WSM turkey disappointment


 
K

Keith Runnells

New member
I set up my smoker for a high heat cook, no water in the pan and started the coals the standard method.
Birds went on at 1:45. Yes we did 2 smaller birds instead of one monster. One was approx 11lbs and the other 14.5lb. I put the large bird on the lower rack thinking the smaller bird will finish first and that wil give me time to cut it up while the other finishes.

The ambient temp was 40F with a very light wind.

After putting the birds on the dome temp gauge never climbed above 300F, but I thought no big deal, I just put two cold birds there!

My probe thermometer decided to take the day off as the probe temp was reading 122F not even touching anything but the cold November air. You're Fired! Out came the fresh batteries and you are gone!

By 4:30pm I was expecting to be on the home stretch but the dome temp was hovering around 265F and knew an intervention was needed. All the vents have been wide open since the start, what gives? My wife is asking how it is going, I'm panicking that this is going to take all night, my breast temp is only at 122F for the small bird but 112F for the big one on the lower rack.
Small tongs to prop the lid slightly for more air flow, hey look! My temps are climbing!

The birds finally finished around 6:30pm. Everyone loved them, might have been the best turkey they've ever had was what I heard. Im happy and frustrated all at the same time. Why didn't my smoker get hotter than it did?
 
I smoked my first turkey (13#) this year and it took about 3 hours on my WSM. When you say you started it "the standard way", what do you mean? In my experience for high temp, you need to start with more lit coals than you would for a normal smoke.

Also, my dome thermometer never read over 300 either. My iGrill2 was showing as high as 330 at grate level though.
 
I'm sorry your experience was less than you expected. To get your temps in the 350*F range so your bird cooks faster, you have to take some extraordinary steps. I put a metal skewer horizontal between the center section and lid to create a crack. Others prop the access door open. And still others make permanent modifications for high heat by adding another top vent.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/how-to/a23997/how-long-cook-turkey/
 
Last edited:
Keith, what were your expectations on the length of cooking time?

if you would figure a 15lb bird cooks at 350ºF in 4 hours, considering your temps, the time slot is nearly exact.
have you had better results previously?

you said you "started the coals the standard method"... please describe your standard method.

to achieve 350º in a 18"WSM using the deflector (empty water pan), i would not use the Minion Method...
go straight one full all lit charcoal chimney of briquettes. (possibly more using a 22"WSM)

Certainly glad it turned out great tasting turkey and everyone was happy!
 
In order to do high heat on the WSM, I do as you did with the empty water pan. I fill the charcoal grate enough to leave room for a full chimney of lit. After I pour the lit charcoal onto the unlit, I leave the smoker unassembled for 5-10 minutes. This gets all that charcoal going with a nice hot fire. I struggled the first few times I tried high heat until I delayed assembling the cooker. You can also prop the door open for a few minutes if temps get low. This will let some air in and stoke things up a bit.

Glad your story had a happy ending.
 
Keith Runnells said:
Why didn't my smoker get hotter than it did?
Click to expand...
Many good suggestions, just adding my 2 cents: In order to get hot, you have to start hot. I did my Turkey on the WSM yesterday, and when I fired it up, I filled the ring full of charcoal (I used Applewood & Hickorywood charcoal) and I dumped a full, fully lit load of charcoal. If I had to guess, there was more than 20 fully lit coals, and probably more
 
ChuckO said:
Many good suggestions, just adding my 2 cents: In order to get hot, you have to start hot. I did my Turkey on the WSM yesterday, and when I fired it up, I filled the ring full of charcoal (I used Applewood & Hickorywood charcoal) and I dumped a full, fully lit load of charcoal. If I had to guess, there was more than 20 fully lit coals, and probably more
Click to expand...

I used 2 full chimneys, one lit and gray followed by a second poured over the already hot coals and then waited for those to get gray. That is the "standard" lighting method. Look it up it is on this forum!
This was my first go 'round with turkey and the smoker is a few months old,what irks me and I'm not passing blame and pointing fingers is, after all my research and waffling back and forth about how to do it I read go hot and fast for poultry, low and slow makes the skin rubbery I missed somewhere, someone saying in order to get higher temps on your WSM you'll need to prop the lid open a little because it is engineered to run low and slow. All the great advice here and one small detail I missed!

