# WSM and cold weather



## jds22

Hey all. I'm considering getting a charcoal smoker and was wondering how well the WSM does in cold weather say down to around 30 degrees outside?

Thanks


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## cayman1

I use a hot water heater insulating blanket for my wsm. Get one at Lowes.


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## jds22

Good idea.


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## blacjac

Cayman1 said:


> I use a hot water heater insulating blanket for my wsm. Get one at Lowes.


At what temp do you start using the blanket??


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## woundedyak

It's not so much temp. It's the wind. Mines gone 12hrs in 20degree temp dumping snow with no wind. If you plan on doing a 9hr+ smoke, I would wrap it with a welding blanket just to be safe and not eat through so much fuel. The wind is really what chills the WSM down. I've had wind kick up on 70degree days and knock it down to 150.


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## jirodriguez

I use a 6 ft. X 8 ft. welding blanket with my 22.5" WSM, works great for both wind and cold temps. Here is a link to one of my winter smokes - high temps. for the day were bellow 40°:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/115085/twas-the-night-before-christmas-and-all-through-the-smoke


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## dward51

Never needed a blanket in 30 degree weather before.  Like others said wind can be the issue as it will make keeping a stable temp a chore.  If you have two pieces of plywood, you can make a wind break if you need it (depends on where your smoker is located if you even need one as if there is something else breaking the wind path like part of the house or garage, it may not be necessary).  Wind can either fan the flames with too much air, or suck all your heat out depending on how things are set and how much wind, etc....

As to the cold temps, I've smoked down to about 15 degrees without a blanket, but there was no wind that day.  Done quite a few smokes in 30 degree or so temps with no problems.  I guess I should add I also use a BBQ Guru power draft so the other sources of air sneaking into the charcoal chamber are closed off.  If it's colder, you just burn a little more fuel keeping the temps up.

Don't let cold temps keep you from using the WSM this fall & winter though.

Here is a page at TVWBB site specifically on smoking in a WSM in cold or windy weather.  Lots of good photos of ideas others have come up with to combat wind.

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


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## blacjac

That must be what happened to me this morning, when I put my pork shoulder on, it was a bit windy and when I went to check on it later in the morning, the fire died...now I know to watch out for in the future...I think I will also do the high temp oven seal for the lid, I also noticed quite a bit of smoke escaping this morning too













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__ blacjac
__ Sep 11, 2012


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## cayman1

Wind is a big factor, but the insulation keeps the fuel use down. I've done comps at 35 degrees w/o any insulation, just more attention and fuel.


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## cayman1

Cayman1 said:


> Wind is a big factor, but the insulation keeps the fuel use down. I've done comps at 35 degrees w/o any insulation, just more attention and fuel, but so easy to use insulation, so why not?


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## jirodriguez

I love having my welding blanket, it works as both a windbreak and insulation at the same time, but when I don't need it, it folds up into about a 1.5 ft.x1.5 ft. x 6" package for easy storage.


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## puckinggoalie

I just did a cold weather pair of shoulders, and it seemed that the temps were higher than normal and I burned through a bit more fuel than normal, but not by a whole lot.

There was no wind, and the overnight temp went down to the mid 20s.  With the exception of needing to get another chimney going in the morning, it wasn't too bad.  The fact that my butane lighter had run out so I have to go to the store at 8AM was bad.

The temp spiking was unusual.  I'm by no means an expert, but I've smoked about 10 times now, and the temp in my WSM has been rock solid every time.  This time, it spiked up to about 250 most of the time, and I had to choke it almost all the way down, which is also unusual.  

Did the cold air move more air into the fuel chamber?


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## rickw

I've done many cold weather smokes on the WSM with the aid of a wind break only. Not to much difference in fuel consumption that I could tell. The WSM is great for these type of cooks.


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## cbtengr

This is what I put together for my WSM to get it out of the wind, I have it bolted to a turntable so I can get to all the vents for adjustment. I have vents at the top that I open for relief and I crack the door during a smoke for draft.













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__ cbtengr
__ Mar 2, 2013


















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__ cbtengr
__ Mar 2, 2013


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## terrymn

Nice set up!!!


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## rickw

That is nice but there's no way I would have it so close to my house. You should consider moving for danger of a fire.


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## den60

I am on the coast in Southern California so I can't help you when it comes to cold weather.

Sorry, couldn't help myself.


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## den60

cbtengr said:


> This is what I put together for my WSM to get it out of the wind, I have it bolted to a turntable so I can get to all the vents for adjustment. I have vents at the top that I open for relief and I crack the door during a smoke for draft.
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> __ cbtengr
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Man, that is one sweet set up. One question, do you have anything that vents smoke out of the shed? As for Fireproofing you might want to consider a layer of 5/8" drywall.


