New WSM first smoke

[RobinC]

Could well be 30f out. Like I said be careful of fussing with the cooker too much. Good luck on your first cook.

[BBQFanatic]

The reason that the wsm is the most popular bullet smoker is that it has a natural tendency to cook at around 250F. We like to get the smoker going and up to temp before adding the meat. You will also know if your vents are correctly set based on the environmental conditions. Cool temps or wind mean you need to use more energy to keep the cooker at its temp, hence the bottom and top vents may need to be open wider. A good suggestion is to use warm water, as it takes a significant energy to heat cool water, and if you had the food in there as well it would have also had an impact on the smoker. We have moved as a team to using 14" clay pot bases on top of the bowl to replace the need of water. This means that the cooker comes up to temp faster and uses less energy as a result less charcoal. We have done a 14hr cook on 1 charcoal starter in the past.

On average the lid temp is about 15-18F lower than the bottom grate temp. Give it some time, it takes 2-3 cooks to get a feel for your unit. Good luck

[Ady]

I think my original problem was a lack of lit coals put on at the start, once it got going I was very impressed. It needed a little tweak here and there but generally the temp held very well in the 'smoke' zone.

Even now its bang on temp, 8 hours after lighting, And dinner... So worth the wait!

[KamadoSimon]

Glad it worked out.

Those ribs look STUNNING !

[keith157]

To increase temp you need to increase airflow, get all your vents fully open to start, then gradually close the top vents to reduce the temp. Take notes and pics of the vent positions to enable repeat positioning next time. Good luck, I would ventuire a guess that less than 10% of the readers and members of this forum got it right first time, then everytime from there on. It's a learning curve and you are well on the road to perfection by asking relevant questions

[Mike_P_in_Tucson]

I am a little late to this, but I do have some advice --- nice looking food, by the way.

Using a WSM or a ProQ, the top vent should remain open throughout the cook. Control the temperature using the bottom vents. You may find that you will wind up with two of the bottom vents completely closed and the thrid one only 1/8 to 1/4 open. ONLY if you can't bring the temperature down to where you want it should you close down the top vent at all.

For more information on using your WSM, check the Virtual Weber Bullet website:

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/fireup1.html

[bencops]

My MO with both smokers is to have all the bottom vents 1/3 open and the top one fully open (on water) or 1/3 open (on clay)