Were you using the Minion method? If so, that's a typical experience with
the WSM. I routinely do overnight cooks of 14-16 hours with very few
adjustments needed on a single load of *Kingsford*. My last 14 hour cook
required two vent adjustments and I stirred the coals after about 11 hours.
Rock-steady between 225 and 250 or so.

I have wired my fire ring to the charcoal grate to make shaking the coals
easier (for cleanup and saving of unused charcoal) and I run the Brinkmann
charcoal pan filled about 2/3 with sand rather than the water pan. Other
than that, it ran great right out of the box.

Were
"Bob" > wrote in message
...
> First overnight smoke.
>
>
> I used a 14.5 # whole brisket. I started charcoal at 8:20 and put meat
> on at 9:00. I had to adjust temp for about 1 hour. When I got the WSM
> to hold at ~ 230 degrees, (vents where opened about 1/3) I went to
> bed. I woke up at 7:00 a.m. checked the smoker, it was holding at 228
> degrees! Opened all vents, tapped smoker to knock "dust" of charcoal,
> smoker went to 245 degrees. I let it ride for another 2 hours. I
> pulled meat at internal temp of 187 degrees. I have a hunk in my hand
> as I type. Couldn't be happier! I can't believe how well it held the
> temp.
>
>
>
> Ben
>