NY Giants Mini WSM seasoned on 1st day of playoffs, but no Giants to be found

[bt broiler]

Today I lit up the mini WSM that WhtPlainsSmoker made for me.  Just wanted to season it and see how the temperatures held.  It was windy and 40 degrees and the smoker held at 225 for 3 hours.

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• bt broiler
• Jan 5, 2013

used a tuna with holes to keep ashes from choking out vent.  It didn't cover the vent holes completely and there may not be enough holes.

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• bt broiler
• Jan 5, 2013

Filled the bottom with charcoal, made a well, and filled it with 12 hot coals.

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• bt broiler
• Jan 5, 2013

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• bt broiler
• Jan 5, 2013

Bottom and top vent were kept fully open until it reached 200 degrees, then i closed the bottom vent half way.  It reached 225.  After a while I opened the bottom vent full again and it never got over 225.

Since many other threads say that their mini WSM was too not, I'm not too worried about not getting reaching higher temperatures.  It was cold today and I only started with 12 hot coals.  Maybe I'll try a mix of Lump for heat and briquettes for longevity tomorrow.

WhitePlainsSmoker is coming over tomorrow and we'll play around with it some more.  Got a fresh chicken from the Goffle Poultry Farm today and may throw that on.

Any advice on heat control is welcome.

BT

 

[mdboatbum]

Sounds like you've got it covered. If you're using a heat sink (clay pot, water pan etc) that may be why it stayed at 225˚. I once fired mine up and immediately threw on 2 pork butts. I was running late to go meet someone, so I didn't have time to stabilize the temp or anything. I just set the vents where I usually do to maintain 225˚ and had to run. The smoker temp was around 150˚ when I left, about 10 minutes after dumping in the lit coals. I ended up getting delayed and didn't make it back for about 4 hours. I was expecting either the fire to have gone out, or it to have run away with itself and the butts to have been reduced to cinders. Instead, the little guy was EXACTLY at 225˚ with about 25% of the coals left. The butts were at around 145˚ if I remember correctly. 

You're going to love this thing.