First time smoking-WSM did me proud!

[Wager]

As far how fast the coal burned, I assume you had water in the pan. I don’t use any water and the coals will last 12 (18 inch) - 20 (22 inch) hours on my WSMs depending on how cold, windy, how big a piece of meat I’m cooking and how well I pack the charcoal. With water you have to burn much more coal to get the cooker up to temp since you have to heat up the water in the pan. Try running it without water and you will see much longer burn times and if you put foil in the pan cleanup is much easier as well. When running without water be sure to start shutting down your intake vents well before your target temp so that they don’t get away from you. Then give the smoker 15 to 20 minutes to settle in after each adjustment so that you can see how it affected the temp. Once you get used to it you will know what your intake settings and exhaust settings are for the various temps you want. Always adjust your intakes and avoid adjusting the exhaust if possible to maintain good airflow.

 

[SweetHeatBBQnSC]

As far how fast the coal burned, I assume you had water in the pan. I don’t use any water and the coals will last 12 (18 inch) - 20 (22 inch) hours on my WSMs depending on how cold, windy, how big a piece of meat I’m cooking and how well I pack the charcoal. With water you have to burn much more coal to get the cooker up to temp since you have to heat up the water in the pan. Try running it without water and you will see much longer burn times and if you put foil in the pan cleanup is much easier as well. When running without water be sure to start shutting down your intake vents well before your target temp so that they don’t get away from you. Then give the smoker 15 to 20 minutes to settle in after each adjustment so that you can see how it affected the temp. Once you get used to it you will know what your intake settings and exhaust settings are for the various temps you want. Always adjust your intakes and avoid adjusting the exhaust if possible to maintain good airflow.

Nope no water in pan. I was debating on that both ways, but had seen more people say no water so I went with it. How much coals are you putting in your charcoal ring?

 

[Capt]

just added ribs to the grocery list! look great

 

[70monte]

Great looking Ribs!

How are you setting up your coals? When I had an !8" WSM, I would fill the fire basket up full with unlit charcoal briquettes and then add 15-20 lit briquettes on top of that. I never ran out of fuel doing that and never had to add any either, even on my Brisket cooks.