I'm sorry. I was venting this morning hoping and praying the birds were really done and I wasn't going to get a phone call from someone with stuff shooting out both ends saying your cooking made us sick!

I trust and value all the experience here and each and every time I use my kettle or smoker I learn something new.

Thanks everyone.
 
Glad they turned out well, eventually.
Chris' standard method states 2 chimneys of charcoal for a 12 lb. bird, and you had a total weight of about 25 lbs., or over twice the weight.
This large cold mass was holding back your temps.
 
Keith Runnells said:
I set up my smoker for a high heat cook, no water in the pan and started the coals the standard method.
Birds went on at 1:45. Yes we did 2 smaller birds instead of one monster. One was approx 11lbs and the other 14.5lb. I put the large bird on the lower rack thinking the smaller bird will finish first and that wil give me time to cut it up while the other finishes.

The ambient temp was 40F with a very light wind.

After putting the birds on the dome temp gauge never climbed above 300F, but I thought no big deal, I just put two cold birds there!

My probe thermometer decided to take the day off as the probe temp was reading 122F not even touching anything but the cold November air. You're Fired! Out came the fresh batteries and you are gone!

By 4:30pm I was expecting to be on the home stretch but the dome temp was hovering around 265F and knew an intervention was needed. All the vents have been wide open since the start, what gives? My wife is asking how it is going, I'm panicking that this is going to take all night, my breast temp is only at 122F for the small bird but 112F for the big one on the lower rack.
Small tongs to prop the lid slightly for more air flow, hey look! My temps are climbing!

The birds finally finished around 6:30pm. Everyone loved them, might have been the best turkey they've ever had was what I heard. Im happy and frustrated all at the same time. Why didn't my smoker get hotter than it did?
Click to expand...

I had a similar problem.

I put my turkey on at about 2:15 and the grate temp was registering about 335F. So far so good, right? Well it quickly dropped to about 295 and with the cold wind blowing, I figured there wasn't much sense in messing around with this any longer. So I fired up nearly a full chimney of coals and once these were fully lit about 20 minutes later, I dumped an equal amount in both baskets in the Performer and cooked the bird on the roti instead!

The bird was done about 2.5 hours later. Turned out great!

We bought a fresh turkey about 14lbs and brined it using the apple brine recipe here. Big difference in flavor and it goes without saying that we'll be doing this again next Thanksgiving! Of course maybe we'll go the drunken turkey route next time as that one sounds like a winner too :)
 
I don't know if this will help you but when I want to do a high eat cook in my 18.5 rather than use the water pan (or in my case I use a pizza stone) I use a disposable aluminum pan on the grate beneath. This acts as a diffuser so what I'm cooking is not subjected to direct heat but doesn't act as a sink.
 
JRAiona said:
I don't know if this will help you but when I want to do a high eat cook in my 18.5 rather than use the water pan (or in my case I use a pizza stone) I use a disposable aluminum pan on the grate beneath. This acts as a diffuser so what I'm cooking is not subjected to direct heat but doesn't act as a sink.
Click to expand...

I'll have to try that next time. I had the water pan foiled and a drip pan on top of the lower grate since I was worried that the drippings would just burn off if I used just the water pan.
 
Keith Runnells said:
I used 2 full chimneys, one lit and gray followed by a second poured over the already hot coals and then waited for those to get gray. That is the "standard" lighting method. Look it up it is on this forum!

Thanks everyone.
Click to expand...

I knew what Keith meant as I use this method from time to time. Here it is
 
My 1st time turkey on a WSM 18 and I lit the normal way full chim on coals, waited 40 min to get up to temp, about 45 deg outside.
325-350 cook temp and a 21 lb roadrunner and in 6 hrs 165 breast, 175 deep thigh and it was really good. Overnight brine in kosher salt and brown sugar. Salt, pepper and garlic with some fresh rosemary was all we used as dry rub.
Only change I'd make is add less smoke wood, 4 fist size, 2 pecan and 2 apple was a bit much.
I had to top off coals twice, about 10-12 unlits on the bed.
 
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