First WSM Smoke...help!
 

OK...I got home this morning from the road at 3am, fired up a cigar and then commenced to fire up the new WSM that I got THIS MORNING! Got the RO lump in there, made a hole for my K briquetes that I started in the chimney, put in some Cherry chunks (about 4) and poured the coals in when they were white hot. Put water in the pan and put the racks and lids on. Temp started rising and when it got to about 240, I closed the vents down but it just kept going UP! Hit 250 then up to 275 and stayed there. Closed the vents all the way down except the top one and it's just not coming down. How can i get the temp down on this thing? Got a fatty in there just to have something to smoke.

Its holding steady at 275 (on the lid thermometer - didn't hook up the mavericks). All vents closed...what do I do to get this temp down?

Thanks!

I don't own one so my opinions are useless. But i have seen them used.
I think the trick is to catch the temp on the way up as in start closing the vents before you get to target temps.
To reduce heat you could hose down the smoker, I think that would work to reduce temps.
However, i would just cook the fatty at current temp and roll...
A lot of folks are smoking at 250 -275 range now to reduce length of cooks.
You might check the difference between top and grate temp also.
jon

I have seen a friend start a fire this way, use a one lb coffee metal container with bottom cut out, place in center of fire grate, surround with briq, use second coffee can to measure out briq, put in chimmey, get hot then pour in hollow can in smoker,
carefully pull out hollow can, add water pan with hot water in it, setup and get ready to cook...
jon

Just shut dow those bottim vents and wait a while. Temps should come down unless your door is leaking.

How many lit briq's did you toss in? May have just had a few too many to start. Shouldn't take many.

Just be patient and watch it, the temp should drop eventually.
Double check the door for air leakage too (as said above).

They tend to run hot the first few cooks, as well.

A brand spanking new one is gonna leak more around the door, and where the sections meet. Shape your door by hand, and check your sections for being out of round. Going by your temps I doubt it's out of round, as temps settled, although a little high. I'd check though, and it can be bent back in, no problem. I dropped my lid once and had to bend it back, just like with a kettle. It's perfectly normal for a new wsm to run a little hot. Just try closing your vents more/sooner. You'll probably be a bit surprised at how slow the temps are to respond to vent changes, especially when the wsm is new as it needs to build up some smoke crud around the door and where the sections fit together. It'll get more responsive as you use it though. Main thing is to shape that door, but it'll start behaving, be patient.

Good luck with it!
Dave

You got that right.

I recall my first WSM experience and I had titled it "Baking on the WSM"

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...ght=Baking+WSM