What vent settings do you use on your WSM?

[THoey1963]

I am wanting to get stable around 230* - 235*, but not having any luck. KBB was starting to get a little low, so I added some fresh coals and about 10 lit on top, but I guess that wasn't enough as my temps dropped to below 220. Fired some more up and got them in. Temps spiked about 250*, tapped the bottom vent a little more closed. Bottom at less than a third and top about a third. Temp dropping, down to 241*, now 235*. I know this is a new WSM, so it will run different than one that is well used, but just wondering where you normally sit at for low and slow?

I need to take a shower and leave for a bit, but I will be back and forth to check it. Trying to get it stable before I go.

[Goyo626]

I do about 12lbs of kbb minion method plus some buried cherry/peach chunks. Open all vents until temp reaches 200F. Close all vent excepts one which I leave half open. The smoker usually goes 235-250 for 15hrs. I may have to adjust towards the end of the cook if the temp starts dropping. The top vent always fully open. Also, once I put the meat on i dont open it until i check for doneness.

[THoey1963]

Thanks!

[DaveAlvarado]

I have a 22".

I don't cook anything at 230F on purpose, but I've had the smoker decide to ride there. I've been tweaking my method a bit. I'm finding that starting just a few coals minion-style is kind of pointless, you're just asking for more difficulty stabilizing your temps. What I do is put a few chunks of wood on the charcoal grate, dump about 11lbs of Kingsford Comp on top, then put a few more chunks around the edges. The wood chunks I get are about half fist sized, so I use 5-6. I fire up about 20 briquettes in a chimney, then scatter them around the middle of the charcoal ring. I've found that lighting more briquettes and scattering them more gets you to temp faster, and when you stop down the air flow it doesn't dip as bad, then spike up again when the whole ring is lit.

I go all vents wide open to 200F, then close two on the bottom and crack the third. I always leave the downwind vent cracked so the wind doesn't stoke the fire for me. I don't measure how much it's open, I just eyeball it and have learned about where 250F is and about where 275F is, adjusting for outside temperature. I run a dry water pan.

It's hard to stabilize your temps in a WSM in too narrow of a band. I usually let it drift within a 30 degree range. So if I'm doing an overnight brisket and/or butt cook, I'll target 250 and will set the alarms on my Maverick for 235F on the low side and 265F on the high side.

There are a few keys to finding and holding a temp on the WSM:

1. Don't open it. Air control = temp control. The vents on the WSM are bitty. The door and the lid are huge. Opening the door or the lid lets in tons of air and your temps will spike.

2. Don't chase temps. Let the thing settle down for 15-30 minutes then see where it's at. When you dump in fresh coals, it takes a while for them to all light and start smoldering. Let that happen. Just have patience and wait for it to settle wherever it's going to settle, *then* make little adjustments. After a little adjustment, wait. If the smoker is running

3. The top vent is not for temperature control. Control your airflow with the bottom vents, always leave the top open or you'll just make a really dirty-burning fire and your food will taste nasty. That spike to 250 probably didn't require action. If your temps really go out of control because you kept opening the smoker, add cold water to the water pan to bring the temps back down. Don't choke the fire unless your food is all foiled already.

4. Work on the zen of BBQ. Sometimes the smoker is just going to sit at a temperature you don't want for a reason you don't understand. Instead of fighting the smoker, realize that you can make good BBQ at all sorts of temperatures. Some guys swear by low and slow and cook everything at 225F, and they turn out great BBQ. Some guys swear by hot and fast and cook everything at 325F, and they turn out great BBQ. The hotter you cook, the sooner the food is done. The key is to adjust your recipe on the fly. I cook pork butts at 250F for about 10 hours. If my smoker is running at 230F, it'll be more like 12 hours. If it's running at 270F, it might be 8-9 hours. If the door falls off and it's running at 500F, I'll order a pizza. :)

Tell the smoker what you want, then let it do what it's going to do. The meat will be done when it's done. If it's done early, wrap it in foil and hold it in a cooler with towels. If it's not close to done and it's getting close to meal time, wrap it in foil and open those vents up.

[16Adams]

I've owned and sent on down the road two WSM 18.5. Here is what I learned.

Use quality fresh briquettes. In other words don't stockpile 700# unless you smoke 24/7. Charcoal is a great absorber of moisture. Stay fresh.

