22.5 WSM observation that might be of interest.....

[damon555]

I've been using kingsford blue for most of the smoking on my 22.5" WSM. I've noticed something that might be of interest to you guys....

I usually pack the smoker full and use a whole bag of charcoal so I don't have to mess with it while it's going. When I first started using this smoker I cleaned the ash out of it completely every time I used it. Then a few months ago I got lazy and left the ash in there from the previous smoke. With a layer of ash on the bottom of the smoker (without covering the vents) I've noticed 2 things...First of all the fresh charcoal will burn much slower and longer that it does when it's cleaned out underneath. Second I've noticed that my smoker temps really stay rock steady for longer periods of time that without the extra ash.

My theory on this is that the ash provides a little bit of extra insulation and heat retention along with the fact that airflow around the fresh coals is somewhat inhibited by the left over ash causing it to burn slower. I've extended by about 1/3 the time I get usable heat out of this particular charcoal.

I figured you guys might be interested in this little tidbit.....

 

[irie]

you might be onto something here, Have you run into any issues with the fresh ash blocking the vents towards the tail end of your smokes when running with with the old ash already in there?

 

[piaconis]

I actually used to leave ash in the bottom of my Weber kettle grill for the same reason.  I did a lot of indirect grilling prior to fully stepping into smoking, and it always helped me manage the heat better.

 

[damon555]

you might be onto something here, Have you run into any issues with the fresh ash blocking the vents towards the tail end of your smokes when running with with the old ash already in there?

I've never had a problem with plugging the vents...never burned more than 2 loads of charcoal before cleaning it out.

Another thing I've noticed....I close 2 of the bottom vents and use the last one to control temp. When the temp starts to drop I simply close the vent I was using to control the temp with and use one of the others to perform the same action. I can clearly see that the fire advances towards the open vent. When the coals on that 1/3rd of the smoker are just about spent switching vents burns the charcoal on the other other 1/3rd next and so on.

I use this method for longer smokes....If I know that I only need 5 or 6 hours of smoke I simply create a doughnut around the outer edge of the charcoal with a gap on one side and light it at one end.

Much of this might already be common knowledge to seasoned WSM users but I can't really find any specifics about this so I thought that I'd pass my observations along to folks just starting out.

 

[jirodriguez]

I usually am doing shorter smokes so I just clean it out after every other smoke, but for a full 20 lb. load I generally just clean it out ahead of time.

 

[damon555]

Most of my smokes are on the longer side. I'll do more short smokes in the future.....