Neil Robinson
New member
First, a little back story...
I recently moved to the US at the start of the year, and since we now have a small garden, I wanted to get a barbecue and start grilling some meat just like I'd missed from camping trips back home in the UK.
I started by doing some research into getting a nice small charcoal grill. I didn't want anything too big because my family is just my wife, our 1 year old son and I. I ended up settling on a Weber Smokey Joe, and set about looking for where to buy one on-line. A small complication arose when I discovered that there were two versions of Smokey Joe, the Gold and the Silver. A quick search for Gold vs Silver turned up many discussions on which was best for the Mini WSM...
In England, Barbecue usually means direct heat grilling, but this US style indirect cooking with smoke woods sounded intriguing, so I went and built me my very own Mini WSM, based on a SJG and an IMUSA 32Qt Steamer. This would be my first experience of cooking genuine US barbecue...
Before I ask my questions, here are the details of my build:
Now I've never ever used or seen a smoker before, so I decided to start not by cooking anything, but just by lighting the fire and seeing how stable I could keep the temperatures.
Initially I didn't have a charcoal basket, and was using the 12" saucer. I didn't want to waste lots of charcoal, so I lit about 30 briquettes in a chimney for about 10 minutes (they weren't grey all over) and then tipped them onto the charcoal grate and watched the smoker temperature rise. It settled at something between 200 and 225, but wouldn't go any higher.
The second time I decided to cook my first food - a fatty stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon. This time I did exactly the same process, because I knew temperatures wouldn't run away with themselves, and the fatty cooked pretty good. I even got my first smoke ring that permeated through the bacon and into the sausage meat itself!
By now though, I had a desire to cook something really low and slow, like a brisket or pork butt. I also wanted to be able to cook chicken. This meant that I'd have to test my build at higher temperatures, and for longer run times. I was planning to add a SJS damper to my Gold to increase temperatures as well us use a 10" saucer rather than a 12". I swapped out the saucer, but decided to wait on the SJS damper mod and just built a charcoal basket to make run times more controllable.
With the charcoal basket fitted, I filled it to the top with unlit briquettes, then lit about 17 briquettes in a coffee can inside the chimney... This time I made sure that they were grey all over, and since it was around 11pm, they were glowing a nice orange / red colour! Once they were all lit, I placed them spread out over the surface of the charcoal in the basket, and refitted the smoker body.
I went inside to watch some TV and wait for the temperature to rise in the smoker, keeping an eye on the thermometer out the window. The temperatures rocketed up to about 300 within 10 minutes with the SJG vents right open, so I went out and shut them down to 1/2 on both sides. After another 10 minutes the temp was 325, so I shut the vents down to 1/4 on both sides. 10 minutes more and they were still 325, so I shut both vents down to almost closed... I was worried about the fire going out, but the temperatures wouldn't drop down.
I left the fire burning all night, and checked it again at about 7 am the next morning, after about 8 hours burning. The temperature of the smoker was ambient, and the fire had all but gone out. What was nice was that the ash was totally smooth; every single charcoal briquette had burned, and burned completely, so the minion method had worked very well indeed.
So my questions then...
Basically, I'm just looking for how the right way to keep temperatures stable and controllable between 200 and 325 for various cooking purposes. I've been able to achieve 200 ~ 225 with my first set up for about 2 hours, but then it started to go cold. I was able to achieve 325 with my second setup and it lasted for a good few hours... How can I achieve a 10 hour 225 ~ 250 smoke?!?
Thanks everyone for your help.
Neil.
P.S. I did also try using the SJG without the Mini WSM mod to try out direct and indirect cooking. I banked the charcoal at the back side, and found it to burn very well, even with the lid on... I don't think the a SJS modification is necessary for Mini WSM or for use without! All in all the SJG seems to be a really good grill!
I recently moved to the US at the start of the year, and since we now have a small garden, I wanted to get a barbecue and start grilling some meat just like I'd missed from camping trips back home in the UK.
I started by doing some research into getting a nice small charcoal grill. I didn't want anything too big because my family is just my wife, our 1 year old son and I. I ended up settling on a Weber Smokey Joe, and set about looking for where to buy one on-line. A small complication arose when I discovered that there were two versions of Smokey Joe, the Gold and the Silver. A quick search for Gold vs Silver turned up many discussions on which was best for the Mini WSM...
