Turning Off your WSM


 
Emilio Valdez

Emilio Valdez

New member
How do you turn off your WSMC? I cooked for the first time yesterday closed all my vents and woke up this morning to a still cooking WSM:)
 
Once you get a few cooks in it, it will build up carbonization and plug the holes. Then, when you close vents it will shut down. Right now, it is still allowing air in the gaps and feeding the fire.
 
You might want to check the components to make sure they are "round".
The center section, especially the bottom, can get "squished" a little and cause air to get in between it and the charcoal bowl. Measure the opening of the bottom of the center section and make sure it's the same diameter in all directions. Bear hug it if it's not.
Also, you may need to tweak the door a little to get a decent seal.
Good luck!
 
What Clark said. For mine, if there isn't alot of charcoal left, I just open the vents all the way and let it burn itself out, less to clean up the next day, otherwise, I close all 4 vents and within about 2 hours (if that) mine will be snuffed out though I still let it sit overnight. The next day, I clean out the ash and save the good briquettes that were left.

Dave
 
Yeah, a new pit will be leaky and not shut down. After several cooks, a lot of that will seal up. Checking / adjusting out of roundness and adjusting a leaky door can help. If after adjusting and getting ten or so cooks to seal it up you are still leaking, you might want to look into gaskets from BBQGaskets.com and maybe the stainless steel door from Cajun Bandit. I got impatient and ordered / installed mine after a couple cooks and my WSM usually shuts down in a little over an hour.

Disclaimer: I am not saying you need these items. The more you cook, the more your pit will get gunked up and seal itself. Just putting an available option out there...
 
What was your temp this morning? It shouldn't have been too high like maybe a little over 100. Agree with everyone else, once seasoned it will start shutting down quicker. You said you shut all of the vents, this includes the lid vent correct?
 
I dont turn mine off, Im not up to saving coals, even though it could save some money. What I do is take the middle and top part off and let all the O2 burn the coals down. Easiest way for me :)
 
I use lump for everything now so reducing the burn saves me money. I can snuff mine in about 20-30 minutes however I have used Nomex around the top and bottom middle section. I also put a strip of Nomex on the mid section at the bottom of the door on the inside. It does make a big difference but that's not to say you can't achieve reasonable results letting it gunk up.
Justin at BBQGaskets.com is great to deal with if you decide to go this route. The bottom section and or the mid section are often out of round but even if they aren't there is still too much play for me between the middle and bottom section of the WSM. The gasket removes that and tightens everything up.
 
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