Wsm 22 can't get hot enough?


 
JasonWB

JasonWB

TVWBB Member
Hey guys. I went through my second cook on my new wsm 22.5 last night and have a few questions to those that have them as I'm apparently having the opposite problem as most new 22.5 owners with temp control...

First, for clarification, I'm cooking with a wsm22.5, cyberq wifi atc and using kingsford blue bag charcoal.

I did the minion method on a full load of charcoal Saturday and it ran for almost 14 hrs straight at 225 no problem. I did this by starting with the charcoal basket 3/4 full of unlit and adding one full weber chimney of lit to it and letting it run. However, I decided that towards the end I needed to speed things up and tried to bump it up to 250 for the last two hours and my system had trouble getting the cooker above 240. I added several more handfuls of unlit charcoal onto the top of the basket right towards the end as temps kept dropping on me just a little bit.

Jump to last night... I decided to try beer can chicken on the smoker for dinner and wanted to cook it at around 325. I put my basket reducer into the charcoal basket which basically takes it down to the same size as that for an 18.5. I had that half full of unlit and poured one full lit chimney on top of that. Even with the controller fan running 100%, all vents and the door completely open! I couldn't get it above 250. After about an hour, temps dropped again and I had to add more lit coals on top of the basket to keep it at 250.

I know that I'm just trying to get this thing figured out, but my question is how do you guys set run your set ups and fire builds for anything other than the minion method for long cooks. In other words, how can I get this thing to run above 225 for more than a couple of hours? Should I take out the unlit and only add a couple of chimneys of lit or something?

Thanks!!!
 
Mine is the 18" and like you mentioned, having temp is not the typical problem. If I leave all the vents wide open, mine will reach temps in excess of 300 degrees. I have to guess that your vents aren't open or blocked. My top vent is always fully open, I control the heat by adjusting only the bottom vents. Assuming your charcoal is good (not damp or wet) and your vents are not blocked or closed, yours is a unique situation. Can you take a picture of the inside of your smoker? Maybe something isn't right? We saw that one guy had his heat shield inside his smoker, maybe something like that is your problem? There has been times when I want to get the smoker hot fast, and when I want to do that (while cooking) I will open the door for a minute or two
 
Thanks Chuck. What do you mean by heat shield? The only things inside the smoker are the charcoal basket, water pan and cooking grates. And the vents have been wide open and aren't blocked as the smoker is brand new.

How much charcoal do you actually light when starting up the smoker? The big thing that I'm thinking is that maybe I've got too much unlit charcoal in the basket and not enough lit so there isn't enough air getting to the bottom side of the lit charcoal to keep it hot and it's getting smothered out by the unlit stuff.
 
I'll tell you my experiences with my 18.

I had a hard time getting my WSM above 250 also when I first started using it. My problem was that I had too much water in the pan or any at all for that matter. Water boils at 212 so having water in the pan helps keep the temp stable around 212.

I like many others have take the water pan and left it empty AND installed a clay saucer in the pan. I,like many others used a 12" Terra cotta saucer that goes under a clay pot. Some use a 14" one. Once I started using the clay saucer, I was able to achieve and hold higher temps.

Just a note, it does make the WSM harder to control at first but like you I have an atc and it holds temp pretty sufficiently
 
Last edited:
Jason, if you're going for higher heat for chicken try this, 1 chimney of unlit with 1 full chimney of lit dumped on top of it, keep all vents open and if this doesn't get what you want try it with out water in the pan or just take the pan out all together, that's how I do wings. The reason your WSM doesn't burn as hot new as some may be due to the seals you added, there isn't any air seeping in around the sections or door, as for the stoker I don't have one so I know nothing about them or how they may affect cooking temps.
 
Thanks guys. It sounds like my problems are likely coming from having too much unlit charcoal in the basket vs lit and too much (any) water in the pan. Think I may grab a clay saucer today and try a test burn tonight.
 
Jason,

I re-read what you posted and you said you used a whole chimney of lit at first. That should be plenty and I don't think it matters how much unlit you have as far as initial temp rise. The heat from a whole lit chimney with all vents wide open should be more than enough. I can get an 18.5 up to over 300 starting out with just 12 lit coals. It's more a matter of how much air you let in to get to the coals initially.

