My 22 came today now cooking
- Thread starter Dave Witt
- Start date
Bob Schwarz
TVWBB Super Fan
That's a great Christmas present! Make sure you post details of your first cook.
I'm probably going to fire it up sunday....but that will depend on the winds..they are calling for 50mph winds...I haven't decided what I'm cooking yet..I'm hoping to find a brisket if not it will be chicken and ribs...And I need to figure out if I'm going to use....sand or water in the pan...So many choices
Ok I got up this morning and had a cup of coffee
rubbed up the meat…
Then set up the 22.5 WSM for its maiden voyage….That is a coffee can I use to keep the lit charcoal in the middle of the grate….look how small it is…
The bottom grate…I think I measured it to be 21in…
The water bowl is HUGE….
All loaded with Charcoal…
Chimney Shot
Full Packer Brisket….Fat side down…
Ribs….
And a Couple pieces of chicken for snacking….
Shiny
Ok couple of observations…Again everything is big about this unit..The charcoal ring..the water bowl..the grates…
I used 2 big bowls of water to fill the water bowl to an inch away from being full….
I used about 2/3 of a bag of lump between loading up the double deuce and the chimney and had 4 good size chucks of wood..with 2 extra pieces to go on top of the light charcoal..
I would forget about putting handles on this unit…you would be asking for trouble the size and wt of it loaded up it wouldn’t be a good idea to move the middle and top sections with it loaded..
One other observation for those of you with wooden decks…it was fairly windy here today…not like yesterday but fairly windy…after I dumped the charcoal and loaded it up with the meat I had the bottom 3 vents wide open per the MM because of the bigger holes a and the holes being on the side of the unit I got a pretty big size lit coal that blew out the hole….Just something to think about…
15 min after dumping the lit and assembling the unit it was up to 200* and I shut the vents down to 1/3 open…like I would for my old WSMs….
From what I can tell this is another top notch Weber product…seems like they got the packaging right…nothing was crushed…all the pieces were there…it was easy to put together…It probably took be 2 beers (20min) to put it together…
The sections were round….they don’t seem to fit as snug as my other WSMs…but they might be just be that there isn’t as much goo built up…the looser fitting sections might be a good thing as well…with that big of an area…more airflow might be desired..I still wish the door was made out of a little heavier material…but the way it stays on when you need to reload is cool…Quick update the sections are not leaking…I’ve got a normal amount of leakage from the door…and some condesation coming for underneath the therm….
Any of you local guys that want to take a road trip….I’ve got half a mind to toss a couple of logs on the firepit and have a little breaking in the WSM party….
rubbed up the meat…
Then set up the 22.5 WSM for its maiden voyage….That is a coffee can I use to keep the lit charcoal in the middle of the grate….look how small it is…
The bottom grate…I think I measured it to be 21in…
The water bowl is HUGE….
All loaded with Charcoal…
Chimney Shot
Full Packer Brisket….Fat side down…
Ribs….
And a Couple pieces of chicken for snacking….
Shiny
Ok couple of observations…Again everything is big about this unit..The charcoal ring..the water bowl..the grates…
I used 2 big bowls of water to fill the water bowl to an inch away from being full….
I used about 2/3 of a bag of lump between loading up the double deuce and the chimney and had 4 good size chucks of wood..with 2 extra pieces to go on top of the light charcoal..
I would forget about putting handles on this unit…you would be asking for trouble the size and wt of it loaded up it wouldn’t be a good idea to move the middle and top sections with it loaded..
One other observation for those of you with wooden decks…it was fairly windy here today…not like yesterday but fairly windy…after I dumped the charcoal and loaded it up with the meat I had the bottom 3 vents wide open per the MM because of the bigger holes a and the holes being on the side of the unit I got a pretty big size lit coal that blew out the hole….Just something to think about…
15 min after dumping the lit and assembling the unit it was up to 200* and I shut the vents down to 1/3 open…like I would for my old WSMs….
From what I can tell this is another top notch Weber product…seems like they got the packaging right…nothing was crushed…all the pieces were there…it was easy to put together…It probably took be 2 beers (20min) to put it together…
The sections were round….they don’t seem to fit as snug as my other WSMs…but they might be just be that there isn’t as much goo built up…the looser fitting sections might be a good thing as well…with that big of an area…more airflow might be desired..I still wish the door was made out of a little heavier material…but the way it stays on when you need to reload is cool…Quick update the sections are not leaking…I’ve got a normal amount of leakage from the door…and some condesation coming for underneath the therm….
