Planning my first burn in my Mini-WSM and have a few questions!

dirtsailor2003 · Dec 19, 2012

I can't wait any longer for the temps to rise enough for me to paint my mini-wsm so I am going to fire her up and smoke some meat!

My project:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/129771/my-5-00-craigslist-find

Okay so on to the questions. I figure that I will have one test burn to get all the residue or whatever may have been on the Vasconia pot from the manufacturer. This will give me time to play with it before the actual first smoke, which I have planned for Christmas eve. We are going to party that night and I have decided that I will bring injected hot wings.

I will be using Lump Charcoal (no basket) and plan on starting using the Minion Method.

1. I have the Little Smokey Joe Silver as the base, one vent. From what I've read I need to have that wide open when starting, correct?

2. Lid vent wide open for starting?

3. Make small adjustments to lower vent to control heat every 15min or so.

4. If needed adjust lid vent. Correct?

Sound good? I just hope its above 20* and the wind isn't blowing!

ironhorse07 · Dec 19, 2012

Correct on one, two and three. I always leave the lid vent wide open to prevent stale smoke on and usually have my probe leads running through it anyway.

Doug

dirtsailor2003 · Dec 19, 2012

Doug, Thanks! I'm going to put some heat to her now! One change in my initial burn. I have an ooe bag of briquettes so I won't be using lump until I cook the wings!

bama bbq · Dec 19, 2012

1. I have the Little Smokey Joe Silver as the base, one vent. From what I've read I need to have that wide open when starting, correct?

2. Lid vent wide open for starting?

3. Make small adjustments to lower vent to control heat every 15min or so.

4. If needed adjust lid vent. Correct?

1. That's what I have and what I do.

2. That's what I do.

3. I think you'll find there's not that much adjusting to do. After the cooker starts getting close to my target temp I close the lower vent to about 25% open. If I over shoot a bit I don't worry. If I WAY over shoot I close it until it's back to my target then open it to about 10%. Generally - about 25% open is where I ride for HOURS.

4. Closing the top vent if you must. personal opinion: I wouldn't close it more than 75% open. For me, No.3 above usually does it without touching it.

dirtsailor2003 · Dec 20, 2012

Okay here's what I found out yesterday during my first burn.

Temp was 36* at start down to 26* at end of burn. 5-25 mph winds (wind chill was F@#&!!! cold!) Started at 3pm

1. lots of awful smoke until the MWSM heated up to above 150* Maybe had to do with the briquettes, not sure.

2. once I hit my target temp 325* I closed lower vent a smidge, but that sent the smoker into a downward spiral all the way down to 250. Didn't even close it 1/4. I think the wind and cold ambient temp was effecting it too much.

3. I opened it back up and just let it go to see how hot and how long it would go.

Here's a time/temp scale: Start time 3pm @ 36*

3:05-55* Awful white smoke

3:15-168 White Smoke

3:30-248 TBS

3:53 (a great little diesel engine!) hit target temp of 325* adjusted lower vent a smidge

4:00-250*

4:15-245* (opened lower vent wide open)

4:30-395*

5:00-410*

6:00-318*

7:00-290*

7:50-231*

8289514153_0f0abdf7e5_o.jpg

dirtsailor2003
Dec 20, 2012

That's not a brisket in the bottom of the pot. It's a Central Oregon Heat diffuser!

8290573932_ce68e77c09_o.jpg

dirtsailor2003
Dec 20, 2012

Heat diffuser, tire chock, gate latch...

8289515973_d0d9a7368c_o.jpg

dirtsailor2003
Dec 20, 2012

Used a small can to leave a space in the middle for the hot coals. Some of these were left over from a previous burn.

8290576778_6f53c9c4a7_o.jpg

dirtsailor2003
Dec 20, 2012

8290577200_5bb8b3e695_o.jpg

dirtsailor2003
Dec 20, 2012

Smoke starting to clear up

8289520099_b97e0b8365_o.jpg

dirtsailor2003
Dec 20, 2012

TBS!

