Vince
New member
Hi everyone. I'm Vince and I live on top of a small mountain in Pleasantville, Maryland (Knoxville, MD if you try to find it on a map since our Post office burnt down about thirty years ago).
I’m a new WSM owner and I thought I’d pop in and share my entire experience to date. (I apologize in advance if this gets a little long-winded)
To start with and most significantly, I’d like to express my sincere gratitude to all of you here for the knowledge I’ve garnered and to Chris Allingham for providing such a great resource.
I’m now three smokes into this and thought you folks might like to hear how a new user made out with the assistance and guidance provided here.
I purchased my WSM via the Amazon link on The Virtual Weber Bullet. The carton arrived in pretty decent shape. When I opened it & began assembly I knew what to be on the look out for thanks to you all.
My issues were as follows:
1. Main body out of round.
2. Charcoal bowl out of round.
3. Charcoal bowl porcelain coating chipped.
4. One of the charcoal bowl vents was riveted on so soundly it was scarcely movable.
5. One of the charcoal bowl vents “ears” was smashed over flat.
6. Door fit not even close.
This is what I did:
Contacted a friendly service representative at Weber-Stephen who promptly shipped a replacement bowl. I then gently tweaked the main body a little bit to round it out. And then about 20 minutes of bending the access door, checking fit, re-bending, checking fit, re-bending some more, oops - too much - bending back, checking fit.... well you get the idea.
I got everything put together and was moderately happy with the fit. Not super impressed for $199.99, but what the heck, it’s only meat right? I figured it was going to be close enough and as many of you have mentioned, the grease that will accumulate will act as sort of a seal anyway, and it did as things turned out.
I used a candy thermometer clipped to the top vent and a Weber digital probe to check meat temperatures.
For my first smoke I decided to do an overnight smoke with boston butts on the top rack and a beef round sirloin tip roast on the bottom.
Wait! What is this he says?! A two species smoke!? An overnight for his first attempt?! He’s whiffed a little too much sassafras smoke off his kettle grill already. Somebody stop him!
Yes, it’s true. I’m very ambitious like that. Besides, with all the excellent info available here I felt vey comfortable giving it a shot. I used the Minion method (as I have for all my meat smokes) with chunks of hickory and cherry wood. I slathered the pork butts in mustard and sprinkled liberally with Weber brand Sweet & Tangy seasoning. The beef roast was sprinkled with Weber brand Burgundy Beef seasoning. For basting I used a spray bottle with one part vegetable oil to two parts apple juice. My first smoke started August 1, 2008 at 9:37 PM and the meat was foiled on August 2, 2008 at 2:15 PM. I’ve been using the BBQ Log spreadsheet to track things and I’ve found it helpful to refer back to them. Rain moved in at 3:00 AM, then pouring rain at 5:00 AM, then light steady rain from 6:00 AM to 8:00 AM. Only a 20 % chance of possible scattered showers had been forecast. It was no matter. The WSM held its temperature like a champ! During the heaviest rain it only dropped to 180° F and an hour after that in light & steady rain it was back up to my target temp of 225°. My lower vents were at about 25% and I did not have to open them more during the rain.
Results? The butts were pulled off with an average internal temp of 177° F. The pork was moist, moist, moist. Nice bark with lots of delicate smoke flavor. Tender - like I could scarcely believe. My chicken-meat-dedicated girlfriend flipped over it too! BBQ sandwiches made for the next door neighbors the next day were scarfed down unceremoniously. The beef roast was pulled off with an average internal temperature of 165° F. It was very tender and had a nice deep smoke ring and heavenly aroma, but was maybe just a touch dryer than I’d expected. Although after I brought a sandwich in to work for my assistant he proclaimed it, “maybe the best sandwich I’ve ever eaten. If I was wearing a hat, I’d tip it to ya.” I sliced it nice and thin on an electric slicer and I use horseradish sauce and smoked cheese to make sandwiches with it. The smoke flavor seemed to deepen after it sat in the frig a day or two. Yummy!
Oh yeah - the smoked cheese! After the temps cooled way down, I grabbed a block of sharp cheddar and threw on a chunk of hickory wood. After it firmed back up in the frig, I sliced it on the slicer too. AWESOME! People freak out over this stuff! Later I smoked another block of cheddar and a chunk of Gouda for a party at my girlfriend’s office and I’ve already received 3 marriage proposals from her girlfriends there.
So my first smoke, even with the heavy rain, was a success! I still have some pulled pork sealed in vacuum pack bags leftover in the deep freeze. I’m getting’ hungry right now just thinking about it.
