Need Help!!!!!!! 911

N

northernrescue3321

Guest
So yesturday, I did my Pastrami cook on my WSM. Was also the first time using the Guru Party Q I did it with no water in the bowl and foiled the bowl and put a ceramic plate in it as some had said. I used lump charcoal and had a set temp of 250. All day it ran hot and I had a lot of trouble getting it t stay at 250

Today I am smoking some St Louis Ribs. FIrst time doing the ribs. Again same set up, thins time was looking to use a set temp of 275. To try and help combat the temp issue I placed some water and apple juice in the water pan. Today's issues is getting up to temp. it took about an hour to get hot. They after putting on the ribs, it took about another hour to get back up to temp.

Not sure what I am doing wrong or if there is any thing else I can do!!! Help!!
 
JP7794 said:
Are you using the Minion method and if so how much are you lighting?
Click to expand...

I am, and I am using about 1/2- 3/4 of my chimney full.

Also another note, yesterday I used Lump and today I am using briquettes... not sure if that is making the difference.
 
Ok, If u going to use water then cook at 225F. Water will turn to steam at 212F which will keep your smoker at about that temp. So 225F is easy to keep with water.
No water- cook at high temp BUT make sure to light up A LOT less charcoal.
It takes a lot less charcoal (lump) to keep smoker going without water.
In my big WSM I use 50% sand and 50% water cooking at 260F and love it.
Hope this help.
CIMG4578_zpsb534f29a.jpg
 
peterz said:
Ok, If u going to use water then cook at 225F. Water will turn to steam at 212F which will keep your smoker at about that temp. So 225F is easy to keep with water.
No water- cook at high temp BUT make sure to light up A LOT less charcoal.
It takes a lot less charcoal (lump) to keep smoker going without water.
In my big WSM I use 50% sand and 50% water cooking at 260F and love it.
Hope this help.

Might have to give the sand a shot and see if that helps. And BTW what is that frankenstien contraption and how can I build/ buy one:clap:

I removed a decent amount of water and it seems to be helping. I just wish I can get this thing dialed in. I guess it really just comes down to a lot of trial and error.
Click to expand...
 
Lump burns hotter than briquettes, so that is part of your problem. I use 3 or 4 foil balls covered by 2 layers of foil in my water pan. This helps the smoker to com to temp quicker, and doesn't give off the radiant heat that a pan full of sand does. When I tried sand any thing I cooked on the lower grate had a tendency to dry out.
 
What I meant is I place smaller bowl of water inside the smoker water bowl and fill
with sand around the smaller water bowl. That way I still get the water steam but
also I can cook at higher temp without any problems.
Sorry cant buy, must build at this time =)
 
Im going to have to try everything and see what will work out the best. And I do have everything closed off and letting the guru do its thing. For those here using the WSM, do you use briquettes or lump??
 
I use briquettes. I find that I have less spikes with the even burn of briquettes. It really boils down to what works best for you.
 
So earlier on in the cook, I removed about 1/2 if not more of the water that I started out with and it seemed to help with recovery. But (as per the Maverik) I could not get about 250-255. Just went to check on the ribs and wrap them, I noticed that the Guru said it was at 275. So I decided to try an reposition the clip for the Guru and behold it is now at 273 on the Maverik and the Guru is at 277. Good enough. Stupid issue leading to a lot of headaches!!!
 
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