WSM would NOT get temp up

[Shadowdog500]

I just looked and found that they make a smoking jacket for the WSM for winter smoking.

It's $98 http://www.thebbqguru.com/products/1...er-Jacket.html


The virtual bullet has multiple shelter and blanket mods listed for winter smoking. I may try one.
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/coldtemp.html

(Hope it's ok to reference other sites here)

Chris

[jkolantern]

I was dealing with temps in the mid/upper 40s, some wind but not a ton. I put up some wind screens to counter that effect somewhat.

Maybe it was the partially burned coal. I did have that thing overflowing by the end, glowing hot, and did not get up to 300.

Water pan was empty and foiled. I had a foiled saucer inside it and one 12oz can of broth in an empty disposable aluminum roaster on the second rack.

I checked my temp at the dome with a thermometer in the vent and with an oven thermometer. Either one might have a few degrees of play, but not 50-100. The slow rate of bird cooking as checked with my thermapen confirmed that the temps were likely right about what I was reading (if they'd been off and way low, bird would have been done much sooner).

Ultimately, I finished it off in the gasser. People still said best they'd ever had. I told them they should have tried the one I made on Thanksgiving itself. That cooked around 275-300 and was really good.

Thanks for the suggestions. I think the charcoal, either damp or 1/2 used, must have been the culprit from which additional lit chimneys were unable to overcome.

[BobM]

"BBQ Bandit" nailed it.

Propping the door open always works for me.

[ccarter]

I'd say that the used charcoal, and adding the meat a little too early were the culprit. I know everyone has had to tighten their budgets lately, but I'd really recommend dumping left-over charcoal after a cook - ESPECIALLY standard KBB. Lump seems to do a bit better, but can still cause these problems. As you learn your cooker, you'll get to where there's less and less waste after a cook, both charcoal and water. Also, with higher temp cooks it's really a good idea to let the smoker to get all the way up to temp - even 25* over temp - before adding the meat. That's a lot of cold meat being thrown in and it will always be a struggle to recover from that to a high temp. If the smoker hasn't gotten up to that temp before the meat is added, it's a double-whammy for the smoker. My experience with the WSM leads me to call anything over 300* high temp. The WSM does great at lower temps because of the limited max air flow through the ports at the bottom. That strength is also a weakness during startup, though.