JasonWB
TVWBB Member
So after smoking on my gas grills for years, my wife surprised me and ordered me a new WSM 22.5 for my first Fathers Day. Needless to say I was slightly excited. So after waiting two weeks to find out that it was lost in shipping, getting a refund, going to a local store and buying one only to get it home and discover that it was an old model, returning that one and finally getting a 2014 model with the rubber probe grommets etc. that I wanted, I am finally the proud owner of a new wsm22.5.
I also decided that I wanted a table or storage of some sort to put beside it where I was going to put it in the yard and dumb lucked across a Performer on craigslist locally that some guys had posted a thread for on here (thanks guys!!!) for $55 which fit the bill more than perfectly. I didn't want the charcoal/wood/fire grills on the wood deck so I installed paver stones in the yard and made a dedicated pit area.
I did the CB door and pressure latch and also did the gasket mod, but decided to attach the gasket directly to the back of the door for a cleaner look. I had planned to do grate handle mods, but was also pleasantly surprised that handles have already been attached to the lower food grate on the new models.
I did however go ahead with the charcoal grate handle and second grate mod. Bolted and wired it together and it's very solid.
Also picked up a smaller charcoal basket for shorter cooks (thanks again Don!!!).
I thought about it a lot and decided to go ahead and pull the trigger on a Cyberq Wifi as I like to take a lot of the variables out of cooking and wanted to control things as much as possible as well as the fact that I hate being tied to the grill/smoker all day when I'm cooking. It took several hours to get set up properly, but now works like a dream. I would have no hesitation now to start a cook and sleep through the night or go to the pool etc as it will alert me if anything is not going properly. I've used it once and it has already proven itself worth every penny. It does need a power supply and I decided I didn't want to run an extension cord every time I cooked so I found a thread on here and got the idea to use a sprinkler controller box with a dedicated power supply. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000VYGMF2/tvwb-20. It's water proof and is the perfect setup to hook the controller up in and leave it even if the weather gets wet. I had to run a power supply out into the yard, which took an afternoon, but I'm very happy with the finished product. I used a bit of Velcro and can just remove everything from it when I'm not cooking and takes me about two minutes to set up the atc when I want to get started.
It's not hooked up here, but it will hold my transmitter for my et-733 as well.
Closed up and water tight
Results of the first cook Saturday. Pork shoulder was so tender that I couldn't even get it off the smoker in one piece.
As I now have a power supply right there, I'm planning to add some sort of lighting over the grills, but am still looking for the right fixtures, parts etc.
I still plan to do the handle mod on the middle section of the cooker, but haven't decided how I want to do it yet. I'm also considering the grate level exterior thermometer mod even though I really don't need it.
Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions on anything else that would be helpful!!!
I also decided that I wanted a table or storage of some sort to put beside it where I was going to put it in the yard and dumb lucked across a Performer on craigslist locally that some guys had posted a thread for on here (thanks guys!!!) for $55 which fit the bill more than perfectly. I didn't want the charcoal/wood/fire grills on the wood deck so I installed paver stones in the yard and made a dedicated pit area.
I did the CB door and pressure latch and also did the gasket mod, but decided to attach the gasket directly to the back of the door for a cleaner look. I had planned to do grate handle mods, but was also pleasantly surprised that handles have already been attached to the lower food grate on the new models.
I did however go ahead with the charcoal grate handle and second grate mod. Bolted and wired it together and it's very solid.
Also picked up a smaller charcoal basket for shorter cooks (thanks again Don!!!).
I thought about it a lot and decided to go ahead and pull the trigger on a Cyberq Wifi as I like to take a lot of the variables out of cooking and wanted to control things as much as possible as well as the fact that I hate being tied to the grill/smoker all day when I'm cooking. It took several hours to get set up properly, but now works like a dream. I would have no hesitation now to start a cook and sleep through the night or go to the pool etc as it will alert me if anything is not going properly. I've used it once and it has already proven itself worth every penny. It does need a power supply and I decided I didn't want to run an extension cord every time I cooked so I found a thread on here and got the idea to use a sprinkler controller box with a dedicated power supply. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000VYGMF2/tvwb-20. It's water proof and is the perfect setup to hook the controller up in and leave it even if the weather gets wet. I had to run a power supply out into the yard, which took an afternoon, but I'm very happy with the finished product. I used a bit of Velcro and can just remove everything from it when I'm not cooking and takes me about two minutes to set up the atc when I want to get started.
It's not hooked up here, but it will hold my transmitter for my et-733 as well.
Closed up and water tight
Results of the first cook Saturday. Pork shoulder was so tender that I couldn't even get it off the smoker in one piece.
As I now have a power supply right there, I'm planning to add some sort of lighting over the grills, but am still looking for the right fixtures, parts etc.
I still plan to do the handle mod on the middle section of the cooker, but haven't decided how I want to do it yet. I'm also considering the grate level exterior thermometer mod even though I really don't need it.
Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions on anything else that would be helpful!!!
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