In England, Barbecue usually means direct heat grilling, but this US style indirect cooking with smoke woods sounded intriguing, so I went and built me my very own Mini WSM, based on a SJG and an IMUSA 32Qt Steamer. This would be my first experience of cooking genuine US barbecue...
Before I ask my questions, here are the details of my build:
- Weber Smokey Joe Gold
- 18 gauge expanded steel charcoal basket (See Questions)
- IMUSA 32Qt Aluminium steamer
- Bottom completely removed from steamer
- 18 1/2" Charcoal grate resting on steamer lip
- 12" or 10" Unglazed terracotta saucer resting on grate (See Questions)
- Smokey Joe Cooking grate resting on saucer upside down
- Second Smokey Joe Cooking grate on 1/4" x 1/2" bolts 3.75" from top
- $10 BBQ Thermometer from eBay mounted 3/4 below top cooking grate
- 1/2" NM/SE Watertight connector for Maverick ET-732 probes (Coming Soon)
- Thermapen for checking meat temperatures
Now I've never ever used or seen a smoker before, so I decided to start not by cooking anything, but just by lighting the fire and seeing how stable I could keep the temperatures.
Initially I didn't have a charcoal basket, and was using the 12" saucer. I didn't want to waste lots of charcoal, so I lit about 30 briquettes in a chimney for about 10 minutes (they weren't grey all over) and then tipped them onto the charcoal grate and watched the smoker temperature rise. It settled at something between 200 and 225, but wouldn't go any higher.
The second time I decided to cook my first food - a fatty stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon. This time I did exactly the same process, because I knew temperatures wouldn't run away with themselves, and the fatty cooked pretty good. I even got my first smoke ring that permeated through the bacon and into the sausage meat itself!
By now though, I had a desire to cook something really low and slow, like a brisket or pork butt. I also wanted to be able to cook chicken. This meant that I'd have to test my build at higher temperatures, and for longer run times. I was planning to add a SJS damper to my Gold to increase temperatures as well us use a 10" saucer rather than a 12". I swapped out the saucer, but decided to wait on the SJS damper mod and just built a charcoal basket to make run times more controllable.
With the charcoal basket fitted, I filled it to the top with unlit briquettes, then lit about 17 briquettes in a coffee can inside the chimney... This time I made sure that they were grey all over, and since it was around 11pm, they were glowing a nice orange / red colour! Once they were all lit, I placed them spread out over the surface of the charcoal in the basket, and refitted the smoker body.
I went inside to watch some TV and wait for the temperature to rise in the smoker, keeping an eye on the thermometer out the window. The temperatures rocketed up to about 300 within 10 minutes with the SJG vents right open, so I went out and shut them down to 1/2 on both sides. After another 10 minutes the temp was 325, so I shut the vents down to 1/4 on both sides. 10 minutes more and they were still 325, so I shut both vents down to almost closed... I was worried about the fire going out, but the temperatures wouldn't drop down.
I left the fire burning all night, and checked it again at about 7 am the next morning, after about 8 hours burning. The temperature of the smoker was ambient, and the fire had all but gone out. What was nice was that the ash was totally smooth; every single charcoal briquette had burned, and burned completely, so the minion method had worked very well indeed.
So my questions then...
- How do others control the temperatures in their Mini WSMs?
- Should the size of the saucer affect the temperatures in the smoker that much?
- Does having a charcoal basket increase temperatures?
- Can a SJG based Mini WSM run with both lower vents almost completely closed?
- If I use fewer charcoal briquettes to start the fire with a minion method, will that reduce temperatures?
Basically, I'm just looking for how the right way to keep temperatures stable and controllable between 200 and 325 for various cooking purposes. I've been able to achieve 200 ~ 225 with my first set up for about 2 hours, but then it started to go cold. I was able to achieve 325 with my second setup and it lasted for a good few hours... How can I achieve a 10 hour 225 ~ 250 smoke?!?
Thanks everyone for your help.
Neil.
P.S. I did also try using the SJG without the Mini WSM mod to try out direct and indirect cooking. I banked the charcoal at the back side, and found it to burn very well, even with the lid on... I don't think the a SJS modification is necessary for Mini WSM or for use without! All in all the SJG seems to be a really good grill!
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