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## fwismoker

Den60 said:


> Man, that is one sweet set up. One question, do you have anything that vents smoke out of the shed? As for Fireproofing you might want to consider a layer of 5/8" drywall.


I like it as well...thought of something similar for the drum.   













wsm smoking jacket.jpg



__ fwismoker
__ Jun 10, 2013





WSM Smoking Jacket. I'd get one if i had a WSM....18" Is 99 and the 22 inch is 135 i believe.   It serves as a cover also.


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## dasmith69

I live in Pittsburgh and use mine every month..... I actually think it is a little easier to control the temps when it is cooler. I do use a wind break if there is a breeze.


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## jirodriguez

FWIsmoker said:


> I like it as well...thought of something similar for the drum.
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> __ fwismoker
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> WSM Smoking Jacket. I'd get one if i had a WSM....18" Is 99 and the 22 inch is 135 i believe.   It serves as a cover also.


$45 6ft. x 8ft. welding blanket.... works great and folds up small when not needed, and you can peal down the top while leaving the bottom wrapped to open the lid and what not.













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__ jirodriguez
__ Feb 3, 2013


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## love2dive

Where can I buy a welder blanket?  At Home Depot or Lowes?


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## fwismoker

love2dive said:


> Where can I buy a welder blanket? At Home Depot or Lowes?


Harbor Freight is a good choice if you have one near by.


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## cooksauce

I find wind the biggest issue. No problems in the cold. I've used mine with snowbanks around it in -20 degrees celcius(I think its -4 Fahrenheit?) and works great.


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## ben cartwright2

Thanks for the idea on the welding blanket, I texted a friend who is the construction biz and he said he has 2 and will GIVE me one!


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## grimm5577

cbtengr said:


> This is what I put together for my WSM to get it out of the wind, I have it bolted to a turntable so I can get to all the vents for adjustment. I have vents at the top that I open for relief and I crack the door during a smoke for draft.
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> __ cbtengr
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if you went thru all the trouble to build a house for a smoker, why not just build a dedicated smoke house. None the less it's pretty sweet!


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## jirodriguez

love2dive said:


> Where can I buy a welder blanket? At Home Depot or Lowes?


Not sure if the big box stores carry the, but any welding supply shop will have them. Anothe option is to stop by a metal fab shop and see if they have any old ones thay might give you. Even with a few small holes burned in them they would still work really well.


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## pryan1877

Harbor Freight has them.


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## jerseydrew

as others have said cold is not the issue. what does become and issue is in the cooler weather with wind you wind up going through a ton of fuel and on a long smoke the ash eventually builds up enough to choke the fire. what i do is, take the middle section (WITH the lid) and move it to the side for a moment. the temp will start to lower in the chamber but not that fast. i put handles on my fire grate so i can pick up the fire grate and shake the ash out. i then set the fire grate aside (on something that will not burn!!!) and with a small garden trowel and metal fireplace ash bucket, i remove as much ash as i can. i then put the fire grate back in reload more fuel let it get some heat and going then just pop the entire middle section with lid back on top and let it regulate temp again. has been working well for me lately on LONG smokes. 

you know how they say every piece of meat has it's own time. well i had an 8 lb butt take 19 hours recently. the other 8 lb butt took 12. thank god i cooked both. one was ready in time for dinner and the other was good for the fridge and left overs.


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## tahoe1

JIRodriguez said:


> I use a 6 ft. X 8 ft. welding blanket with my 22.5" WSM, works great for both wind and cold temps. Here is a link to one of my winter smokes - high temps. for the day were bellow 40°:
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> http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/115085/twas-the-night-before-christmas-and-all-through-the-smoke


I will be smoking ribs tomorrow and I will try the welding blanket for the first time.  The forecast is calling for a high of 9 degrees.  Do you add water to the pan when using the welding blanket?  Some people don't use any water in cold weather and one person posted on the forum that he uses a fire brick.  Thanks!


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## morning wood

I used my WSM for the second time this past weekend.  When I fired it up it was 7 degrees out with a 24 mph NNW wind for what the news channel said was a -15 degree windchill.  I put the smoker on the SE side of the garage and fired it up with a bag of lump, a handfull of apple wood and a full water pan.  It stayed between 225 and 250 for 11 hours with only 3 adjustments on the intakes.  The only problem I had was I was doing a 12 hour cook so I just threw more apple on for the last hour to maintain heat.

For me going forward the only precautions I am going to take for cold weather smoking using the WSM is how much clothes *I *wear!  The WSM is amazing at what it does.