8290580902_58ac23c91d_o.jpg

dirtsailor2003
Dec 20, 2012

Snow Dog could care less, yawnnnnn! Where's the Beef????

smoking b · Dec 20, 2012

Nice little smoker! I'm interested in seeing how it works smoking some food for you - one of those would be great to take camping. I noticed you had the Universe set - do you have a telescope?

dirtsailor2003 · Dec 20, 2012

Smoking B said:
Nice little smoker! I'm interested in seeing how it works smoking some food for you - one of those would be great to take camping. I noticed you had the Universe set - do you have a telescope?

We do have a telescope!

Camping is exactly why I put this together. We do a bunch of boat in camping and it will fit perfectly in our pack boat! Now I just have to figure out how to make it burn consistently!

smoking b · Dec 20, 2012

dirtsailor2003 said:
We do have a telescope!

Camping is exactly why I put this together. We do a bunch of boat in camping and it will fit perfectly in our pack boat! Now I just have to figure out how to make it burn consistently!

Cool! What do you have? I really enjoy observing this time of the year - very little atmospheric haze with the crisp weather. Hook up a dew heater & I'm good to go

As small as that thing is you could make a windbreak for it pretty easy - that should help...

boardpuller · Dec 20, 2012

These are great! I use a 18" coal grate in the bottom with a Terracotta saucer, used a 12" now I'm trying a10" (most I have read about use Terracotta) for a long smoke you may want to lift the coal grate. there are many builds on this forum or try the Weber virtual bullet site

dirtsailor2003 · Dec 20, 2012

We have a Celestron 127EQ PowerSeeker. My two boys are the ones that use it the most. We have really good clear nights here, both summer and winter. There's more light wash now, but not as bad as some places. We have two observatories within 20 miles of us. One is East, The pine Mountain Observatory. It is run by the University of Oregon. then there is one south of us 20 miles in Sunriver. Both the boys and I have been on field trips to them. The best place near here to go gaze in my opinion is Paulina Lake. It is in the Newberry National Monument. The lake is down in the Caldera so when your camping there is no light wash!

dirtsailor2003 · Dec 20, 2012

boardpuller said:
These are great! I use a 18" coal grate in the bottom with a Terracotta saucer, used a 12" now I'm trying a10" (most I have read about use Terracotta) for a long smoke you may want to lift the coal grate. there are many builds on this forum or try the Weber virtual bullet site

I have a 10" terracotta saucer, but it was at the GF's house. I like tinkering so I thought I'd try some other things for the diffuser. I have some nice pieces of granite and other various stones (we get tons of samples at my work). All of those were at the GF's house too! I am making a vent cover since this is a silver. I may eventually add the side vents like the gold. Of course I am keeping my eye on CL for another Smokin deal on a Smokey Joe gold!

smoking b · Dec 20, 2012

dirtsailor2003 said:
We have a Celestron 127EQ PowerSeeker. My two boys are the ones that use it the most. We have really good clear nights here, both summer and winter. There's more light wash now, but not as bad as some places. We have two observatories within 20 miles of us. One is East, The pine Mountain Observatory. It is run by the University of Oregon. then there is one south of us 20 miles in Sunriver. Both the boys and I have been on field trips to them. The best place near here to go gaze in my opinion is Paulina Lake. It is in the Newberry National Monument. The lake is down in the Caldera so when your camping there is no light wash!

Nice! My first scope was a newtonian reflector on a dobsonian mount - with your equatorial mount you can take some good pics. I would like to eventually get an apochromatic refractor for astrophotography. I like Celestron scopes a lot. My current one is a CPC 1100 & it works great

I will be watching this thread to see how that little guy cooks for you. It would be great to have a little smoker to take along camping. Hope it works good for ya

s2k9k · Dec 28, 2012

Did you put a can in it to cover the bottom vent to keep ash out of it?

See this thread starting at post #10.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/125114/new-project

dirtsailor2003 · Dec 28, 2012

Dave I didn't for that burn. It didn't seem to be an issue though. I will shoot a picture of the ash that was left. I think because I used the minion method most the ash went to the sides away from the vent. I will be doing another test Monday with some injected hot wings! Can't screw those up knowing I can heat it up hot!

Planning my first burn in my Mini-WSM and have a few questions!

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