First Smoke on the WSM in the Books...

Hey all,

Been lurking for a while and have picked up a ton of great info. I've had a few other smokers in the past, but have never been able to control temps the way I was able to with the WSM (get what you pay for I guess).

Decided to go with beer butt chicken for the first run on the WSM. Only issue I ran into was that the grate temp (measured with a remote) ran around 210 while the lid temp (measured on the built in Weber Therm on the 18.5) ran around 250. I'd seen on the boards that that is not unexpected and most folks don't worry about grate temp. I figured the temp was somewhere in between around 230-235.

Ran the birds for a couple of hours and then hit with some apple juice, ran another hour and sauced again. Funny thing was after that last lid lift, the grate temp showed as 325! (lid stayed around 250). So, not sure what happened there but decided to stay with the lid temp as the guide. Pulled them off after about 4 hours.

Very moist, good smoke flavor, skin was like rubber (it was too dark to finish on the coals) but we just peeled it off (and the rub along with it) and took it down.

Not sure if the photo will show below, but I tried. Very happy with the WSM!

Thanks again, and I'll be seeing you on the boards!

http://s815.photobucket.com/al...current=100_0530.jpg

Nice lookin Yardbird Jeff

Hi Jeff - Nice looking cook and Welcome to the forum. Check in the cooking topics for some real easy but very sucessful recipes for the WSM. You are going to have a lot of fun with this baby my friend. Bob B

Hey, bookends! Those chicks look good enough to eat!

It always makes me sad when i see such pretty looking birds and hear that the skin was inedible. I have done this myself a couple times before I just decided to cook high heat for any chicken.

I do love chicken on the WSM though.

Thanks guys. Walking out to get her warmed up for some bb ribs now.

Scooter, I hear ya. Bummed me out, too. Plan was to put the birds over the coals for a few minutes but it was too dark out to see what I was doing. Not sure if that would have fixed 'em or not, but plan next time is def to go with some higher heat.

Thanks again!