Worries about temp drop on WSM 18"


 
J

JessicaB

TVWBB Member
Good morning.
I am smoking two 6 pound boston butts today, hopefully. I filled the charcoal ring up nearly all of the way and added some apple wood chunks. I used 25 coals in the chimney and once red hot, I dumped them on the center of the unlit coals. All vents are open and I have 2/3 water in the pan (new deeper model). The pan is foil wrapped on the bottom only. It was 25F outside when I began.

I was up to 225 on the grate in the smoker so I took my two prepared butts and put them on. The temp dropped to 70F, I think I needed to move faster getting the butts on but it was about 5 minutes between getting them on and getting my probe in place. It's been about 28 minutes and the temp is only at 127, it was 120 a few minutes ago. It is rising.

Coals are hot still and I have plenty of coal in there for this cook, I think.

Should I be worried or do something?
I'm using Kingsford Blue charcoal that was kept inside my house so it wasn't ice cold when I dropped it. Does that even matter? Sorry for the panic thread. :eek:
 
In the future I would look at cooking without water in the pan, but I think you'll be fine. Make sure the vents are open and the lid stays closed and the temp should come up without a problem. I suspect that your probe may be very close to the meat and that will impact the reading until the meat warms up. if it's touching the meat or real close, then I would open the lid and make an adjustment to the location of the probe.


No, the temperature of the charcoal does not matter.
 
Thank you! I'm only at 30% in panic mode, so I'm still smiling, but I have been worried. It's at 147 now. I'll go check the probe, I thought I avoided placing the meat near it, but I suspect you may not be far off in your thinking.
 
Jessica, Were the BB at room temp or straight out of the fridge?? That would have the most cause for severe temp, drop NOT your time in putting them in. You should be OK. I'd run all vents open, maybe even open your door for a bit to get more air intake. The temp will rise pretty quickly. You might have to add more fuel towards the end of your cook as well. Good luck and keep us posted.


Drink a little drink, Smoke a little smoke :wsm:
 
Well, I'm going to apologize that my post was merely a long winded way of saying I can be an idiot at 8 am! The grate probe was pinned down by one of the butts. The temp is at 261 so I closed one bottom vent to see what that does.
The butts were from the fridge; maybe sat out 20-25 minutes after I prepared them and finished up letting the smoker adjust to the temp.
 
Live and learn but most of all enjoy! Panic and BBQ do not go well together. Nothing bad is going to happen from the temp being off (high or low). And if everything somehow were to absolutely go bad, there's always the oven. Hope those butts turn out well for you.
 
Thanks all! I think things are going smoother now. I closed a second vent. The lid thermometer is reading 250 whereas the grate probe is 275. I almost trust the grate probe more because that's where the food is.

I love every aspect of this, even a 6:30 am Saturday wake up call!
 
When I'm cooking and it's morning and the air is cool and crisp and you smell the smokiness of the butts cooking, that is the best. That line by Robert Duvall always runs through my head "I love the smell of napalm in the morning". Of course I substitute BBQ for napalm :)
 
JessicaB said:
Thanks all! I think things are going smoother now. I closed a second vent. The lid thermometer is reading 250 whereas the grate probe is 275. I almost trust the grate probe more because that's where the food is.

I love every aspect of this, even a 6:30 am Saturday wake up call!
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I would definitely go by the probe temp as opposed to the dome temp.
 
Yeah the lid reads 250 and the probe 270. I closed all vents to about 1/8th open. We'll see how that works. I think it'll be fine. I did life the lid quick, man it smelled good. I'm at 142 IT now. Thank you all for the help, in spite of it being absolute user error code ID10T. :D
 
J Kloeker said:
I would definitely go by the probe temp as opposed to the dome temp.
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J Kloeker is right. Most of us find the the grate temp always runs about 20 degrees higher than the lid time. I have always trusted the grate temp and it has never failed to please. Enjoy that wonderful Q.
 
Jerry N. said:
...'snip'.... Panic and BBQ do not go well together. ...'snip'...
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Oh I don't know...over the course of 30 years of BBQ'ing (yeah I am well seasoned) I have had my fair share of panic moments.
Makes for some funny stories once it's all over though.
 
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