WSM.... Still New!

Hello, you have reached the SMF after hours answering service.  None of our resident smoke-heads are in right now but if you leave your message.......

Ha ha ha... most of us old guys have headed to bed when the chickens went to roost.  Guess I'm the night owl WSM guy tonight.

The reason you see temp spikes when you take the dome off is the hot air can freely rush upwards out of of the main smoker body, but it is also pulling in fresh air behind it (basic physics - hot air rises, hotter air rises faster).  This is called the chimney effect (and it's the same reason you can have an open fireplace and the smoke goes up the chimney instead of into the room).

Yes, you could close the lower vents, but the drawback to that is if you have them set perfect to run at 225* when you open the top (or whatever your target temp was), then you have to guess where to reset them.  You would likely be ok and get it pretty close to where they were, but it's so much easier to plan what you will be doing with the dome off and manage your time wisely to limit it to he minimum.  So don't take the lid off and then go back to the kitchen to find the basting brush for your sauce, while leaving the lid off, etc...

Actually the WSM is very forgiving and easy to control so don't panic about the vents and temp spikes especially if you are using water in the water pan (and I do recommend your first smokes you do use water unless you are doing poultry and need to get to 350* or so). If it does spike up a little, just wait a few minutes and it will likely settle back down by it's self without any intervention.  Remember, any time you change a vent setting, it takes the WSM a few minutes to fully react to your change.  Give it 5 or 10 minutes and see if any further adjustment is necessary.  Any less and you can end up chasing the temp up and down by making bigger and more drastic vent changes before it gets a chance to settle back down to the new setting (a common rookie WSM mistake).  Just relax and let the smoker do it's job.

And when you are ready for that temp control gadget, I highly recommend a BBQ Guru DigiQ "power draft".  You close all the air flow into the smoker off except where the fan feeds the coals.  Then the computer delivers just the right amount of air via the fan to keep your set temp on target.  It will hold temps as long as you have fuel to burn in the WSM.  About as close to set and forget as a charcoal smoker will ever get.

And you have had a WSM since last May and not even fired it up yet!!!!!

Oh man, the Weber Police are going to be hunting you down. You better fix that and quick.  Smoke SOMETHING!!!!!!   A fatty, some chicken, SOMETHING!!!!!!

As a new WSM owner myself, what is this charcoal grate mod you speak of? I have not seen that yet.

I used some stainless steel wire from the hardware store to wire my two charcoal grates and the fire ring together. That was the first mod I did back in 2005 when I got mine.  Just don't use galvanized wire as the temps in the fire ring are high enough to cause the galvanized wire to off gas some dangerous fumes.

Lookin good!  Now get some meat on that thing!

In the past I have cut back the dampers all the way and let the temp drop a little before removing the lid and was always able to recover the temps very quickly!

However, I agree with Dave, plan what you are going to do, get it done, and get the lid back on quickly and you'll be fine!  Don't fart around while the lid is off.

Good luck and can't wait to see what comes off that puppy.

Bill

I did get the additional grill but I didn't wire them together -- just place it at 90* from the first grate and slip the ring over.   It's just easier for me to have it disassemble to empty ashes and reassemble it in a couple seconds.

I also did not drill a hole to thread wires through.  I cut a slot in the top lip of the center section with a dremel tool so the wires ride under the lid when installed.  I did that so I can get the lid off, remove the grate with meat, probe and all still on it, and get the lid back on in about 2 sec.  I can do what I have to do on a side table and remove the lid, get the food grate back on the pit, sweep the wires in the slot with gloves on and get the lid back on in another 2 sec.  Bottom line: I don't get temp spikes.

If your door is reasonably in shape, it will seal after about 10 cooks.  You don't need a temp control gadget.  You might have temp control issues the first few cooks but after a while it will be VERY easy to control temps with just the vents.  I recommend the book Low and Slow by Gary Wiviott.  If you follow his lessons you will know your cooker when you get to lesson five and it will be seasoned.  After you complete all the lessons you can go on to experiment and understand what is happening.

I hope this helps.  Good Luck.  BTW: Your pit is WAY to shiny on the inside.