Use minion method. Mix about a softball amount of pecan, maybe two tennis balls. Make a hole in the middle of ring and dump3/4 large chimney of lit coals.
Top and bottom vents WFO till you get within 40-60 degrees of target temp. Leave top vent WFO shut all three vents to half. See where it settles. Need hotter or lower adjust bottom vent catching the most wind.

Sometimes humidity, wind, ambient temp, quality of coals, how they were lit etc etc is going to help you "decide" what temp you're going to cook at. Go with it. All cookers are like dogs, no matter how well you know love and train them, if you don't watch them, they'll pee the carpet.

[Blah64]

My WSM doesn't do 225...
My first couple cooks I went through so much trouble trying to maintain a steady, low temperature, then I just decided that it ain't worth it.

Now I just go full vent until ~225, then close the bottom vents to ~1/4 open. The temperature just slowly climbs to 275 at that point and holds steady. Now that I know the temperature it likes, I don't even bother watching the temp or trying to control it, I just let it ride and check the meat for 'done-ness' later on.

[cameraman]

My WSM doesn't do 225...
My first couple cooks I went through so much trouble trying to maintain a steady, low temperature, then I just decided that it ain't worth it.

Now I just go full vent until ~225, then close the bottom vents to ~1/4 open. The temperature just slowly climbs to 275 at that point and holds steady. Now that I know the temperature it likes, I don't even bother watching the temp or trying to control it, I just let it ride and check the meat for 'done-ness' later on.

That's some serious Zen-b-cue right there bro. Words to live by.

[Offthehook]

My WSM doesn't do 225...
My first couple cooks I went through so much trouble trying to maintain a steady, low temperature, then I just decided that it ain't worth it.

Now I just go full vent until ~225, then close the bottom vents to ~1/4 open. The temperature just slowly climbs to 275 at that point and holds steady. Now that I know the temperature it likes, I don't even bother watching the temp or trying to control it, I just let it ride and check the meat for 'done-ness' later on.

My WSM will hold 275 really darn well (I cheat with a stoker)

[THoey1963]

I have a 22".

I don't cook anything at 230F on purpose, but I've had the smoker decide to ride there. I've been tweaking my method a bit. I'm finding that starting just a few coals minion-style is kind of pointless, you're just asking for more difficulty stabilizing your temps. What I do is put a few chunks of wood on the charcoal grate, dump about 11lbs of Kingsford Comp on top, then put a few more chunks around the edges. The wood chunks I get are about half fist sized, so I use 5-6. I fire up about 20 briquettes in a chimney, then scatter them around the middle of the charcoal ring. I've found that lighting more briquettes and scattering them more gets you to temp faster, and when you stop down the air flow it doesn't dip as bad, then spike up again when the whole ring is lit.

I go all vents wide open to 200F, then close two on the bottom and crack the third. I always leave the downwind vent cracked so the wind doesn't stoke the fire for me. I don't measure how much it's open, I just eyeball it and have learned about where 250F is and about where 275F is, adjusting for outside temperature. I run a dry water pan.

It's hard to stabilize your temps in a WSM in too narrow of a band. I usually let it drift within a 30 degree range. So if I'm doing an overnight brisket and/or butt cook, I'll target 250 and will set the alarms on my Maverick for 235F on the low side and 265F on the high side.

There are a few keys to finding and holding a temp on the WSM:

1. Don't open it. Air control = temp control. The vents on the WSM are bitty. The door and the lid are huge. Opening the door or the lid lets in tons of air and your temps will spike.

2. Don't chase temps. Let the thing settle down for 15-30 minutes then see where it's at. When you dump in fresh coals, it takes a while for them to all light and start smoldering. Let that happen. Just have patience and wait for it to settle wherever it's going to settle, *then* make little adjustments. After a little adjustment, wait. If the smoker is running

3. The top vent is not for temperature control. Control your airflow with the bottom vents, always leave the top open or you'll just make a really dirty-burning fire and your food will taste nasty. That spike to 250 probably didn't require action. If your temps really go out of control because you kept opening the smoker, add cold water to the water pan to bring the temps back down. Don't choke the fire unless your food is all foiled already.

