With the unit now built I decided to season it and run some testing on the unit. I'll be doing some actual smoking this weekend.
This unit is built with a Weber Smokey Joe Gold. I used B&B charcoal briquettes for the seasoning and test.
This is the last time this MWSM will be this clean!
The initial load on the smoker was 24 briquetes unlit in the hopper and 12 briquets lit in a Weber chimney.
As a side note I'm seasoning with apple.
For seasoning, all vents are wide open at this time. It took the MWSM 45 minutes to reach a temperature of 335. I held that temperature for i hour before making any vent adjustments. Needless to say I was very pleased at how quickly the unit went to high temp.
Durring this test cycle only the side vents of the lower unit were adjusted. The top vent remained wide open. Fuel = 36 briquets
Hour 1. All vents wide open. Maintaining temp at 335.
Hour 2. Side vents both half way. Within 15 minutesTemp lowered to 302 and maintained.
Hour 3, Side vents open 1/4 way. Temp lowers to 285 and maintains.
Hour 4. One vent 1.4 one closed. Temp lowers to 258 and maintains.
Hour 5. Both vents closed. Temp lowers 237.
*At this time I loaded 4 more briquets into the hopper.
Hours 6-7 Both vents closed. Temp maintained between 237 and 222. ...Showing to be very stable for 2 hours.
Hour 8. One side vent open half way. Temp lowering to 218 as the unit runs out of fuel.
Once the temps were lowered from seasoning to cooking the units was very stable needing little attention to keep it at the 235 - 220 range. It is remarkable how little charcoal the unit needs for a long smoke. Remember I only used 40 briquets for over 8 hours of heat. And I'll point out that most of the fuel was spent seasoning the unit at much higher temperature than I usually smoke at.
Brian
This unit is built with a Weber Smokey Joe Gold. I used B&B charcoal briquettes for the seasoning and test.
This is the last time this MWSM will be this clean!
The initial load on the smoker was 24 briquetes unlit in the hopper and 12 briquets lit in a Weber chimney.
As a side note I'm seasoning with apple.
For seasoning, all vents are wide open at this time. It took the MWSM 45 minutes to reach a temperature of 335. I held that temperature for i hour before making any vent adjustments. Needless to say I was very pleased at how quickly the unit went to high temp.
Durring this test cycle only the side vents of the lower unit were adjusted. The top vent remained wide open. Fuel = 36 briquets
Hour 1. All vents wide open. Maintaining temp at 335.
Hour 2. Side vents both half way. Within 15 minutesTemp lowered to 302 and maintained.
Hour 3, Side vents open 1/4 way. Temp lowers to 285 and maintains.
Hour 4. One vent 1.4 one closed. Temp lowers to 258 and maintains.
Hour 5. Both vents closed. Temp lowers 237.
*At this time I loaded 4 more briquets into the hopper.
Hours 6-7 Both vents closed. Temp maintained between 237 and 222. ...Showing to be very stable for 2 hours.
Hour 8. One side vent open half way. Temp lowering to 218 as the unit runs out of fuel.
Once the temps were lowered from seasoning to cooking the units was very stable needing little attention to keep it at the 235 - 220 range. It is remarkable how little charcoal the unit needs for a long smoke. Remember I only used 40 briquets for over 8 hours of heat. And I'll point out that most of the fuel was spent seasoning the unit at much higher temperature than I usually smoke at.
Brian