You guys are right - I have awesome friends.
On closer inspection today I don't think I'm as concerned with the fit of the middle section onto the bottom. I think I was just looking for things to be concerned about when assembling the unit, but I saw zero smoke leakage from around the bottom of the unit, so I think it's pretty solid.
So here's my report from today. First off, this new unit is solid. I've had several years of experience with WSMs - we use 5-6 of them in competition, and have won quite a few ribbons (including top 10 finishes in the American Royal Invitational for Ribs and Brisket), so I've got some experience to compare the new unit to. Not as much as most of you guys though!!
For my first cook for our Christmas Eve dinner, I prepared a Berkshire Pork Loin and some New Zealand racks of lamb. Since I was cooking some pretty tender cuts of meat, I wasn't going to do a "low and slow" session - I wanted the smoke chamber to get around 325-350 and stay there.
I lit a heaping chimney with Kingsford and put a single layer of unlit briquettes in the bottom of the charcoal ring. This fully consumed a 10-pound bag that I'd grabbed from the grocery store, this new unit can hold a LOT of charcoal. The water pan is more shallow than the Brinkman charcoal pan that I usually use in my units, but in terms of volume I think it's comparable. I filled the pan about half-full using 6 quarts of hot water.
I smoked my lamb and pork over straight cherry wood, tossing 3-4 good size chunks on the lit coals after spreading them on the unit coals. I left all of the bottom vents around 1/2-2/3 open, and the unit got up to 325 within 15-20 minutes. I didn't fill the water pan completely and I opened the vents a little more than I normally would, and the unit reacted pretty much as I'd expect.
I did NOT get the chance to put an oven thermometer on the top grate, mainly because I forgot about it.
I'll do that next time to get a gauge as to the difference between the lid and grate temps.
My wife's family LOVED the results. Here's how I prepared each of the items, in case anyone cares:
The lamb was thinly slathered with a mix of Boulevard Pale Ale mustard and a White BBQ sauce that I happened to have in the fridge. I then prepared a crumb coating made from sauteing garlic, red pepper and thyme flakes in olive oil and then adding italian bread crumbs and fresh parsley. I smoke-roasted the racks for around 1 hour, until internal temp read 140 in the thickest part. I let the lamb rest for quite a while, then carved into 2-bone portions. I made a roasted garlic reduction sauce from carmelized shallots, olive oil, red wine, beef and chicken stock, then added a roasted bulb of garlic and gave the sauce a spin with an immersion blender before finishing with a tablespoon of butter. The lamb was excellent, I'd never smoke-roasted any lamb before and it turned out great.
The pork was a berkshire loin from McGonicle's market here in KC. I gave the loin a simple thin slather of mustard and then rubbed liberally with Mary's Cherry Rub. I made a glaze from seedless raspberry preserves, red wine, corn syrup, cinnamon, mace and cloves. After letting the loin smoke for a solid hour I started applying glaze every 30 minutes until the internal temp read 145, at which point I pulled it and let it rest. I re-heated the remaining glaze and served it as a dipping sauce.
Anyway, both meats were a big hit, and I had ZERO problems, issues or complaints. Here are a few pics from the beginning of the cook below. Unfortunately family started arriving toward the middle-end of the cook, so I didn't get any pics of the final product. I wish I had, they looked excellent.
Top Shot
Full Body Shot
Water Pan and Charcoal Ring
The First Cook - Pork and Lamb
So there's my inaugural report.
In additional news, I stopped by Backyard Bash here in Kansas City and saw that they had a single boxed 26" one touch gold left, so I went ahead and grabbed it. Tomorrow night is my family's "bring your own steak" affair, where my family brings their own steaks, opens up my rub cabinet and applies what they like and I cook their steaks to their liking. Usually I use two 22" kettles, but this year I'll be using a single 26" unit, so we'll see how this goes!