PSB, A Mini WSM And A Windy Night

[Hell Fire Grill]

Mr.Hoss Nice cook ups on the PSB thread.

I tryied to reply the other day but the weather took away my connection.

You said your having trouble dialing in the temps on your 14. I dont have a 14 but I do have an 18 and Im pretty sure they'll run about the same since they share the same design. Part of the reason i put mine on that mower cart is because I'v had trouble a couple times getting it to cook the way its supposed to. I found that if I rotate the cooker a couple inches so one bottom vent is toward the wind/air movement and the lid vent is 180* opposite, that allows mother nature to stoke the fire.

I know in the past there was a problem with the location of the cooker in relation to structure in my yard and the air moving through the area. My garage was making turbulence in the air, I believe, and affected the cookers ability to draw air in and exhaust it. When I moved it over a couple feet and/or rotate it, it worked just fine.

My thought is that since charcoal fires, in general, dont use as much air as a wood fire (which virtually stoke themselves with the air they draw in) and the air flow volume through the WSM is quite low, that small changes can make a big difference in how everything works together. Thats the reason one small  movement of the lid vent will adjust the heat by several degrees. Slight pressure differences caused by turbulence or small vortexes around the cooker can effect it the same way, by not allowing the air to flow properly.

Thats one reason some competition teams use a stoker on WSMs. They dont know what the conditions will be like where they are going to set up and they have to be on time all the time and consistent. The stoker eliminates most of the variations caused by wind speed & direction, atmospheric pressure changes and some other anomalies. But i dont advocate using them, same with electronic thermos to monitor temps (thats mostly because im a tight wad and all that junk eventually breaks), because theres generally a way to adapt and overcome the problem.

Some other things that could cause temp swings is caused by the fuel. Overloading with wood chunks can smother a charcoal fire, with smoke, and when the wood stops burning the charcoal takes off again and can repeat itself as long as the condition stays the same. Another is to big of chunks mixed into the charcoal, wood burns at a different rate and heat than charcoal. In my opinion wood chunks work best on top of the charcoal, after the air is flowing correctly.

Im not an internet scientist, just another boring Ol'fuck with to much time on my hands & a grill in my yard and this is what I'v done to solve that problem.

[MrHoss]

Good advice @Hell Fire Grill. Next time I use the Mini I'll keep position in mind.

[Qreps]

Looks so good