As Don said, I think it is water in the pan. The water is going to keep the temp from coming up very quick and the smoker will be less efficient trying to maintain higher temps as it will spend energy heating the water.

Definitely try a clay saucer. You may still have to open the vents wide initially to get the temp up but the saucer will help to stabilize them once they come up. If that doesn't work, you can always use a dry water pan covered in foil

Also, a side note. I don't have a 22 but maybe someone can chime in on how much of an effect using a 18.5 ring has on a 22.5. That's a whole lot more space to heat up.
 
Last edited:
You may take this into consideration as well, if you increase the amount of fuel surface exposed to air your fire will burn hotter and yes faster because of the more exposed surface sadly the ring may keep your fuel to tight to accomplish that. The good thing is you can try all the various suggestions which gives you a reason to cook more.
 
So clearly, once again, this site and you guys are a MASSIVE help :)!!! I cleaned out the charcoal basket and emptied out the water pan, foiled it and got an 18" terra cotta dish, foiled it all together and it fit perfectly. Loaded up the basket with kingsford blue and set it up minion style. Lit it around 9 this morning and it has been PERFECT all day. I started out with the cyberq set for 325 and even though it took a pretty solid hour for it to get there, the wsm ramped right up and held solid for about an hour, cranked it to 350 and it jumped there in about 20 minutes. After letting it set there for awhile, I ramped it back to 300, 275, 250 and finally 225 over the next few hours. I Left it at 225 for five or six hours and it held solid. Finally I kicked it back up to 275 just to see if it would jump and it only took about 30 minutes to get there perfectly I'm about to shut it down for the day, but I haven't had to make any charcoal refills or touch the smoker. THANKS GUYS!!!

So on to the next question, the terra cotta option seems to be making my setup easier to control, much more fuel efficient and significantly easier to clean up after a cook (in other words, I'm basically sold)... However, have any of you noticed any differences with not using water? I'm thinking especially for long cooks like pork shoulder and brisket. Meat any less moist? Requiring more basting or attention while cooking to keep it from drying out or does the water have nothing to do with this at all and act as nothing more than a heat diffuser?
 
I also switched to the clay saucer inside my pot months ago and have done both brisket and a pork shoulder with them both turning out as moist as when I used the pan with water in. Difference being, I can hold 250-275 for 10 hours now with no problem with the saucer or 225 for 5 with ease. If you need to get it a little hotter i.e. 300, prop the door an inch for 10-15 min and open all the vents, close door and leave vents open when you get to the higher temp. I love the clay saucer and for me makes it easier to maintain the temp I want.
 
Haven't noticed any difference at all. I never could find a clay saucer so I tried sand and for me it just didn't work so I found a steel disk about 1/8th" thick that fits down inside the bowl about 2" which for me works fantastic. Just be careful with the saucer they can break pretty easy when they get hot good thing is they're pretty cheap.
 
I've been having this type of problem this year with my new 14.5 WSM and my newer 18.5 WSM. I couldn't get the temps to come up much past 240 and this was with all vents fully open using the minion method with about 12-15 lit coals on top. Both smokers are stock with no modifications and they are not air tight. In the past the 18.5 came up to the high 200's, low 300's with no problem but lately it's been having issues. Not sure what the problem is but it's pretty frustrating. The outside temps were in the low 70's so it wasn't that cold out. I've cooked in the past when it was in the 30's out and didn't have these issues.

Wayne
 
Bottom line is, If you're trying to cook at/above 300F you don't want any water in the pan. When I do chicken pieces I put in 2 chimneys of lit coals (I mix lump with KBB 50/50 to 75/25) and an empty water pan. I have recently put in a Piedmont Pan but I run it empty as well. I can usually hold 350F easily for an hour and a half. I use the same procedure doing turkeys I just add some unlit before I dump the 2 chimneys in.
 
So I cooked four large shoulders at once Friday night for my sons first birthday party. Used the clay saucer and no water at all. Temps held rock solid at 225 for 14 hours without touching it once. Shoulders came out PERFECT!!! I would say I have definitely found my solution. Thanks!
 
I find it difficult to cook high heat like needed for chicken with the pan in. I remove it and I can get in the high 300's. I think I hit 400* once.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top