OK, so now I’m patting myself on the back a little so I figure I’d try it again the next weekend. What to smoke, what to smoke? My girlfriend noticed me looking at her dog with an inquisitive look on my face so she quickly asked if chicken could be smoked. Chicken!? Well you’re darn tootin’ chicken can be smoked! I told her that in fact if one walks past the chickens at Sam’s Club you can actually hear them asking to sit in a smoker! So it came to pass that I had six Perdue Oven Stuffer Roasters in the refrigerator. I trimmed off excess fat and shoved a beer can half full of beer with apple and onion slices inside. (I did this mostly to make the chickens sit up on end for more room and as an excuse to drink three beers at 2:00 PM on a Saturday, rather than make the chicken any more moist.) Incidentally, I did close the skin flap over and pin it closed with a bamboo skewer at the top just in case there is any truth to the beer in the rear idea. Three birds got rubbed down with Weber Classic BBQ rub, two with a lemon pepper seasoning including under the skin on the breast. I wish I’d done that with the BBQ flavored ones as well as this worked out great. The last one (stay with me here) I coated with a raw egg, and then covered with finely crushed BBQ flavored potato chips. Why? I’m pretty sure it was the beer. Those yard birds were practically smiling when I set them in the WSM at 3:30 PM.
They came off at 9:15 PM and looked like they had just come back from a sunny vacation.
Results? No pouring rain this time, & smoker temperature was again easy to maintain. I used hickory, cherry, and some sassafras smoke wood and the results were.... perfect. I sliced some for a late night snack and wrapped the rest in foil and sent them to bed in the refrigerator. The next day I sat down at the picnic table and sliced and pulled the rest. When I tried picking them up by the drumstick the whole leg and thigh just pulled off. The smoke ring showed up the most in the legs and wings, the meat was moist and tender. The lemon pepper ones had the most taste of seasoning. By the way, I did not crisp the skin because we did not intend to eat it. The skin was pulled off and discarded. The lemon pepper seasoning I pushed under the skin really flavored the meat thoroughly. The BBQ seasoned ones were good too - just not as seasoned. Now, as to the crushed potato chip covered bird... it turned out to be the moistest of all of them! So tender and succulent. That being said, the coating on the outside tasted awful. The chip pieces soaked up tons of grease and way too much smoke flavor. This was no big deal as I just pulled the skin off in almost one big sheet and tossed it. I’m not sure if the egg coating or the potato chip coating or the combination was responsible for how good that one was, so I’ll be experimenting more. Now that I think about it: I covered a chicken with egg. Ironic, no?
I had some soup made with some of this chicken today at work and when I heated it up I drew a small crowd with the wonderful smell. Fun. Another great smoke. Only one tip I have to offer from this event: Don’t take your internal temp through the access door and forget you have it in there as you pull off the top chickens. It was a great instant read digital thermometer. Hmm... plastic melts pretty quickly. (Stop laughing - it was dark out - I forgot) Poor little thermometer. I purchased a CDN DSP1 dual sensor probe unit to replace it and I used it on the next smoke. The single probe reads internal temp and lid temp simultaneously. I received mine with the little probe clip on the side cracked but I called CDN and they said it is designed to be field replaceable and promised to ship me one out at no charge. I’ll let you all know how well this wired thermometer holds up. After the coals died down I smoked some almonds. Good gravy! Those were great too! What’s next weekend going to be?
Briskets!
Two briskets at Sam’s Club, one 5.49 lbs. the other 5.69 lbs. I prepped them using what I learned from the Brisket Selection & Preparation section and rubbed them down with a mix that I just tossed together. It went something like: In a bowl I tossed in seasoned salt, paprika, garlic powder, onion flakes, kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper corns, a little crushed rosemary, and little Weber burgundy beef seasoning. I mixed in just enough Worcestershire sauce to make a thick paste. They sat in the refrigerator covered with that until I had the WSM going with a full load of Kingsford (Minion method). I used sassafras wood this time. I had them on the WSM at 9:10 AM & I pulled them off at 8:55 PM. Not much more to say about this event - I turned them once and basted them three times, I enjoyed Autumn-like weather and sipped cold beer that afternoon and evening and we just had a blast being outside smelling that food! I started monitoring the meat temperature 3:50 PM and when I took them off at 8:55 PM the internal was 189° F.
Results? The BEST YET !!! I could not believe how good this is! A warm sandwich with a slice of smoked cheese on top of this is better, truly better, than most anything I could buy at a restaurant. Thanks everybody for sharing your experience and suggestions on this forum. I’m hooked. I likely would not have spent that much on a smoker but I’m grateful that you folks allowed me to see the light... er, well smoke anyway.
