"Feeding" my WSM during a long smoke

[GirlpoweredBBQ]

Hi there, everyone. This is my first post to the site. I just started doing *real* BBQ about a month ago, when my boyfriend bought me a Weber Smokey Mountain smoker (14",which seemed adequate at the time but I'm already "thinking bigger"). I'm already completely obsessed, reading everything I can find, and having recurring beautiful dreams about the perfect pulled pork.

I have many questions, but one I can't seem to find an answer to anywhere.

I know how to set up my charcoal with my Weber chimney and the Minion method and even stabilize the temp. Yesterday, I was able to keep a stable, 250 for about 6 hours without having to mess with it constantly. (Feeling a little proud about that... There was definitely a learning curve). When the temp started to drop and I needed to add new fuel, I started having a problem. I added maybe a quarter chimney of new lit coals. I was hesitant to add too much, because last time, I think I choked off the air flow with too much ash and I couldn't keep the temp high enough.

I'm not sure if I added too little or not, but I couldn't stabilize the temp after that. The coals burned kind of quickly, and I had to add more in about 60-90 minutes to finish things off.

My question is, how much fuel should I be adding mid smoke (for a full size pork butt), and what's the best way to do it? Other than adding one briquette at a time with tongs, I cannot figure it out and there's no documentation I can find about this.

Can someone help? How much coal should I add when my first load becomes ash, and what's the best technique for feeding into my WSM?

Many thanks in advance, and happy smoking to you all!

[GBA]

Add unlit coals keep fire constant.

[GirlpoweredBBQ]

Unlit?! Omg, that's what I've been doing wrong?!!! I had no idea. How much should I add at once? Also, any tips on how to add more than one at a time? Thank you, thank you!!

[GBA]

I do not have a WSM smoker, if you have easy access to the fire pit add enough coal to finish the cook, depends on what your cooking and how hot the fire, this is something you will figure out after a couple of years. (cooks) ☺

[CandySueQ]

What GBA said! I usually add lump instead of briquettes. Cleaner burn, less ash usually.

[boftx]

+1 on less ash! Although I've heard that some rigs, like the PBC actually need the ash buildup to burn right. I use lump and sticks for smoking, and briquettes in the grill.

[GirlpoweredBBQ]

Thanks. Do you burn all lump? Or do you start with briquettes and then add lump during the cook?

[Thom Emery]

Use the door like a charcoal shoot
Angle it and roll lump or blue bag or whatever your burning
into the spent embers
You should get 10 hours outa a full minion

Another lil trick
Adding a quart of room temp water to the water pan will
get the temps back under control if you have it open too long
and it takes off on ya

[GirlpoweredBBQ]

Thanks! Brilliant (using it as a chute!). When you say "full Minon," can you give me an idea how much that is? I've been putting 1 layer of unlit coals and then pouring 1 Weber chimney full on top. I have the 14" WSM as I mentioned..Guessing it holds less charcoal... I wonder how many hours it gets.

[fuzzydaddy]

Welcome to The Pit GirlpoweredBBQ. It's great to have you here. Thank you for your support.

Since this is your first post, please check out our homework assignment post for new members. It contains a few how-tos and please-dos. This will help you learn your way around so you can get the best experience from our forum.

Also, it's very important that you add the domain AmazingRibs.com to your email safe list in case you are ever drawn as our monthly Gold Medal Giveaway winner!

See you around The Pit!

[GirlpoweredBBQ]

Thank you, and will do!

[Thom Emery]

Are you filling the ring with charcoal then pulling out 10 to light ?
Yea the smaller WSM may get less mileage out of a ring
I would hope you can get 8 hours best way is to cook and find out 😄 Or we can ask Harry, he cooks on those lil ones

[GirlpoweredBBQ]

No, that's not how I did it. Is that a "thing?" I literally spread one layer of unlit coals into the ring and then put one chimney full of lit coals on top. Should I have less lit coals? I got about 6 hrs.

[jharner]

Welcome to the pit, enjoy the Wikipedia of BBQ. Sorry I don't have any advise because a don't have a WSM, I use a Weber kettle and a Camp Chef DLX pellet. But as you have already seen there is a lot of help available.

[DWCowles]

Welcome GirlpoweredBBQ

[GirlpoweredBBQ]

Thanks!!! ☺

[Thom Emery]

Fill the fire ring and pull out 8 from the center
Get em going in your chimney
Drop em back in with a couple of
wood chunks near your fire point
And see how long your fire lasts

[ecowper]

Hi GirlpoweredBBQ .... So, we have a whole sub-section just for charcoal based bullet smokers (aka a WSM).... Tons of great stuff in there. I personally use Harry Soo's donut for my WSM. I have the 22.5 WSM, so there will be some differences. That said, for a pork butt, I lay down 5-6 chunks of hardwood for smoker, then I stick my chimney in the middle of the charcoal ring, then fill up the ring with Kingsford Blue. Pull the chimney out and voila, I have a "donut" of charcoal. Then I light half a chimney worth of Kingsford and dump it in the middle of my charcoal "donut". This gets me into the 230-250 range for temp, and I maintained it very easily for 13 hours on my last pork butt cook. Here's some pictures of the setup.