Any of you local guys that want to take a road trip….I’ve got half a mind to toss a couple of logs on the firepit and have a little breaking in the WSM party….
Chicken is done…it’s a little dark..which is my fault…. I had to much wood going on at the beginning of the cook…..it still tastes good just a little dark…
The Chicken passed the kids test…they both ate 2 pieces…all I heard when I walked into the dinning room was Yum Yum…and some lips smacking…I had to reload the water pan…take a look at how the door stays attached…
The Mrs got these for Xmass…collapsible bowls…Santa figured they would be good for comps and camping…
And because I know its coming..here is the link to the bowls..
http://www.legourmetchef.com/Temp_Products.cfm?sku=0062...s%20and%20Strainers&
Mikey liked the chicken
About 3 hours in…flipped the ribs around in the rib rack…
Once the ribs are done I'm going to add more chicken for smoked chicken lagasana later in the week...stay tuned
The Chicken passed the kids test…they both ate 2 pieces…all I heard when I walked into the dinning room was Yum Yum…and some lips smacking…I had to reload the water pan…take a look at how the door stays attached…
The Mrs got these for Xmass…collapsible bowls…Santa figured they would be good for comps and camping…
And because I know its coming..here is the link to the bowls..
http://www.legourmetchef.com/Temp_Products.cfm?sku=0062...s%20and%20Strainers&
Mikey liked the chicken
About 3 hours in…flipped the ribs around in the rib rack…
Once the ribs are done I'm going to add more chicken for smoked chicken lagasana later in the week...stay tuned
About 5 hrs in it was time to check the ribs….
Once the smoke clears
Almost there
So far so good…once I got the temp dialed in it’s stayed where it should have….I was surprised that the water need to be replaced after 3 hours…but it seems to have leveled off now..
Its nice that after the ribs shrink up that you can get 3 racks on the grate….
Once the smoke clears
Almost there
So far so good…once I got the temp dialed in it’s stayed where it should have….I was surprised that the water need to be replaced after 3 hours…but it seems to have leveled off now..
Its nice that after the ribs shrink up that you can get 3 racks on the grate….
Around 6 hrs Ribs are done
Chicken is on for smoked Chicken Lag asana later in the week….(That’s a family pac minus 6 pieces)
So far so good….I’ve got no complaints…I didn’t check the factory therm for accuracy but going by the cook times so far it seems to be pretty close…or as close as I need it to be…..It been holding a steady temp…has recovered well from when I’ve had the lid off…after the chicken is done I’ll bring the brisket up to the top grate and stick a therm in it and make some decisions as to foil or not…
Chicken is on for smoked Chicken Lag asana later in the week….(That’s a family pac minus 6 pieces)
So far so good….I’ve got no complaints…I didn’t check the factory therm for accuracy but going by the cook times so far it seems to be pretty close…or as close as I need it to be…..It been holding a steady temp…has recovered well from when I’ve had the lid off…after the chicken is done I’ll bring the brisket up to the top grate and stick a therm in it and make some decisions as to foil or not…
I decided to add some more charcoal now..while there was still day light …there was a fair amount left in the smoker but no where near enough to finish the brisket….We also took a few pics from the door of the brisket….I used the door as a chute to dump the charcoal into the cooker…it worked pretty well..
Second batch of chicken is done….
And the brisket has moved up to the top shelve….Brisket flat is 155*
To foil or not to foil….
Brisket is done and taste tested…
Everything came out good and I was happy with the way the new WSM preformed.
Second batch of chicken is done….
And the brisket has moved up to the top shelve….Brisket flat is 155*
To foil or not to foil….
Brisket is done and taste tested…
Everything came out good and I was happy with the way the new WSM preformed.
I don’t remember how big the brisket was but it was a pretty good size one. It took about 12 hours but I foiled it which will shorten your cooking time.
As for the burn time before you need to reload….I was using lump which tends to burn quicker then the recommended briquets..I would think an average burn time would be 8-12 hours before a reload…this was only my first cook on it I would want a couple more under my belt before I could predict the burn time.
