WSM temp control

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What kind of charcoal are you using, sand or water in the pan? How open are the vents.....wind....where are you measuring the temps?
 
10 chunks is alot of wood, unless they are very very small chunks.

How many lit coals are you starting off with?
 
Daddy's KungfuBBQ said:
[quote="Larry Wolfe":3v9ceqi9]10 chunks is alot of wood, unless they are very very small chunks.

How many lit coals are you starting off with?

20 to 25. I have been adding more lit coals after 2 hours in order to get the temp to 240. Didn't work this last time.[/quote:3v9ceqi9]

Something doesn't sound right, that should get your temps up pretty quick.

I start off with 10-15 max and it will get up to temp in around 30 minutes.

How much meat did you have on the cooker when it took so long to come up to temp?
 
i'm with scotty and larry. when i was running with kingsford, i would light about 15 pieces in the chimney and run up to about 230 within an hour. possibly a combination of the wood catching fire and the pan going dry could spike temps without too much problem....especially if you've got a lot of open vent....when i get running up to that temp, i've got the vents pretty much (85-90% +/-) shut down......

Rob
 
I'm not trying to re-invent the wheel, but this is how I do mine. I load the ring near full with lump (RO) and make a valley in the middle. I light 1 nearly full chimney of lump. When it is fully lit (ashy on the top lump pices) I dump it into the center of the ring in the valley I made. SI set the center in place and fill the pan. Once it reaches temp I add the meat and 3 - 4 baseball sized lumps of Hickory. When the temp gets back to 225 I shut the bottom vents down to 50%. I usually will add more fuel at around 6 - 7 hours, not that it really needs it, but I do it for that sence of security. It has held temp really well doing it that way so far. I will say that I have only cooked about 10 times each on my 2 WSMs since I got them a couple of months ago so I'm no expert.
 
brian j said:
this is just a theory, but i'm betting the smoke from all that hickory is preventing the fire from getting big enough to heat up the smoker. then after the hickory either burns up or estinguishes the kingsford uses all the now available oxygen and the temp rises to 300.
Ya know you just might have something there.
 
Pigs On The Wing BBQ said:
I kind of think Brian is on to something. I preheat my wood chunks, I think perheating them may add to a longer smoke time. Just a thought.

Not trying to be a smartass but how would preheating them make them smoke longer? Seems the opposite would happen. I didn't understand Brians post either about how "too much smoke would keep the temps down"? I guess I am not understanding the rationale...
 
brian j said:
[quote="Larry Wolfe":1am453hc]...I didn't understand Brians post either about how "too much smoke would keep the temps down"? I guess I am not understanding the rationale...
smoke is made up of co2, not oxygen, and it's filling the wsm preventing the oxygen needed for a hotter fire from getting in.[/quote:1am453hc]

That makes sense if you have your top vent closed or partially closed to inhibit or prevent the smoke from exiting........but if you have your top vent 100% open you will have proper airflow to exhaust your smoke and the bottom vents open to fuel the fire with fresh air/oxygen you won't have that problem. If the smoke has no where to go you are 100% correct.
 
As for preheating the wood....might get a cleaner burn..I've done it with wood that may be wet....or not cured enough...but not a longer smoke...

As for the smoke thing...might be a matter off not enouth draw thru the little vents on the bottom...
Personally I think that the hickory is just smokdering and then when it catches...there goes the temp...
 
Larry: What I mean by preheating the wood is kind of like a kiln process. You want to heat the wood till all the water evaporates along with the tar and resins from the wood. That way you have a nice thin blue smoke from the wood. Water in wood along with tar and resins produces a what I think as bad smoke. I guess in better terms as drying the wood before adding it to the coals. I know, I know, sounds like it will burn faster. I have found it does not there for I can get more wood flavor and it cut's down on wood consumption. I put about 3 fist size chunks of wood in my chimney and put it on the turkey fryer on a piece of steel never let it get to the smoldering point.(glowing embers on the side of the wood) It will emit smoke, White smoke is water, black to tan smoke is tar and resins, When it turns blue, it's good to go. The wood should never be on fire at all! your drying it. Not burning it. That's for the pit. May sound like a big PITA but worth it. I think.
 
Pigs On The Wing BBQ said:
Larry: What I mean by preheating the wood is kind of like a kiln process. You want to heat the wood till all the water evaporates along with the tar and resins from the wood. That way you have a nice thin blue smoke from the wood. Water in wood along with tar and resins produces a what I think as bad smoke. I guess in better terms as drying the wood before adding it to the coals. I know, I know, sounds like it will burn faster. I have found it does not there for I can get more wood flavor and it cut's down on wood consumption. I put about 3 fist size chunks of wood in my chimney and put it on the turkey fryer on a piece of steel never let it get to the smoldering point.(glowing embers on the side of the wood) It will emit smoke, White smoke is water, black to tan smoke is tar and resins, When it turns blue, it's good to go. The wood should never be on fire at all! your drying it. Not burning it. That's for the pit. May sound like a big PITA but worth it. I think.

I know the reasoning behind preheating the wood, but IMO that really only benefits stick burners where you want the wood to catch as soon as you throw the log in the firebox. Or if you know your wood is damp. Will it hurt if you preheat the wood in a bullet cooker? NO. Will it benefit it? I doubt it. "Smoldering" wood will give you the problems you stated above (soot and white smoke). You do NOT want a "smoldering" fire, you want an efficient small fire (not flaming) but you want the wood to have enough oxygen and enough exhaust to have a complete burn (blue smoke), versu smoldering (white smoke).
 
Please disregard everything I've posted, it's all jibberish. I was informed by PM that "I try to be, but can't be right about everything". I wasn't trying to be right about everything, just talking common sense. I was passing on my experiences and knowledge regarding a question that was asked. Sorry for wasting everyones time.
 
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