I am new to using the Smokey Mountain Cooker.

I have used an old cooker that called for about 10 pounds of charcoal
to cook a 12 pound turkey. I put all the charcoal in and just checked
the water pan once or twice. It seemed to work well.

The Smokey Mountain Cooker instructions recommend two layers of
charcoal for cooking the turkey. . Have you found this to be the right
amount of charcoal to start with or do you add much more? How often
have you found you need to check and add fuel?

I have not used a meat thermometer with my previous smoker. Do you
find that you can still read the thermometer if it is left in the
cooker? Does the thermometer window smoke over? Any specific brand
recommendations?

Thanks,
PaulF

"Paul Ferguson" > wrote in message
...
> I am new to using the Smokey Mountain Cooker.
>
> I have used an old cooker that called for about 10 pounds of charcoal
> to cook a 12 pound turkey. I put all the charcoal in and just checked
> the water pan once or twice. It seemed to work well.
>
> The Smokey Mountain Cooker instructions recommend two layers of
> charcoal for cooking the turkey. . Have you found this to be the right
> amount of charcoal to start with or do you add much more? How often
> have you found you need to check and add fuel?
>
> I have not used a meat thermometer with my previous smoker. Do you
> find that you can still read the thermometer if it is left in the
> cooker? Does the thermometer window smoke over? Any specific brand
> recommendations?
>
> Thanks,
> PaulF

Check this site, it has lots of good tips.
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/
I got my WSM a couple of months ago, but only got the chance to 'Q' once so
far.

Happy Q'in!
Doyle

doyle wrote:

> "Paul Ferguson" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>>I am new to using the Smokey Mountain Cooker.
>>
>>I have used an old cooker that called for about 10 pounds of charcoal
>>to cook a 12 pound turkey. I put all the charcoal in and just checked
>>the water pan once or twice. It seemed to work well.
>>
>>The Smokey Mountain Cooker instructions recommend two layers of
>>charcoal for cooking the turkey. . Have you found this to be the right
>>amount of charcoal to start with or do you add much more? How often
>>have you found you need to check and add fuel?

I put in two chimneys-full of lit lump for my 16 lb turkey cook. With
the extra sweet potatoes and butternut squash, however, it kept the
temps down near 225. After removing them, the temp went back up to 325.
A third lit chimney took the temp up to 400 for the remainder of the cook.

I check the temps about every 15 minutes until it stabilizes, then once
an hour. Rarely have to add more charcoal.

>>I have not used a meat thermometer with my previous smoker. Do you
>>find that you can still read the thermometer if it is left in the
>>cooker? Does the thermometer window smoke over? Any specific brand
>>recommendations?

I use a remote probe thermometer. This comes with a long wire
connecting the probe to the display which sits outside the cooker.
You'll see brand names such as Polder and Maverick mentioned.

> Check this site, it has lots of good tips.
> http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/
> I got my WSM a couple of months ago, but only got the chance to 'Q' once so
> far.

What he said. You'll find so much information there about running your
WSM that you won't need the instruction manual.

--
Aloha,

Nathan Lau
San Jose, CA

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