Thing must be leaky as hell. Bottom vents closed and top at 50%. Couldn't get under 350°, and got as high as 400° with bottom vents closed, and top 100%. Do I just need seasoned, or is something else going wrong. It's a 99' that the previous owner used once, or twice. Started with 20 lit coals. High 60's and a bit windy.
That's pretty high. Start with 10-15 coals, put it together as soon as you out the coals on the unlit, start at 25% open and see where that takes you. wind could very well be your problem. Water in the pan?
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No water in the pan. Also forgot a drip pan. Gonna have a mess to clean up tomorrow.
The trick is to catch the heat going up instead of trying to get it down. Get it set up with all vents wide open, when it hits...say 200,,turn the bottom vents down a little more than half, then maybe 1/4 or an 1/8 open. Leave the top open all the time.
I think you started with to many lit coals. I have a 22" and use 12 lit Kingsford Bricks in a hole in the middle of my charcoal ring using a coffee can with the bottom cut out.
If I want high heat for chicken or turkey I dump a full lit chimney on top of a non lit charcoal ring half full and let her rip
I have never used Lump Charcoal so that may differ
I usually just wrap my water pan up in heavy duty foil. Never run water in it. Sometimes I will use a large turkey roasting aluminum pan with some water in it. I do have a gasket on the door. My 22 ran hot for the first 5-6 cooks. Now is usually settles in at around 240-275. I am good with those temps.
I am going to order the Cajun bandit pimp kit and get the door, high flow charcoal ring, and the rotisserie. Maybe that will help me settle in a little lower.
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The water pan is the drip pan,,cover it with foil for easy clean up if your not using water in it
Oh yeah, I only use KBB. Never used anything else. Although I do have a few bags of Stubbs and coshell. I have never cooked in my kettles with anything other then KBB.
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There is no need for the high dollar door or any gaskets. It works fine out of the box.
I'd be ok with topping out at 275°. Gonna cook a few chickens over the next few weeks. First couple hours ran around 250°. After that... Just took off. There was a lot of smoke coming out of the lid and door. Probably wind up with the Cajun bandit door, sooner than later.
I used KBB.
Quote from: Harleysmoker on March 29, 2016, 07:41:43 PM
There is no need for the high dollar door or any gaskets. It works fine out of the box.
Gonna try to season it some, before buying a new door.
Got pretty good with my kettles, over the last year. I feel like a noob again.
A little smoke leaking from the lid and door is not the end of the world. Maintaining temp is, kind of. Many people cook butts and briskets now at 300* instead of 225* and claim they are just as good.
Does your door need a little bend to make it fit flatter against the middle section? Do this easy as it is pretty flimsy. The seal on the lid and middle section will seal up a little after some grease gets built up on it.
Mine still leaks a little smoke but its no problem as my temp stays where I want it
It was pouring from the lid and door. I did run my probes through the door, but that's not where it was pouring from. Well.. It was pouring, all around the door.
Is the WSM in question an 18.5" or 22.5"?
The 18 doors seal better if you install them upside-down.
Also make sure that the bowl, body, and lid are not out of round.
Keep your WSM out of the wind and try less lit coals.
You will have it down in no time!
Quote from: Harleysmoker on March 29, 2016, 07:35:31 PM
The trick is to catch the heat going up instead of trying to get it down. Get it set up with all vents wide open, when it hits...say 200,,turn the bottom vents down a little more than half, then maybe 1/4 or an 1/8 open. Leave the top open all the time.
I think you started with to many lit coals. I have a 22" and use 12 lit Kingsford Bricks in a hole in the middle of my charcoal ring using a coffee can with the bottom cut out.
If I want high heat for chicken or turkey I dump a full lit chimney on top of a non lit charcoal ring half full and let her rip
I have never used Lump Charcoal so that may differ
What
@Harleysmoker said. If you catch the temps and get in front of it by closing your vents on the way up it will be wayyyy easier to control. I usually close all three bottom vents half way when they get to 225 and I aim for 275. She'll settle in where she wants to settle in but using the minion method with about 10 or 12 briquettes in the middle is how I roll.
Good luck and let us know how it goes next time.
Maybe smoke up a couple of fattys to get some gunk into the seams.
I also use briquettes instead of lump for smoking.
Some good advice in this thread.
The thing is however, that he had temps under control, pretty much, at the beginning! Sounds to me like a combination of wind and leaks, each making the effect of the other worse. Keep in mind also that without a drip pan, dripping grease probably just fueled the burn even faster, probably producing some flareups.
So no, you shouldn't need gaskets unless it's windy, etc. Mine will sometimes run away and sometimes perform as expected, with or without grease built up. So a Cajun door and some gaskets remain on my wishlist; bottom line, I need more reliability or I'll sell mine. Currently, I start with no more that 10 lit briquets. I don't ever want to have to take it apart and remove hot coals again.
@captjoe06 fatties are a great idea. Messy, can handle a higher heat and taste way better than chicken.
Quote from: addicted-to-smoke on March 30, 2016, 03:30:57 AM
Some good advice in this thread.
The thing is however, that he had temps under control, pretty much, at the beginning! Sounds to me like a combination of wind and leaks, each making the effect of the other worse. Keep in mind also that without a drip pan, dripping grease probably just fueled the burn even faster, probably producing some flareups.
