Too Much Charcoal

[jsaniga]

Started an all-day low & slow pork butt this morning. 2/3 a large chimney of Kingsford regular starter and doing minion method. Center space was the diameter of a small-sized coffee can. Filled the rest of the standard WSM charcoal ring with Kingsford Pro up to about 2/3 height. No water in the pan, but pan in place. Actually had a little challenge in the first hour getting the temp above 225 consistently. And the body of the WSM didn’t want to sit completely in the base; it was almost there but not quite. Too much charcoal? I am thinking I need my center space to be more like the size of a large coffee can and maybe only fill the ring 1/2 way? I went heavy on the charcoal because it will be an 8-10 hour smoke and I am not a fan of lifting the body to add more coals. I find adding more through the OEM door to be a challenge.

[jsaniga]

Temperature finally jumped and I am throttling back the upper vent. Bottom vents are wide open. Just about perfect thin blue smoke coming from it now.

[FireMan]

Good to see things workin out. Sometimes patience is needed. Trust yerself. Keep us posted, interested in the final outcome.

[ecowper]

I forget, what size WSM is this?

My WSM 22, I light as follows

1. place small Weber chimney in center of fire basket
2. Fill fire basket completely full around the chimney
3. Remove chimney, fill it with 30 briquettes, light them
4. Dump them in the donut hole when fully lit
5. assemble the WSM, run with vents wide open until I hit 200F, then reduce vents to between 1/3 and 1/2, depending on desired temp.
6. Fill the water pan when I assemble the WSM

[jsaniga]

ecowper thanks. So you are one of the few that add water to their pan? I did to mine yesterday and had trouble pushing through the stall. Ended up having to do a Texas Crutch but nailed it.

[ecowper]

Yes, I do water. I don’t refill, normally.

[radiodome21]

I add water as well except if I’m doing chicken. I more or less do the same thing but my temps are always above 250. I’ve been toying with adding 15 or so briquettes from my chimney just to see if I can get it a little lower. I just picked up some B&B briquettes too which I’ll try soon. When I did ribs last week I decided to only fill the charcoal ring a little over half full and I think that was a mistake too. I’m going to fill it up every time.

I have the 18.5 WSM too and the door isn’t the best in that either. I had to add charcoal on my recent rib cook because temps were dropping. It was kind of annoying because it wasn’t that long of a cook and the weather was perfect.

[Hulagn1971]

I have a couple 22" WSM's. This is how I do it and it works very well for me. Standard sized coffee can in the center with bottom and top removed. I place a hand sledge in the can on top to keep it from moving. Next, I add B&B briquettes around the can, just a first layer. Then I add my wood chunks. Lastly, I add a final layer around the can, filling the charcoal ring to max level. Then I take about 9-10 briquettes, put them in a Weber chimney and get them started. Once ready, carefully dump them in the coffee can and then remove it with long handled channel locks. Assemble the smoker with empty water pan wrapped in double layer of HD foil. Get smoker to 225 with all vents open, add meat, then cover and close one bottom vent completely and the other 2 about 1/4 open. Top vent usually 3/4 open. Typically cooker settles down at 255-275 degrees. It might spike to 300 initially but just adjust to settle down. I use a hand sprayer for moisture if needed.
-Fritz