Which Racks ?

Hi there,

I have managed to get a WSM here in England and I am ready to start experimenting, could you tell me what governs which rack to use ?

Do you always use the bottom rack unless you have a lot of food or should some foods be smoked on the lower rack and others on the high ?

Is it worth hanging things from the top rack ?

I understand about the temp differences, I am just trying to get my head round the placement of racks and benefits of.

Iain...

Welcome!! I personally don't think it makes any difference which racks you use. My temp differences are no more than 10 degrees between the 2 racks. I always use the top rack first...it is simply more convenient.

If I have enough food to fill both racks, I will usually put my brisket and pork butt on top. The reason is, these cuts seem to "survive" a little hotter temps. I use a spray bottle to apply my mops, so dripping my brisket mop onto my ribs(which are on the lower rack) is NOT an issue.

As far as hanging......there isn't much space between the two, so maybe some short sausage links would be OK...but I don't think there is enough room to hang too much. Even if you remove the lower rack, the water pan is right there limiting your hanging space.

I do hang my jerky, but I don't use my WSM to make it. I have my nice, old Electric ECB, which has the water pan at the very bottom of the cooker and allows me to hang very long pieces.

In the end........simply a matter of choice.

Good luck to you and keep us informed!

Stogie