4. Work on the zen of BBQ. Sometimes the smoker is just going to sit at a temperature you don't want for a reason you don't understand. Instead of fighting the smoker, realize that you can make good BBQ at all sorts of temperatures. Some guys swear by low and slow and cook everything at 225F, and they turn out great BBQ. Some guys swear by hot and fast and cook everything at 325F, and they turn out great BBQ. The hotter you cook, the sooner the food is done. The key is to adjust your recipe on the fly. I cook pork butts at 250F for about 10 hours. If my smoker is running at 230F, it'll be more like 12 hours. If it's running at 270F, it might be 8-9 hours. If the door falls off and it's running at 500F, I'll order a pizza. :)

Tell the smoker what you want, then let it do what it's going to do. The meat will be done when it's done. If it's done early, wrap it in foil and hold it in a cooler with towels. If it's not close to done and it's getting close to meal time, wrap it in foil and open those vents up.

Thanks Dave and the others that responded after him. I am already learning to just let go, and this is my first grill on her. I walked away for two hours and came back to her at 244* and just sailing along smoothly.

Unfortunately, since she has been running for 12 hours (pre-burn for new grill around 12:30, then she wouldn't shutdown, and finally threw the brisket on about 6 + hours ago), she was starting to run low. Took the lid off, carefully set the mid portion aside, restocked the coals and wood, poured another 15 or so glowing coals on top, refilled the water bowl, and finally stacked everything back together.

She's bouncing between 268* and 270* now, but I gather that will drop here as she gets "comfortable" again. The brisket is just starting the stall (151*). Leaving it nekkid as I am a little ahead of schedule, I'll let the grill and the meat arm wrestle through it. I might wrap it a little later.

It's been about 13 years since I cooked on charcoal. It might be like riding a bike, but I can tell I am going to have some skinned up knees...

Adams and Blah. Great comments. Thank you.

[mrbill]

i have a pitmaster iq110. not counting the vent for the blower, all bottom vents are closed. top vent stays about 50% closed until time to shut down.
I've received nothing but praise about my Q when using the iq. While I never had complaints before, every time I've used the iq, the reviews were beyond rave. I attribute it to the even temps/cooking provided by the blower/thermo set. the best report i can offer is that since I've started using the iq, my wife and mother have both stated that i've ruined them when it comes to bbq joints.

[THoey1963]

Thanks MrBill. I have to take baby steps here. I went through hell yesterday when I told the wife I was buying this. Later she ask if I bought it and I told her yeah but that was when I found the damaged lid (another thread). After I got the lid replaced today, she said it was "cute". One of the shortest "hell's" I have gone through, but not like I can start buying more add-on's. Yet... ;)

[THoey1963]

As a side note, just got home from helping the wife close up. Other bartender was out sick, so I really had to help out or she would be there another hour or so. Pit temp is bouncing in the low 270's and the meat is saying 171*. Both too high for my preference at his hour seeing how this is half time Super Bowl food. Tapped the lower vent just a bit to try to slow it down. Will be monitoring it throughout the night.

[THoey1963]

And now it is raining and the outside temp is dropping. I have a deck umbrella over it, so it shouldn't get too much direct rain, but I get the feeling I won't get much sleep tonight as I babysit this...

[ajstrider]

It is hard to help predict vent settings, it depends on your lit charcoal amount, type, and other things. As others have noted, the important thing is not to fight it and give it time to settle in. Have fun while cooking, don't stress out about it.

[Ag76]

I am wanting to get stable around 230* - 235*, but not having any luck. KBB was starting to get a little low, so I added some fresh coals and about 10 lit on top, but I guess that wasn't enough as my temps dropped to below 220. Fired some more up and got them in. Temps spiked about 250*, tapped the bottom vent a little more closed. Bottom at less than a third and top about a third. Temp dropping, down to 241*, now 235*. I know this is a new WSM, so it will run different than one that is well used, but just wondering where you normally sit at for low and slow?

I need to take a shower and leave for a bit, but I will be back and forth to check it. Trying to get it stable before I go.

You can find everything you need to know and more about WSMs at the Weber Virtual Bullet website:

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/

[sliding_billy]

Not a ton to add, but don't fight the cooker. Top vent all the way open. Close the bottoms to about 1/4 of the way open (all around or vary directionally if the wind is an issue) when the smoke clears. If it wants to run at 300, so be it. That's just my opinion.

[BB-Kuhn]

A wsm will do any temp - you just need practice.

[scp]

I have found it is easier to control temps if you run the top vent only 1/2 open. Try it...I know everything you read says full open on the top and adjust the bottom vents.