Vince
I’m a new WSM owner and I thought I’d pop in and share my entire experience to date. (I apologize in advance if this gets a little long-winded)
To start with and most significantly, I’d like to express my sincere gratitude to all of you here for the knowledge I’ve garnered and to Chris Allingham for providing such a great resource.
I’m now three smokes into this and thought you folks might like to hear how a new user made out with the assistance and guidance provided here.
I purchased my WSM via the Amazon link on The Virtual Weber Bullet. The carton arrived in pretty decent shape. When I opened it & began assembly I knew what to be on the look out for thanks to you all.
My issues were as follows:
1. Main body out of round.
2. Charcoal bowl out of round.
3. Charcoal bowl porcelain coating chipped.
4. One of the charcoal bowl vents was riveted on so soundly it was scarcely movable.
5. One of the charcoal bowl vents “ears” was smashed over flat.
6. Door fit not even close.
This is what I did:
Contacted a friendly service representative at Weber-Stephen who promptly shipped a replacement bowl. I then gently tweaked the main body a little bit to round it out. And then about 20 minutes of bending the access door, checking fit, re-bending, checking fit, re-bending some more, oops - too much - bending back, checking fit.... well you get the idea.
I got everything put together and was moderately happy with the fit. Not super impressed for $199.99, but what the heck, it’s only meat right? I figured it was going to be close enough and as many of you have mentioned, the grease that will accumulate will act as sort of a seal anyway, and it did as things turned out.
I used a candy thermometer clipped to the top vent and a Weber digital probe to check meat temperatures.
For my first smoke I decided to do an overnight smoke with boston butts on the top rack and a beef round sirloin tip roast on the bottom.
Wait! What is this he says?! A two species smoke!? An overnight for his first attempt?! He’s whiffed a little too much sassafras smoke off his kettle grill already. Somebody stop him!
Yes, it’s true. I’m very ambitious like that. Besides, with all the excellent info available here I felt vey comfortable giving it a shot. I used the Minion method (as I have for all my meat smokes) with chunks of hickory and cherry wood. I slathered the pork butts in mustard and sprinkled liberally with Weber brand Sweet & Tangy seasoning. The beef roast was sprinkled with Weber brand Burgundy Beef seasoning. For basting I used a spray bottle with one part vegetable oil to two parts apple juice. My first smoke started August 1, 2008 at 9:37 PM and the meat was foiled on August 2, 2008 at 2:15 PM. I’ve been using the BBQ Log spreadsheet to track things and I’ve found it helpful to refer back to them. Rain moved in at 3:00 AM, then pouring rain at 5:00 AM, then light steady rain from 6:00 AM to 8:00 AM. Only a 20 % chance of possible scattered showers had been forecast. It was no matter. The WSM held its temperature like a champ! During the heaviest rain it only dropped to 180° F and an hour after that in light & steady rain it was back up to my target temp of 225°. My lower vents were at about 25% and I did not have to open them more during the rain.
Results? The butts were pulled off with an average internal temp of 177° F. The pork was moist, moist, moist. Nice bark with lots of delicate smoke flavor. Tender - like I could scarcely believe. My chicken-meat-dedicated girlfriend flipped over it too! BBQ sandwiches made for the next door neighbors the next day were scarfed down unceremoniously. The beef roast was pulled off with an average internal temperature of 165° F. It was very tender and had a nice deep smoke ring and heavenly aroma, but was maybe just a touch dryer than I’d expected. Although after I brought a sandwich in to work for my assistant he proclaimed it, “maybe the best sandwich I’ve ever eaten. If I was wearing a hat, I’d tip it to ya.” I sliced it nice and thin on an electric slicer and I use horseradish sauce and smoked cheese to make sandwiches with it. The smoke flavor seemed to deepen after it sat in the frig a day or two. Yummy!
Oh yeah - the smoked cheese! After the temps cooled way down, I grabbed a block of sharp cheddar and threw on a chunk of hickory wood. After it firmed back up in the frig, I sliced it on the slicer too. AWESOME! People freak out over this stuff! Later I smoked another block of cheddar and a chunk of Gouda for a party at my girlfriend’s office and I’ve already received 3 marriage proposals from her girlfriends there.
So my first smoke, even with the heavy rain, was a success! I still have some pulled pork sealed in vacuum pack bags leftover in the deep freeze. I’m getting’ hungry right now just thinking about it.
