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Wsm h/h advice needed

Freddy j

Freddy j

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Hi guys & gals;

I like to cook turkeys and am in the middle of one right now on my wsm 22.

I'm having difficulty keeping the temp at 325 with all vents wide open unless I keep the access door fully open. It's really not all that cold or windy out.

Am I expecting too much heat from my wsm? Are there any tricks or advice or am I looking at buying a 22" kettle?
 
I've not tried H/H on my WSM but I found that starting with 2 lit chimneys of charcoal on my 26" kettle got me well over 410°. Did you start with more lit coals? That extra heat might get more air flow which should produce more heat.

I don't think a 22" kettle has any more air flow capacity (size of vents) than the WSM.

You might try cracking the lid open a bit.

BTW, the high heat on my 26 was for the first half hour of a turkey (ala Alton Brown) and it did come out good.
 
What is in the water Pan? Do you have a wind brake set up?
 
Usually when that happens to me I didn't start out with enough lit coals. You might consider starting another chimney, taking your smoker apart and adding it once it has fully lit and ashed over. I would also add some additional unlit while it is apart i order to sustain the heat.

When I put a full chimney of unlit and a full chimney of lit in my 22.5 WSM, I top out between 325 and 350. Two chimneys of lit will get you 400 plus.
 
Agree with above. No water in pan (but keep it in as a heat shield and drip pan).

It takes some serious coal to get a 22.5 up to those temps but they will last once your there.
 
Freddy j said:
Hi guys & gals;

I like to cook turkeys and am in the middle of one right now on my wsm 22.

I'm having difficulty keeping the temp at 325 with all vents wide open unless I keep the access door fully open. It's really not all that cold or windy out.

Am I expecting too much heat from my wsm? Are there any tricks or advice or am I looking at buying a 22" kettle?
Click to expand...

Do not know if you are using a roasting pan or not but yesterday I was doing a butt and had a large turkey roasting pan on lower rack to catch grease and mine would not get above 280. To my amazement when I removed the pan my temps went to 375 immediately.
 
Hozman said:
Do you use the minion method on your WSM? I find with mine to get over 300 I start with about 20 lit briquettes.
Click to expand...
Yes, I used the minion and the large weber chimney full to the top
 
Bludawg said:
What is in the water Pan? Do you have a wind brake set up?
Click to expand...

Toast said:
Agree with above. No water in pan (but keep it in as a heat shield and drip pan).

It takes some serious coal to get a 22.5 up to those temps but they will last once your there.
Click to expand...

volfan411 said:
Do not know if you are using a roasting pan or not but yesterday I was doing a butt and had a large turkey roasting pan on lower rack to catch grease and mine would not get above 280. To my amazement when I removed the pan my temps went to 375 immediately.
Click to expand...

I did have the drip pan in with about 2" of sand ( haven't even tried water yet) and the bird directly on the top grate w/o roasting pan. Probably give pan in empty no sand next time.
 
All advice so far has been good. I did a mod on my door. Mounted a small bolt about 1/2" in from each upper corner.

It allows me to turn the door upside down, then I can pull it out (with bolts holding it) so it acts as an adjustable vent

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Tapatalk 2
 
Your variables for controlling the temp on a WSM are, fuel, air and water pan.
You can run your WSM with a water pan with water, water pan with no water, and no water pan in the cooker. You can add more fuel to the basket to make the fire run hotter, and you can open the vents all the way open, or prop the door open.
You should be able to keep your WSM above 300 with just running no water in the pan and the vents wide open. Foil the pan in order to keep it clean.
 
Stoke&Smoke said:
All advice so far has been good. I did a mod on my door. Mounted a small bolt about 1/2" in from each upper corner.

It allows me to turn the door upside down, then I can pull it out (with bolts holding it) so it acts as an adjustable vent

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...

It would be great to see this.
 
Stoke&Smoke said:
All advice so far has been good. I did a mod on my door. Mounted a small bolt about 1/2" in from each upper corner.

It allows me to turn the door upside down, then I can pull it out (with bolts holding it) so it acts as an adjustable vent

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...

Very interesting, would you happen to have a pic?
 
One tip for using the pan with no water in it, wrap it in heavy duty foil but don't push the foil all the way into the bottom of the pan. Drape the foil over the pan, push the center down enough to form a concave shape but don't let it touch the inside of the pan. Then wrap the overhanging foil around to cover the bottom of the pan. Leave about an inch of airspace and that will allow you to catch the drippings and it will prevent them from burning. Nothing is better than gravy made from smoked turkey drippings.
 
Freddy j said:
Very interesting, would you happen to have a pic?
Click to expand...

check here:
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/accessdoor.html

I ran my WSM 18 last night at ~325° by adding 2 chimneys of well lit lump and running all the vents wide open--I didn't have any unlit lump since it was going to be a short cook. I had the water pan empty and foiled. I've got the upside down door, but didn't really need to prop it open at all to hold temp.
 
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