So my WSM has been great for low and slow by not good for higher heat cooks. The highest I could ever get it if I was lucky and the stars aligned was 325 and it usually topped out around 300. Today I was fooling around with it, and figured out that I can get a lot more heat out of it if I ever so slightly elevate the tamale cooker from the base to increase the air flow.
So I left the grate on the base and placed a wire cooling rack with tiny half inch feet on the cooking grate. Then I set the tamale pot on the wire cooling rack (anything would work that would elevate the pot slightly and doesn't impede air flow.) The net result was about a 1/4 inch gap between the base and the tamale pot. (By the way, this entire mod was inspired by the Weber Rotiserie ring with the huge gap between the ring and wall of the cooker).
The result? It was a totally different cooker. The cooker ran at about 450 with the SJ dampers open and about 400 with the dampers closed...perfect for roasting whole chickens. I'm very pleased with how this turned out as it added versatility to an already wonderful cooker. It required no tools, permanent mods, or money. I thought you guys might find it interesting as well.
So I left the grate on the base and placed a wire cooling rack with tiny half inch feet on the cooking grate. Then I set the tamale pot on the wire cooling rack (anything would work that would elevate the pot slightly and doesn't impede air flow.) The net result was about a 1/4 inch gap between the base and the tamale pot. (By the way, this entire mod was inspired by the Weber Rotiserie ring with the huge gap between the ring and wall of the cooker).
The result? It was a totally different cooker. The cooker ran at about 450 with the SJ dampers open and about 400 with the dampers closed...perfect for roasting whole chickens. I'm very pleased with how this turned out as it added versatility to an already wonderful cooker. It required no tools, permanent mods, or money. I thought you guys might find it interesting as well.