis:
Thankyou Larry for the advice. Smoker has been running decent tonight or this morning rather- just had to do some tinkering but need to get where I can set and forget if possible-would make my wife happy-happy! I'm also trying to eventually ditch water pan and switch to lump-two tough things to do and keep temps in the 250 dept but sure it can be done! Anyway, have a boston butt on right now in about the 8th hour-already made the potato salad and bbq sauce to compliment- temps here in mid 50's-perfect smoking weather! The wsm just seems to even make a novice like me look good at times! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Doug, one thing that will help you out tremendously is to NOT worry about small temps or spikes... for instance for an overnight cook my ideal temps are 245º-260º dome temp, but I will set my Maverick for a low of 220º and a high of 285º. Those temps are not my ideal cooking temps, but they're not going to hurt anything either and I won't have to get up in the middle of the night to mess with the vents. Bottomline, you will have temperature fluctuations, but the less you worry about them and fiddle with the cooker the more you will enjoy the cook!

Good luck and post some pic's!!!
 

 

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