WMS First Cookout

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Sunday I fired up the WSM for the first time. Using method #1 I used fresh new Kingsford charcoal. Temps. were taken thru the top vent using several different thermometers to check accurracy. I followed instructions found on the website, the only exception being I used a Brinkman ECB Charcoal pan in place of the WSM Water pan. I used one gallon of water and almost two chimneys of charcoal. The weather was 60-66 degrees with a light breeze. When WSM cooled down to 310 I removed lid and loaded meat racks with chicken legs. The temp. cooled to about 160 and climbed back to 190-93 with all bottom vents closed. I started opening the bottom vents gradually to boost the temp. trying for the 225-250 range. Eventually I had all bottom vents fully open. The temp. was very steady at 210-213 rising only in the last hour (5th) as the water pan cooked down. These temps. were not what I expected. I expected a new smoker to run hotter the first few times out. Oh well!! Everything turned out fine. I added some hot links the last couple hours and everyone enjoyed the food!!
I would however like your input on how to get higher temps. for the next time out. Are these lower temps. typical when using the ECB charcoal pan in place of the WSM water pan? Should I use less water in the ECB pan...switch to the WSM pan...use more charcoal??? What do you think?
2nice
 
2nice,

Did you add hot or cold water? I would recommend the latter, especially with the bigger pan, as it will take the WSM quite a while to heat all of that water. You needn't heat it on the stove; simply fill a bottle with hot tap water and pour it in.

Regards,

Mr S.
 
2nice wrote
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> When WSM cooled down to 310 I removed lid and loaded meat racks with chicken legs. The temp. cooled to about 160 and climbed back to 190-93 with all bottom vents closed. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Hi,
That statement really has me confused. You say the cooker was at 310?F, loaded up the cooker with food, and then closed all the bottom vents.

Sounds to me like you needed more fuel. Start with a minimum of half charcoal ring of cold fuel and then dump hot fuel on top. Do not, close the bottom vents, you need an air supply to keep the fire burning.

Jim
 
Why did you close all of the bottom vents? maybe you should have just closed 1 bottom vent, not all 3. I have to keep all 3 of mine wide open all the time, but that might just be due to my location, elevation etc. I have never heard of anybody closing all 3 of the bottom vents though.
 
2 nice
Try this, start using either method 1 or 2 put the cooker together, add water pan, grates and meat. Leave the vents open and only close as needed to keep the pit temps at the range you want. It is easier to control the climb of the pit temps rather than bring them down.
By doing this you will be able to control the upward swing of the pit temps and produce more smokering as a result.
As Jim Morrissey said start with at least a half full firering if not full.
Give it a try and let us know how it goes.
Jim
 
Thanks to all for the advice. Next time out I think I'll use more fuel and see what happens. I'll also start with the bottom vents open to compensate for the altitude here. I want to experiment with method #1 a few more times before I move on to the Minion methods. It's going to be fun!! Thanks again.....
2nice
 
Why did you close all of the bottom vents? maybe you should have just closed 1 bottom vent, not all 3. I have to keep all 3 of mine wide open all the time, but that might just be due to my location, elevation etc. I have never heard of anybody closing all 3 of the bottom vents though.

Anybody else keep all 3 wide open? Never have heard of anyone else doing that. We don't make much of a change when cooking in Tryon, but never wide open.
 
Ready for Action!
When your coals look like this, with a nice coating of gray ash, you're almost ready to cook. Assemble the cooker, add cool water to the water pan, put the lid in place, and CLOSE all three bottom vents. Leave the top vent open for ventilation throughout the entire cooking process...........

The instructions above come from the the website in Standard Method #1. I guess my mistake was not opening the vents sooner, when put the meat on the grill.
2nice
 
I also followed the directions for Method #1 for both of the cooks I've done, and each time I started with 3 closed bottom vents. I used the standard water pan filled with cool water to start.

The first time I cooked, it was a 6 lb. boneless Boston butt. I fired up the cooker, assembled it, and the cooker started out at about 380. I left the bottom vents closed, and the temp got down to 320. I put on the meat, and the temp went down to about 235. I left the bottom vents completely closed, and for hours the temp never dropped below 219. Finally I opened one vent a tad. I think that day the outside temp started at about 60, and the high got to about 80. I don't have my cooking log in front of me, so this is all out of memory, but I definitely remember that I barely ever had to touch the closed bottom vents. This was with a full ring of Kingsford.

The second time I cooked, I decided to fire it up with all the bottom vents open, to see the charcoal would ash over quicker. It didn't help. When I assembled the cooker, I closed all the bottom vents. Again, the temp went up to about 380, and this time I waited until the temp dropped to 300 before putting on 2 3-1/2 lb. chickens. With the bottom vents closed, the temp dropped to 267 within the first 15 minutes, and slowly dropped to 228 after an hour before I decided to open any vents. I was shooting for a higher temp this time. That was with less than 2 chimneys of Kingsford. That was a hot day, about 89. This log I do have in front of me.

By the way, the cooker temperatures were all measured at the grate with a probe thermometer.

So, I guess everyone has different experiences. I think the main thing is to learn from your experience and try to improve each time. 2nice, I guess you learned something about temperature control. I've been lucky, because I just had to leave the vents closed most of the time. Now you know that when you're below your target by 20 degrees, you need to open the vents more. At least the food turned out okay!
 
One day soon I'm going to rewrite the Firing Up Your Weber Bullet page because I've learned so much more about this subject since I originally wrote the topic.

2nice, you hit it right on the head--you should have opened the bottom vents sooner. But don't worry, you'll have the process down in no time!

Good luck,
Chris
 
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