Newbie dealing with Temperature Drop

[More BBQ Please]

Hey All,

I'm a newbie to smoking but very eager to get better at this craft. I recently bought a Weber Smokey Mountain grill. I've tried now twice to smoke ribs and then chicken but failed each time. Both times I struggled to maintain the temperature and experience a sudden drop off.
Since I made a lot of mistakes the first time. I'll tell you about the 2nd while I was cooking some chicken thighs. For my cook I used lump charcoal and the minion method. I used about 75 to 100 briquettes worth of the lump charcoal and a chimney starter to get my initial briquettes nice and hot. I was able to get the smoker up to 225 and maintain it for about 15 minutes. After I felt confident I threw in my thighs on the lower rack and let it stand.
This worked fairly well for about an hour and a half. I noticed some slight drops and rises of the temperature but I slowly tinkered with the vents and eventually locked it in close to 225. Eventually though after the 1.5 hours the temperature started to slowly drop till it hit 210, I attempted to open my vents up more and this alleviated the problem for a while but eventually it started dropping again until all vents were wide open.
In desperation I opened up the side drawer and gave the lump a good poking to try to get some more activity. When I opened it I noticed that really only have of the charcoal was lit anymore and it looked kind of weak. I tried to get some more fuel in using the chimney starter but my lighter ran out of fuel and I just gave up and throw the chicken in the oven.

Can anyone advise me on what I might have done wrong? I've heard that lump charcoal can be a pain and that maybe I should look at using simple Kingsford briquettes. Is it expected that I need to refuel so soon into the cook?

Thanks!

BBQ Newb

 

[riccasmoker16]

Hey All,

I'm a newbie to smoking but very eager to get better at this craft. I recently bought a Weber Smokey Mountain grill. I've tried now twice to smoke ribs and then chicken but failed each time. Both times I struggled to maintain the temperature and experience a sudden drop off.
Since I made a lot of mistakes the first time. I'll tell you about the 2nd while I was cooking some chicken thighs. For my cook I used lump charcoal and the minion method. I used about 75 to 100 briquettes worth of the lump charcoal and a chimney starter to get my initial briquettes nice and hot. I was able to get the smoker up to 225 and maintain it for about 15 minutes. After I felt confident I threw in my thighs on the lower rack and let it stand.
This worked fairly well for about an hour and a half. I noticed some slight drops and rises of the temperature but I slowly tinkered with the vents and eventually locked it in close to 225. Eventually though after the 1.5 hours the temperature started to slowly drop till it hit 210, I attempted to open my vents up more and this alleviated the problem for a while but eventually it started dropping again until all vents were wide open.
In desperation I opened up the side drawer and gave the lump a good poking to try to get some more activity. When I opened it I noticed that really only have of the charcoal was lit anymore and it looked kind of weak. I tried to get some more fuel in using the chimney starter but my lighter ran out of fuel and I just gave up and throw the chicken in the oven.

Can anyone advise me on what I might have done wrong? I've heard that lump charcoal can be a pain and that maybe I should look at using simple Kingsford briquettes. Is it expected that I need to refuel so soon into the cook?

Thanks!

BBQ Newb

Hi,

I too am a newbie to this with a WSM. I found the people here have been extremely helpful in terms of starting out and overall guidance. You can do a search on the site because your not the only one with this issue and the posts can help. I did a lot of research here and watched some youtube for some visual instruction and it seemed to work. Using the minion method, I have used the Cowboy and Royal Oak Lump and both have been pretty good for me. I have also used the Original Kingsford Briquettes for a Boston Butt and worked pretty well also. Smokin Al advised me to start off easy with chicken and the Boston Butt because of the price and ease to get things going until I felt comfortable. The top vent should be all the way open, and start with the bottom vents open about a pencil width until the smoker comes up to the temp I want. I adjust after that. But I dont watch it every 15 minutes like I did when I first started out. I learned to trust it and watch it to maintain within a range. That way I dont drive myself crazy. And smoke to temp, using the time frame as a guide. Look up Smokin Al's way for ribs. They came out great every time I did it his way. I have learned that patience is THE key to this because the reward is great when something turns out great. Keep at it! Hope this helps

 

[gmc2003]

Hi, this is a little late, but here's what I do. I start with a full ring of charcoal burying a few chunks of wood throughout. I make a dimple in the middle and lite a 1/4 of a chimney of coals. Once the coals in the chimney are fully lit I place them in the dimple(you can use a tin can for the dimple and pour the coals around it then remove the tin can and pour the hot coals in the empty space). With all vents wide open I bring the smoker up to just about my desired temp. If going for 250 then I'll bring it up to 240ish. Then I'll start shutting down the bottom vents a little at a time until it stabilizes. Some people use a torch through the vent to start their fire, some put a starter cube on the charcoal grate while others use the snake method. There are no wrong ways just what works for you. BTW if doing chicken I would use your top rack as it will be hotter then your bottom rack. Better luck the next time you fire the WSM up.

Note: make sure your lump isn't damp or wet.

Chris

 

[normanaj]

Several years back when I bought my WSM I too had the same issues and discovered this place and trolled thru as much info as I could on the WSM.

Two main things that helped me out the most was charcoal selection and a gasket kit for the WSM.Royal Oak ridge briquettes and Cowboy brand briquettes have been the most consistent for me.The gasket kit just "tightens up" the WSM and helps it maintain temp and smoke a little better.

And like Chris I light my charcoal the same way using the can method.I used to dump chimneys worth of fully lit briquettes into the ring and would start awesome but fizzle out after a couple of hours and I would constantly be adding lit coals to the smoker eventually just choking it out.

Don't give up.....once you get it right you'll never look back.

 

[SmokinAl]

This is the way I start my WSM with the minnion method. A full load of charcoal with wood chunks mixed in.
Then make a small hole in the middle or on the edge, it really doesn't matter. Then add about 12 lit briquettes to the hole & let it go. Now keep in mind that I live in Florida. So if it's cold outside you may need to add a whole chimney of lit charcoal to get a good fire going. Start with all the vents open & when your getting close to your target temp, then start shutting down the bottom vents until it stabilizes at some temp. Let it stay there for a while then make a small adjustment in the bottom vents to get where you want to go. For me, my Lang likes to run at 270-280. It will stay there all day with just adding a split every hour or so. I can run it at 225, but it takes a lot of babysitting. Build your fire & see where your WSM likes to run. Don't sweat the temp variations, you will go nuts trying to maintain a specific temp. If you want a perfect temp all thae time I would suggest you buy a BBQ Guru pit controller. I have one on my WSM & it will hold any temp you set it at as long as there is fuel to burn. Here is a photo of how I set up my WSM to get started.

You can see the Guru blower on the side.
Good luck!
Al