It was somewhat cold and windy yesterday which will effect fuel consumption. It seemed like I needed to add a lot of water to the pan over the cook….I use sand in my smaller WSM so it might just be that it seemed like I had to use a lot o water. I ended up using close to a full bag of lump including the chimney for about a 12 hour cook…there was a fair amount of lump left in the cooker but IMO not enough to finish the cook if I had not foiled.
A couple of things could have contributed to this consumption…I had spread the lit charcoal around the unlit more than on the smaller WSM..I think using water as a heat sink might have contributed as well. I’d like to try sand or even some foil balls or a piedmont type of heat sink. All in all I’m happy with the way the WSM cooked and the added fuel use isn’t really a concern for me using it was pretty easy…I only had one temp spike and that was like the perfect storm…lid was off to move brisket from bottom to top rack, the water pan was low and I had reload the charcoal and a bunch of it had caught…I just shut everything down…reaching in with some welding gloves pushed the charcoal to one side and after the temp came down…reset the vents and it was locked in again.
The bigger WSM is like any other pit it has its advantages and disadvantages..the bigger cooking surface is real nice especially for ribs and whole briskets but it needs a little more tending to then the smaller WSM. I own two of the smaller WSMs and unless I need the extra space in a bad way I think I would do an overnight butt cook on them instead of the bigger one….now if I was going to be doing yard work all day and wanted ribs..rather than tend my offset which is what I typically cook ribs in I would probably use the Bigger WSM.
For comp cook the new WSM will be nice at comps the added space would make it real easy to compete with one.
One other thing I know they tell you not to use lump..I did anyway but one thing I noticed is I would not use this on a wooden deck…because of the placement of the lower 3 dampers and the bigger holes when it got windy I noticed that some pretty big coals were blowing out the holes..
Again all these observations are after just one cook so take them for what they are. I was very pleased with the performance of the new WSM. It was just as easy to use as the old one and the food came out great.
Oh yeah….the Burnt ends were worth the wait….
As for the burn time before you need to reload….I was using lump which tends to burn quicker then the recommended briquets..I would think an average burn time would be 8-12 hours before a reload…this was only my first cook on it I would want a couple more under my belt before I could predict the burn time.
It was somewhat cold and windy yesterday which will effect fuel consumption. It seemed like I needed to add a lot of water to the pan over the cook….I use sand in my smaller WSM so it might just be that it seemed like I had to use a lot o water. I ended up using close to a full bag of lump including the chimney for about a 12 hour cook…there was a fair amount of lump left in the cooker but IMO not enough to finish the cook if I had not foiled.
A couple of things could have contributed to this consumption…I had spread the lit charcoal around the unlit more than on the smaller WSM..I think using water as a heat sink might have contributed as well. I’d like to try sand or even some foil balls or a piedmont type of heat sink. All in all I’m happy with the way the WSM cooked and the added fuel use isn’t really a concern for me using it was pretty easy…I only had one temp spike and that was like the perfect storm…lid was off to move brisket from bottom to top rack, the water pan was low and I had reload the charcoal and a bunch of it had caught…I just shut everything down…reaching in with some welding gloves pushed the charcoal to one side and after the temp came down…reset the vents and it was locked in again.
The bigger WSM is like any other pit it has its advantages and disadvantages..the bigger cooking surface is real nice especially for ribs and whole briskets but it needs a little more tending to then the smaller WSM. I own two of the smaller WSMs and unless I need the extra space in a bad way I think I would do an overnight butt cook on them instead of the bigger one….now if I was going to be doing yard work all day and wanted ribs..rather than tend my offset which is what I typically cook ribs in I would probably use the Bigger WSM.
For comp cook the new WSM will be nice at comps the added space would make it real easy to compete with one.
One other thing I know they tell you not to use lump..I did anyway but one thing I noticed is I would not use this on a wooden deck…because of the placement of the lower 3 dampers and the bigger holes when it got windy I noticed that some pretty big coals were blowing out the holes..
Again all these observations are after just one cook so take them for what they are. I was very pleased with the performance of the new WSM. It was just as easy to use as the old one and the food came out great.
Oh yeah….the Burnt ends were worth the wait….
Robert Oleksak
TVWBB Pro
Very good review and a nice smoke in general. The food looked great.
