Windy Conditions.

[JMorales]

Lesson learned today. Wind is not friendly to the WSM. Had the hardest time getting it up to temperature. Any suggestions for the future. Last and definitely not least Happy Memorial Day to all my brothers and sisters In arms

 

[timothy]

Set up a wind break, or try to place the WSM out of a direct breeze.
http://virtualweberbullet.com/coldtemp.html
I use an old wash tub to set my 18.5" WSM in to block off any stiff breezes entering the bottom vents.

Tim

 

[J Hasselberger]

Wind and WSM definitely don't go together. I have a garden cart the fits nicely around the WSM when I tip it up on end. It works quite well. Three 24" x 48" pieces of luaun plywood duct taped together would be about the same. Just set them up 3" or 4" away from the cooker. If you are monitoring temp with the lid thermometer, it will be way off (temp at the grate will be higher than you think).

 

[Gene_N]

Wind and WSM definitely don't go together. I have a garden cart the fits nicely around the WSM when I tip it up on end. It works quite well. Three 24" x 48" pieces of luaun plywood duct taped together would be about the same. Just set them up 3" or 4" away from the cooker. If you are monitoring temp with the lid thermometer, it will be way off (temp at the grate will be higher than you think).

Yes, the wind is harder to deal with than extreme heat or cold. I have an ET-732 and I monitor dome, internal and grate temps but I use the dome temp as my "official" cooking temp for consistency purposes. I find the grate temp to be impacted a lot by placement. I don't doubt the temp reading but it varies during the duration of the cook, ie it will read low early because the meat is cold, it will read higher as the meat cooks and it will read different if it is placed close to the rack edge.

 

[J Hasselberger]

There was a thread a while back about where to monitor temp, and someone mentioned that the top vent temp would be most consistent and reliable. Lid temp is affected by wind and ambient temp and grate temp is dependent upon placement. It was argued that the air temp as it exits the top vent is the "real" cooking temp. When I first got my WSM 10 years ago, it didn't have a lid thermometer, so I hung a candy thermometer in the vent, clipped to the vent tab. I got good results relying on that temp. I installed a retrofit lid thermometer and it was all over the place and as I chased the temp, I ruined some cooks. I now use the old candy thermometer and a Maverick on the grate about 2" from the edge and as far from the meat as I can get it. Haven't ruined a cook since.

 

[Jonathan Kulik]

this works for me.

[/url]Day after Smoke Day Ten by jpk88vmax, on Flickr[/IMG]

 

[Shawn W]

Some sort of windbreak as previously suggested will help a ton. Secondly, no idea what you are using in your water pan, try sand or crumpled foil. If you are having trouble getting to temp you don't need the heat sink water creates.