So no, you shouldn't need gaskets unless it's windy, etc. Mine will sometimes run away and sometimes perform as expected, with or without grease built up. So a Cajun door and some gaskets remain on my wishlist; bottom line, I need more reliability or I'll sell mine. Currently, I start with no more that 10 lit briquets. I don't ever want to have to take it apart and remove hot coals again.
I think that was probably the biggest contributor to the problem.
BD
@Big Dawg I had the water bowl in place. Nothing dripping on a live fire.
Quote from: TheDude on April 01, 2016, 08:08:55 AM
@Big Dawg I had the water bowl in place. Nothing dripping on a live fire.
Quote from: TheDude on March 29, 2016, 07:28:27 PM
No water in the pan. Also forgot a drip pan. Gonna have a mess to clean up tomorrow.
I was confused, sorry. Actually I kinda still am but it's OK.
@addicted-to-smoke The water pan was in place but with no water in it. All the drippings were caught by it. Next time, I'll just foil line the water bowl and not worry about a drip pan at all.
Gonna be windy on my days off this week. I'll keep this updated though.
Wind isn't too bad. So got a fatty going. Holding around 270°, with bottom vents closed. Started with 12 1/2 spent coals, I used to cook lunch.
I posted about starting a wsm on prior posts..
Usually start with 10-12 lit coals...better to start low than high...wsms are hard to pull back temps...
Running about 300°. Better than the last run.
Lots of great advice here.
Also check your temp with a digital thermometer. The dome thermometer on my 22 wsm is out nearly 40 degrees from the upper grill temp.
Sometimes my dome thermometer is off by 75-100 degrees. My therm yesterday said 150 all day but my top grate was 225 and bottom grate way 247.
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My WSM is a 99'. No dome therm. Using a maverick 732.
Yesterday was very windy here. 25-30 mph winds all day and the high was 41 degrees. It was rough trying to keep temps steady. Had all bottom vents open about a 1/4 of the way. I run my water dry, just wrapped in foil. Every now and then I will put water In it. Definitely makes it easier to control temps.
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Hi-I have installed gaskets on the door and for the lid-I did have a problem with smoke billowing from the door and lid-but since installing gaskets and adjusting door-find a whole lot better. Wind can play havoc with the smoke
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And it's best to slow down temp increase rather than trying to cool WSM down-but all that said-what a fantastic piece of kit!!
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(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd487/sickofcichlids/5DB977AB-8D58-4559-AD70-8103DC44C12E.jpg) (http://s1222.photobucket.com/user/sickofcichlids/media/5DB977AB-8D58-4559-AD70-8103DC44C12E.jpg.html)
A lot less wind today. Hopefully that's the factor. Not looking to go all day, so about a 1/2 load in the cooker and 10 coals getting ready in the chimney. Depending on how things go, I might run out and grab a chicken.
Definitely slower coming up to temp.
Slower is better. Go out and get a chicken.
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Chicken is rubbed with Eat and on the smoker. Holding around 250°.
Good stuff. Should be a wonderful meal.
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I've bumped the temp to try and crisp the skin.
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd487/sickofcichlids/B16214FD-5E5B-46FE-AF0A-952E44E29B8F.jpg) (http://s1222.photobucket.com/user/sickofcichlids/media/B16214FD-5E5B-46FE-AF0A-952E44E29B8F.jpg.html)
Much happier with this run.
Good looking Yardbird, Dude ! ! ! Plus, I see you actually to bump up the temp. Seems like you're getting the hang of it ! !
BD
Thanks
@Big Dawg It certainly felt better this time around. On a side note... I've never been a fan of white meat. This was the juiciest I've ever had. Delicious.
That's the best part of this little hobby . . . .
BD
Well she ran about 250° for about four hours. Now she's starting to run. Around 290° right now. Started with 8lit coals, and off to the side of the charcoal ring, instead of the middle. It's ok for today, as I'm just doing another chicken for dinner. However, I want to do a brisket sooner than later. Also no good for ribs. I don't know.
Close those vents down. I always use the minion method. Usually settle in at about 260-280. I can get it up high if I want. Way over 300. Next time I am off I am going to do a dry run with a snake and see what kind of temps I can get.
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Well I don't like using the top vent, but she's coming down. 270°. Not sure how long of a burn you'd get using a snake in an 18.5".
Mine is a 22 so I should get a decent run. I can usually get about 240 ish with no water and only using 1 vent and closing up the top one a little.
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I started with two closed and one cracked, with the top vent open. Then closed the top a bit and it started coming down. Threw a yard bird on a little while ago. Opened two bottom vents and the top, to cook the bird.
275* is the new Low & Slow
I've been competing since 2007 and used WSM's. 2010 we were the Pacific Northwest BBQ Association Team of the Year and we cooked all the way to the Jack Daniels exclusively on two 22" and two 18" WSM's.
There is a lot of misinformation in this thread and when I hear people mentioning a snake in a bullet I just wanna scream!!
@swamprb How do you recommend keeping her from running. I'd be fine in the 250-275° range, but when she suddenly runs off to 290-300°. This last time I was able to corral her a bit, but I had to tamp the top vent about 50%.
Quote from: swamprb on April 29, 2016, 01:58:39 AM
There is a lot of misinformation in this thread and when I hear people mentioning a snake in a bullet I just wanna scream!!
It was just a thought. Amazingribs.com recommends it. Usually the advice over there is pretty good.