I guess this is a bit off topic but I did have a problem with the Maverick 732 due to cold weather.  The BBQ probe read LLL.  The manual says to make sure the probe is at room temp.  Since I was standing in my garage where the room temp was 7 I didn't quite understand the problem. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





   But here is my mistake, I put the probe in the smoker assuming that it would warm up and begin working.  It did not.  After about three hours I took off the faulty probe and brought it into the house.  An hour later I put it back on with its first temp reading at 68, it worked fine from there.


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## jirodriguez

Tahoe1 said:


> I will be smoking ribs tomorrow and I will try the welding blanket for the first time.  The forecast is calling for a high of 9 degrees.  Do you add water to the pan when using the welding blanket?  Some people don't use any water in cold weather and one person posted on the forum that he uses a fire brick.  Thanks!


Unless I am trying to get over 300° I always add water to the water pan - regardless of weather - it evens out any spikes/drops when you open up your smoker.


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## jirodriguez

jerseydrew said:


> as others have said cold is not the issue. what does become and issue is in the cooler weather with wind you wind up going through a ton of fuel and on a long smoke the ash eventually builds up enough to choke the fire. what i do is, take the middle section (WITH the lid) and move it to the side for a moment. the temp will start to lower in the chamber but not that fast. i put handles on my fire grate so i can pick up the fire grate and shake the ash out. i then set the fire grate aside (on something that will not burn!!!) and with a small garden trowel and metal fireplace ash bucket, i remove as much ash as i can. i then put the fire grate back in reload more fuel let it get some heat and going then just pop the entire middle section with lid back on top and let it regulate temp again. has been working well for me lately on LONG smokes.
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Get yourself a welding blanket, you will be amazed at the differance in fuel consumption on cold windy days. I went from getting approx. 30 min. per lb. of charcoal (at 250°) to about 60 min. per lb. of charcoal, even on cold windy rainy days.


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## tahoe1

JIRodriguez said:


> Unless I am trying to get over 300° I always add water to the water pan - regardless of weather - it evens out any spikes/drops when you open up your smoker.


Thanks!  The welding blanket worked well!


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## mr clean

A friend of mine is a union insulater and is going to make me one of the silver ones. Im buying the materials and 2 cases of beer  for doing it.


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## matt22556

Used mine and it was 9 degrees out, only issue for me was that I was cold when I would check on it. It held solid 250 for 12+ hours.


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## fwismoker

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/...ive-51-windchill-and-running-a-spatchcock-350

A refletix sleeve for the smoker will keep it warm in extreme cold.


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## phillip p smith

FWIsmoker said:


> I like it as well...thought of something similar for the drum.
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> __ fwismoker
> __ Jun 10, 2013
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> WSM Smoking Jacket. I'd get one if i had a WSM....18" Is 99 and the 22 inch is 135 i believe.   It serves as a cover also.


That does not seem to allow for actual smoking only covering for storage!


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## rdwhahb

Phillip P Smith said:


> That does not seem to allow for actual smoking only covering for storage!















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__ rdwhahb
__ Jan 24, 2014






It is made for smoking. I have used it a couple of times and have no regrets making the purchase. If you look close enough you can see smoke coming out of the blanket opening.


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## jirodriguez

Yeah those do work well.... I'm just to darn cheap... lol. I looked at those and about croaked at the $100+ price tag - course that's the same reason I came up with my under $5 eyelet/grommit mod, I was to cheap to pay for the Cajun Bandit ones... lol.

You can look at the link below my signature if you ever want/need to add more eyelets for probes.


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## mikey75

I would love to see a pic of that once it's done...that sounds awesome.


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## friskiedgrrl

Hey, that would be perfect weather to smoke some cheese. I wish it would get real cold here for about a week, then I could do some REAL applewood smoked cheddar!


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## captain bandana

I have just completed (two days ago) almost two pounds of aged cheddar - just waiting now for the two/three weeks it needs in the fridge. Nice sized blocks, about 4" x 4" x 1", Traeger smoker at 50 degrees F (it's cold here now) and four hours in the apple pellet smoke. Stay tuned for a completion report about Feb 20, or so, if I can remember to post.


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## three2one

I know this is an old thread. I have a question about using a welding blanket in a different way.

I know it is intended to keep heat in while in cold weather. I live in southern Nevada and I don't have that issue although wind can be an issue at times.

I have a Weber SmokeFire that when it gets up to 600 degrees, while doing a steak, makes the hollow aluminum handle too hot too handle. I suspect the heat from the lid is radiating to the handle or through its connection to the lid.

Does anyone see the welding blanket in use being able to mitigate the issue?


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## noboundaries

Leather gloves. A Vortex in my older Kettle makes the handle too hot to touch. Leather gloves to the rescue.


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