I would think on the 14" you won't need to do it quite that way. I'd say lay down the wood for the smoke, then fill the ring on top of that with charcoal. Pull out 15-20 briquettes. Form a donut. Light the rest of the briquettes in your chimney and then dump into your donut. I bet that would burn for 8-10 hours.

[GirlpoweredBBQ]

That's a brilliant idea, to put the chimney in the middle to make your circle. I think you're right about how to do it on my little smoker. Wishing I had a bigger one now! I've been using wood chips. Sounds like I need to try hardwood chunks next. I love that you posted pics for me. Thanks so much!

[ecowper]

I figured pics would help. I don't know about you, but I'm better when I see a picture and read the words.

Well, there's only one solution now. Get yourself the WSM 18 or 22.5. No reason you can't have two smokers!

[ecowper]

Also, come swing by the Bullet smokers section .... Go to Grills and Smokers -> Charcoal -> Bullet Smokers .... Tons of discussion on WSM's. And check out AmazingRibs page on best setup for bullet smokers: http://amazingribs.com/tips_and_tech...ain_setup.html

[GirlpoweredBBQ]

Thanks. Very helpful, and I will check it out! I did read the setup article, which was where I read about the different methods for lighting the coals. It just didn't say much about how to feed the smoker after the original coals ran outta steam. Thanks for your help!

[ecowper]

I bet that you can get your WSM 14.5 to run 8-10 hours without needing to feed more coals. If you do need to feed more coals, I think the "coal chute" idea up above is a good one. Either that, or maybe get a fireplace shovel. Also, make sure you have some good BBQ gloves.

[PaulstheRibList]

Welcome GirlpoweredBBQ !
I only have experience on the 22.5" WSM, and I now use the Fuse Method almost exclusively, because it allows me to run a long cook with the vents much more open, allowing more airflow and a little cleaner fire as a result.

I'm thinking, as others have shared, that you will not get as long a cook on the little unit. You are already on the right track by cooking, trying and documenting your results. Try the advise above and see what you learn.

Unless I'm late to the game and my lit coals are really diminished, I put unlit coals adjacent to the lit ones, and backfill my Fuse.

Here are some Pics from my tests of using different size under grates, which give you greater airflow on the underside of the charcoal. The larger grate allows more airflow underneath, and thus burns hotter/faster. But you can see how I set up the fuse. The purpose of the Fuse vs. the Minion is to have a smaller amount of lit coals at one time, so you can have the vents open a little more and keep the temp where you want, which is 225-250 for cooking ribs on the WSM, for me.

Have fun and POST SOME PICS of your Q!



The cooker on the right has a 1" larger grate underneath, allowing for more air to travel around the rim and underneath the coals. Thus, it did burn a little hotter, and I had to close the vents a little more to keep the temps lined up together.

[ecowper]

I am definitely going to try out the fuse method. Looks like a better choice for ribs than the donut.

[PaulstheRibList]

I use it for all cooks, now. I want that cleaner fire.

On long cooks, I do need to add coals. Easy - just backfill the fuse with unlit coals and add some more wood chunks!

[GirlpoweredBBQ]

You guys are all so great! PaulstheRibList, I can't believe you even took the time to post pictures. Amazing. Thank you. So, how do you add those coals? Do you take the smoker apart to add them? I can't place mine too well through the door. Maybe also because of the smaller unit. I think that what you say makes tons of sense... More airflow. Yes! I will definitely try that out next time. And I think next time will have to be this weekend...suddenly it feels like a weekend without barbecue is a weekend wasted! Thank you again.

[PaulstheRibList]

The 22.5 is much bigger, so I put on the welding gloves and put them in by hand. I'm sure you'll figure out something fun on the 14"!

[GirlpoweredBBQ]

Thank you for the info. The whole thing is fun!

[jlazar]

I had a 18 WSM and loaded as ecowper advises above. Starting a butt at 10 pm, I did not have to add coals until 7 or 8 the next morning.

I went to Lowes and bought 2 black garage door handles for about $5 each. Mounted them on the sides of the body of the WSM (using one hole for grate brackets and drilling one new hole). When needing to add coals, instead of opening the door I just lifted the entire body (meat, water pan, lid, etc.) off the bottom. Quickly added more unlit coals and wood chunks, and then lifted everything back on the base with the coals. This could be done in less than an minute and the temp never really changed.