Going with my first cook on the new WSM 14 tomorrow and wondered what a good ballpark number for the number of starter briquettes to use when doing the Minion method in it. I'm used to the WSM 18 and typically use around 25 for that... just wondering how to scale it best for the smaller version and thought I'd check to see if any of you have a good rule of thumb for it.
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Seen nobody answered yet. How many briqs are you laying down as a bed?
(Based on yer use o' 25 briqs in yer 18")
Simple starter briqs math guesstimate is:
14 * 100 / 18=77.78 *.001 = .78 * 25 = 19.5 briqs, but there's a lot more t' cookin' than math. ;-)
Might give a quick look over t' th' WKC site, if no 14" owners pop up anythin' helpful here....
There's an entire section devoted t' WSM's, I use it as well!
Good luck, holler back if no luck; we'll get ya' hooked up, or find somebody who can!Last edited by Mr. Bones; February 11, 2017, 12:28 PM. -
When I want mine to cook at around 225F,I usually light 12 or 13 in the chimney. Start to close the vents down some as the temperature hits 200. That's a digital thermometer, not the one in the dome.
Best regards,
Jim
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I usually go with 10-12 (depending on ambient temperature). Bottom vents about 3/4 open and top vent about 7/8 open. Adjust the temps with the top vent if they get outside your desired range.
For most cooks I do like to put some hot or boiling water into the bowl. It allows the coals to get hot enough that after preheating to 220 or so the wood is creating blue smoke.
I've had mine for a little more than 2 years and have used it at least 20 times, if not 30. Through trial-and-error I have found that this works well for my cooks.Comment
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Ended up using 12 and it worked great - thanks for the feedback.
I can't say the cook went great with 2 9.5 lb. butts on it though, as I had to remove the water to get it up to temp, had to replace the entire charcoal bin after ~8 hours (too much ash to simply keep adding coal) and the bottom one cooked much faster than the top one, with bark that was too hard. Maybe that's too much meat on the little guy, or too little air space between and around the meat, but I've heard people say they've do it consistently. It was also cook #1 after only a charcoal burn, so maybe it is still settling in. Will keep tinkering with it so get it dialed in and see what it can/can't do compared with the 18, which I've never had a bad cook with.Comment
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I once crammed a 20 pound turkey in mine and had to finish it in the oven - it was too much meat. On a different occasion I had 2 8 pound butts (which were halved to make 4-4pounders) and they cooked great with even cooking on both racks. To me, that seemed to be its max capacity. -
Thanks Jeff! A friend was saying he had a similar experience with a 15 pound turkey too, so somewhere in there is the sweet spot. I like the smaller footprint and the easier cleanup so I'm not giving up - just trying to find out the capabilities. And your experience definitely helps with that.
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MillerTime It's a great little cooker.
I recently cooked a whole chicken on the top rack, with the bowl removed. I lit a compact chimney and when it was 2/3 - 3/4 lit I emptied the coals into the ring and had the vents wide open. Yes, it's designed for low/slow. But it's capable of doing more. Our local grocery store cuts short ribs individually. Standing them upright I was able to fit 22 (could have squeezed in a couple more ) of them into the 14.5 WSM. Last summer, I cooked a 17-pound prime brisket in it (separated the point from the flat). Both the shorties and the brisket came out great. Here is what the chicken that I just mentioned ended up looking like:
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