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bradymartin
07-01-2015, 03:01 PM
i took out a 4pound putt with bone in from freezer monday. also a couple slabs of ribs.

got wsm to around 250. put one cup hot water in pan. put meat in.

butt temp probe read 30. oh boy i should have let it sit out longer.

anyhow it took an hour for temp to get up past 250. i left all vents open.

just curious why it took so long. all that meat and the butt still being cold in the middle im assuming? also could the water have played a part?

grantw
07-01-2015, 03:42 PM
I usually use water, if you had 250 I can't see the cooker temp dropped that much, the probe was probably too close to the meat being skewed by the meat temp. I give the cooker a little feel with my hands, also the vents would need to be full open once the meat goes in otherwise it could choke out, because 250 empty and 250 loaded is totally different

Right on Q
07-01-2015, 04:08 PM
On such a small cooker, I'm sure the temp was affected by a cold hunk of meat. Sucks all the heat right out of the air until the meat temp rises. This isn't really an issue on my 18 or 22 unless I load it up. I usually get mine about 15 degrees (or more) over my target temp if I know I'm about to load up 4 cold butts or a couple of cold briskets.

bradymartin
07-01-2015, 07:22 PM
i thought the ribs were going to be dry because they were in there for 6 and a half hours. one hour of that time was below 200 degrees because as soon as i put all the meat in the wsm just tanked. also i kept opening the lid every hour just to check things. but i did spray water inside.

that being said,

OH MY GOD, these spareribs came out outstanding. i did not expect them to taste this good given the problems and my mistakes. they were tender and juicy and so much flavor. i tried the bend test. they werent quite ready to sauce but it was very close.
so i sauced them at that point. twice 15 minutes between each.

i am nodding my head here thinking how this worked. i thought i made every mistake possible. these came out far superior than the last time. last time i didnt put a cup of hot water on the foiled pan. i will from now on.

now im waiting on the pork butt. its at the plateau i think at 168.

again i cannot believe the spareribs came out so great. i thought i fd everything up. i used kinders bbq sauce.

i have to get a camera to show my cooks. first smoker, this is so damn fun.

bradymartin
07-01-2015, 07:33 PM
this is my last pork butt on the mini wsm 14.5 i think. this is only my second pork butt ive tried and i had to add coals to keep the heat going, again. the first was a 2 pounder. this time a 4 pounder. i dont understand it.

Rusty Kettle
07-01-2015, 07:42 PM
Ok I have to finish mowing the lawn when I am done I will post as much info as I can. I love this cooker but it has a learning curve.

Right on Q
07-01-2015, 08:03 PM
Brady just be patient. If the ribs turned out good why wouldn't the butt be pretty good as well?

Don't discount yourself too much. You just made some awesome ribs!

The butts are probably having a hard time because of the ash build up in the grates. I've seen posts on here that the 14.5 wsm has some issues with long cooks in the form of ash build up restricting airflow.

Don't really have that problem on the 18 or 22 though

grantw
07-01-2015, 08:19 PM
I use lump in mine, and it don't clog up if your running brickets there won't be enough room below the grate for all the ash

grantw
07-01-2015, 08:25 PM
What you could do is a dump and fill if using brickets, that coal ring holds a bucket of coal, so light a whole bucket and when it stops smoking lift off the middle section and do a rapid clean of the fire bowl and put the lit in, it won't be all lit either if you catch it right when it stops smoking it will still be using a minion method because when you dump it all the unlit ends up on the bottom and the lit is on top, I'm saying to do it this way so the unlit gets preheated and won't give off that nasty white smoke

Rusty Kettle
07-01-2015, 08:45 PM
Use lump charcoal. It definitly will run all night on lump charcoal.

Get an oven thermometer put it on the middle grate and tune it in to about 275. Don't be afraid to shut those bottom vents way down as lump burns very hot and to get down to smoking temps.

Run water in the water pan. It keeps the temp from spiking too high. It burns more charcoal but it makes it easier to control temps.

Less ash from the lump charcoal makes it so you don't run out of room for ash. Briquettes are junk in this little smoker.

I cooked a decent size pork butt in this smoker. I have done 4 racks of spare ribs and 20 chicken lollipops I this little smoker. All about maximizing the space.

jjjonz
07-01-2015, 09:25 PM
Brady don't give up on that little smoker. I don't have one yet, but maybe soon. I have a weber mini wsm.... I think it is a tad smaller than yours. You have got some good advise and now I will give you my two cents. Since there is only two of us most of my smoking is on the mini. First the meat was a little cool as you already know. I use Kingsford blue...I load it and take out 1/2 the charcoal and in a small starter got it glowing about 20 mins. I do not use a water pan...Add hot coals and bring temp up to 275 .Let run a that a few then add meat. I have been cooking like this for awhile...I liked the results so much I bought a PBC. Just my way..Good luck...

Not mine but ck this out:
14.5" WSM 3rd use pork shoulder! - YouTube