OK, so now I’m patting myself on the back a little so I figure I’d try it again the next weekend. What to smoke, what to smoke? My girlfriend noticed me looking at her dog with an inquisitive look on my face so she quickly asked if chicken could be smoked. Chicken!? Well you’re darn tootin’ chicken can be smoked! I told her that in fact if one walks past the chickens at Sam’s Club you can actually hear them asking to sit in a smoker! So it came to pass that I had six Perdue Oven Stuffer Roasters in the refrigerator. I trimmed off excess fat and shoved a beer can half full of beer with apple and onion slices inside. (I did this mostly to make the chickens sit up on end for more room and as an excuse to drink three beers at 2:00 PM on a Saturday, rather than make the chicken any more moist.) Incidentally, I did close the skin flap over and pin it closed with a bamboo skewer at the top just in case there is any truth to the beer in the rear idea. Three birds got rubbed down with Weber Classic BBQ rub, two with a lemon pepper seasoning including under the skin on the breast. I wish I’d done that with the BBQ flavored ones as well as this worked out great. The last one (stay with me here) I coated with a raw egg, and then covered with finely crushed BBQ flavored potato chips. Why? I’m pretty sure it was the beer. Those yard birds were practically smiling when I set them in the WSM at 3:30 PM.
They came off at 9:15 PM and looked like they had just come back from a sunny vacation.
Results? No pouring rain this time, & smoker temperature was again easy to maintain. I used hickory, cherry, and some sassafras smoke wood and the results were.... perfect. I sliced some for a late night snack and wrapped the rest in foil and sent them to bed in the refrigerator. The next day I sat down at the picnic table and sliced and pulled the rest. When I tried picking them up by the drumstick the whole leg and thigh just pulled off. The smoke ring showed up the most in the legs and wings, the meat was moist and tender. The lemon pepper ones had the most taste of seasoning. By the way, I did not crisp the skin because we did not intend to eat it. The skin was pulled off and discarded. The lemon pepper seasoning I pushed under the skin really flavored the meat thoroughly. The BBQ seasoned ones were good too - just not as seasoned. Now, as to the crushed potato chip covered bird... it turned out to be the moistest of all of them! So tender and succulent. That being said, the coating on the outside tasted awful. The chip pieces soaked up tons of grease and way too much smoke flavor. This was no big deal as I just pulled the skin off in almost one big sheet and tossed it. I’m not sure if the egg coating or the potato chip coating or the combination was responsible for how good that one was, so I’ll be experimenting more. Now that I think about it: I covered a chicken with egg. Ironic, no?
I had some soup made with some of this chicken today at work and when I heated it up I drew a small crowd with the wonderful smell. Fun. Another great smoke. Only one tip I have to offer from this event: Don’t take your internal temp through the access door and forget you have it in there as you pull off the top chickens. It was a great instant read digital thermometer. Hmm... plastic melts pretty quickly. (Stop laughing - it was dark out - I forgot) Poor little thermometer. I purchased a CDN DSP1 dual sensor probe unit to replace it and I used it on the next smoke. The single probe reads internal temp and lid temp simultaneously. I received mine with the little probe clip on the side cracked but I called CDN and they said it is designed to be field replaceable and promised to ship me one out at no charge. I’ll let you all know how well this wired thermometer holds up. After the coals died down I smoked some almonds. Good gravy! Those were great too! What’s next weekend going to be?
Briskets!
Two briskets at Sam’s Club, one 5.49 lbs. the other 5.69 lbs. I prepped them using what I learned from the Brisket Selection & Preparation section and rubbed them down with a mix that I just tossed together. It went something like: In a bowl I tossed in seasoned salt, paprika, garlic powder, onion flakes, kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper corns, a little crushed rosemary, and little Weber burgundy beef seasoning. I mixed in just enough Worcestershire sauce to make a thick paste. They sat in the refrigerator covered with that until I had the WSM going with a full load of Kingsford (Minion method). I used sassafras wood this time. I had them on the WSM at 9:10 AM & I pulled them off at 8:55 PM. Not much more to say about this event - I turned them once and basted them three times, I enjoyed Autumn-like weather and sipped cold beer that afternoon and evening and we just had a blast being outside smelling that food! I started monitoring the meat temperature 3:50 PM and when I took them off at 8:55 PM the internal was 189° F.
Results? The BEST YET !!! I could not believe how good this is! A warm sandwich with a slice of smoked cheese on top of this is better, truly better, than most anything I could buy at a restaurant. Thanks everybody for sharing your experience and suggestions on this forum. I’m hooked. I likely would not have spent that much on a smoker but I’m grateful that you folks allowed me to see the light... er, well smoke anyway.
Vince
