Mini WSM very hotttt!!!

[s2k9k]

I built a Mini a few months ago but have not had the chance to use it until today. I am burning it in to smoke a pork butt tomorrow. I built it just like everybody has on here and used a Smokey Joe Gold. Filled it with charcoal leaving a hole in the middle and poured about 15 lit coals in the middle. Started with the top vent wide open and the lower vents about half way open. It climbed to about 325* in 20 mins so I closed the bottom vent all the way and it won't go below 300*. I took the lid off to let out some heat, down to 240* and put it back on and it climbed right back up over 300*. How can I get this thing to run cooler? 

 

[s2k9k]

Well I got it to settle down but it took some work. I'm new to charcoal so I guess this is going to involve some learning. After 2 hours with the bottom vents fully closed it went down to just over 200* so I bumped one of them open less that a quarter and it went back up to 300*+. Closed it back up and it started dropping again. Well after 5 hours of up and down and barely opening one vent it finally leveled off around 250* and stayed around that for another 5 hours and is now cooling off, I think the coals are about gone. So I am trying to figure out what my high temp problems were. Could it be:

I started off with too much charcoal (total)?

I started with too much lit coals?

Dumping lit coals in the hole of unlit coals got them going too fast?

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

I'm going to try again tomorrow with a 9# pork butt (pernil) so i'm not too worried about high temps to start since I stabbed it about 30 times to marinate and I want to get past the 140* in a hurry. More about the pernil later so stay tuned! 

 

[mdboatbum]

It's a tiny little cooking chamber, so it's pretty receptive to changes in the vents. My experience has been that if I run it without any sort of heat sink, it likes to settle in between 300˚ and 325˚. If I use a heat sink, it'll lock onto 225˚ and stay there. To get it to do this, I usually fill my basket and put 12-15 lit coals. I then let it run wide open until it gets to 200˚, then I'll close one vent completely and the other about halfway. Then I'll take it to 250˚, put the meat on and wait for it to come back to 225˚, then close the remaining vent down to a sliver, about 1/4 open, and it'll ride there easily. This lower range works best if I have a heat sink. Without a heat sink, I usually run about half lit, half unlit and choke both vents down to about half when I reach my target temp. Since I'm shooting for higher temps, I start off with more lit coals.

By the way, mine has the bottom cut out of the pot and the steamer insert in place at all times. If I'm running hot without a heat sink, I'll use 2 of the 9"or 10" square disposable aluminum pans stacked (nested one inside the other, like they come in the package) as a diffuser. The steamer insert gets too hot and I've had trouble with flare ups without an additional diffuser.

For low and slow use a 12" terra cotta saucer.

Also, like a full sized WSM, it will run hot the first few cooks until you get a layer of gunk built up on the inside.

 

[s2k9k]

Thanks boatbum! 

It jumped to 300* pretty quick, I'm hoping that was because of your last sentence! 

I had a 12" terra cotta saucer in it, which I want to keep using.

I had a basket (ring) in it. You said you fill your basket, do you leave a hole in the middle or just dump the lit coals on top of the unlit ones?

I guess I'm too used to my GOSM and I just need to relax and learn the charcoal!

One other question, I've had 9# butts go 20 hours on my GOSM and I got about 10 hours out of the mini, so if it starts cooling off do you just add more coals and wood to keep it going?

 

[mdboatbum]

Thanks boatbum! 

It jumped to 300* pretty quick, I'm hoping that was because of your last sentence! 

Hopefully. You can also sort of rotate the pot to make a better seal. I have had it not on quite right a couple times and it just kept gobbling oxygen and getting hotter and hotter. If you really want to assure a good seal every time, you can look up Grumpysmoke's mini build. He cut the middle out of the top of the pot and mounted it on the bottom of the pot with rivets. It sits perfectly on the grill. I keep meaning to do that, but haven't yet.

I had a 12" terra cotta saucer in it, which I want to keep using.

I had a basket (ring) in it. You said you fill your basket, do you leave a hole in the middle or just dump the lit coals on top of the unlit ones?

I usually just make a shallow indentation.

I guess I'm too used to my GOSM and I just need to relax and learn the charcoal!

One other question, I've had 9# butts go 20 hours on my GOSM and I got about 10 hours out of the mini, so if it starts cooling off do you just add more coals and wood to keep it going?

Yes, exactly. Lift off the whole pot. It'll retain most of its heat as long as you don't take the lid off.

By the way, where in SE GA are you? We'll be in St. Simons in 10 days. We got married there and try to go a couple times a year.

 

[s2k9k]

Thanks Man! Yea something doesn't seem quite right since I painted it, I have to spin it and it still doesn't seem to fit just right. I might have to do the top mod! I'll keep playing with it, I think it was just my first experience with charcoal and I need to go through the learning curve.

I'm just south of Savannah in a little town called Richmond Hill, exit 87.

 

[mdboatbum]

Keep at it, I'm more impressed with mine every time I use it. I'll be bringing it with me to GA, might have to cook up some grub and invite you and NEPAS down for a little gathering! (of course I'll have to check with the wife to make sure she hasn't filled every second of the week. I usually end up needing another week off to recover from our "vacation")

 

[s2k9k]

Thanks Man that would be fun! I hear you about vacations, I took this week off and have just been relaxing, did a detail on my Dad's car and am cleaning/rearranging the garage, relaxing stuff I don't need to recover from! My kind of vacation!

 

[dirtsailor2003]

Thanks for the updates on using the mini-wsm. I have only used mine for the initial seasoning burn and had some of the same issues. I am using the silver so I only have the one bottom vent. I tried the minion method the first go around and will give this a try next time around. I have a big bag of lump and plan on trying that after the bag of briquettes that came with mine ($5.00 CL Find) is gone. Here is the link to my first burn. The heat sink of choice for the day may have also contributed to my out of control burn!

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/...-burn-in-my-mini-wsm-and-have-a-few-questions