My New Mini WSM


 
RCBaughn

RCBaughn

TVWBB Super Fan
I wanna thank everyone who has done so much work into perfecting this little smoker design. My first cook on it is coming up when my pastrami finishes curing and I can't wait!

I made this one using the plan of drilling holes in the bottom of the pot instead of cutting the whole thing out. That made it easy to set the ceramic pot plate about an inch from the bottom using an old rib rack I cut down to 1" tall. At the moment I only have one grate in here put plan on sitting another on top of the ceramic plate when I can find one that will fit perfectly in here.

I also added a handle to the bottom vent since this Smokey Joe is the Silver model and not the Smokey Joe Gold. I stole the handle from a side grinder I had, so now I have a botched grinder with no handle! Thankfully it's a cheap on and I can always pull off the handle on my Makita side grinder if I need to use the cheaper one, although I don't know why I'd use the cheap one ever anyways unless whatever I'm grinding risked overheating a grinder and burning it up.

I also bought one of the Weber tool holders and bent it to the correct roundness of the smaller diameter Smokey Joe. Without bending it the tool holder was way to wide since it was made for kettle grills, but it is very easy to bend just using a vice and brute strength. No hammer needed.

The Thermometer I bought off a guy who had a just bought a Bradley smoker like this one hereand said he planned on using the hole to run his probe through, so he sold it to me for $5.

I can't wait to use this thing. I think I am going to use Kingsford for it's first smoke instead of lump that way I can learn how to hold temps better and more consistently. Never smoked on anything but a Brinkmann electric smoker so this is new territory for me.

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Looks great, Cory! You are gonna love that little mini-smoker, I lovin' the one I have. Mine is built from a silver as well. Be sure to post pics of your upcoming cooks.
 
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Thanks guys! Y'all usually use the Minion method in these little guys to maintain about 225?

I also gotta figure out how to get a nice smooth black finish on the pot. Thinking about using engine enamel paint but I don't know how smooth the finish would be. It would be nice to get it as smooth as the factory paint on the lid and bottom of the Smokey Joe.
 
From what I've seen, the 1200* paint is pretty smooth. I left mine unpainted.

I actually do not use a minion method on the mini. I've found that it's hard to control temps when too much fuel catches. I like to put the fuel in a C shape so the fire burns in a circle. In this photo I put a bit too much wood (smoke was a bit heavy), I should have used only the one piece of wood:

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Can't help you on the paint but there are several posts in the mini smoker forum where others have painted theirs.

I use the minion method for a longer smoke. You will be amazed as to how little charcoal it takes to get many hours of burn time.

If I just want to get something done faster, like burgers or brats, I load it up with burning coals and have at it.
 
That smoker is looking good.....I painted mine with a high gloss bbq grill paint and so far so good.It did turn out shiney.
 
Thanks for the tips guys! I will try the circle method then since the area that the charcoal sit is pretty small. You just line up a few chunks around the circle and when the heat gets to them they smoke and burn out? I thought I might start with smoke and finish without chunks but if it's better to ignite your smoking chunks at the end I'll throw em at that end of the circle.
 
I think you should start with smoke (put on chunks to burn early) and end with no smoke. I put a few pieces of coal in a chimney and lay it on the unlit at the beginning of the C. It burns around the unlit.
 
Do I need to season the inside of this little smoker like I would a brand new one? I know I had to spray the inside of my Brinkmann down with PAM when I got it and let it come up to heat for a few hours.
 
I didn't season mine and once I got the temp set, it held it steady, but I was using a water pan. This is the inside after one slab of ribs.
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So the brisket has been on the Mini for about three hours now and is stuck at around 150 internal. Will it eventually start rising again? I plan on cooking the pastrami to about 165 and the smoker is hanging right around 225-250.
 
Sorry for the lat post: You experience a stall. It's normal. Just maintain your heat, let it go, and it will rise again.
 
J Hoke said:
I didn't season mine and once I got the temp set, it held it steady, but I was using a water pan. This is the inside after one slab of ribs.
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How on earth did you get that bottom grill in your steamer pot? It looks like an 18" Weber Kettle charcoal grill, but you've somehow got it past the ridge where mine rests... I'd like to lower mine down to the position yours is in so that I can have the first cooking grate on the ridge for more space.

I tried a ~5 lb pork loin roast in mine yesterday, and this time used a 12" metal pizza pan rather than the 12" terracotta saucer... As I expected, the temps rose much quicker, and I used almost no fuel in a 4 hour cook!

The downside, and it's a significant one, is that it was impossible to keep the temperature stable. Only the vents more than about 2mm on each side (SJG side vents here) and the heat rose slowly over the coarse of an hour up to 251, close them down to 1mm each side, and the temps dropped over the coarse of an hour down to 219. I therefore had to keep adjusting to keep the temperature between the 225 and 250 that I wanted.

I've not done too many cooks with it yet, but I'm going to go back to using a 12" terracotta saucer because it slowed down the fluctuations in temperature considerably.
 
I've also had good luck with the terra cotta saucer so far. It maintains heat VERY well but yes, it takes about 45 minutes to hit a good and steady 225. Pretty small price to pay if you ask me to not have to fiddle with the darn thing all day and all night long.
 
Neil Robinson said:
How on earth did you get that bottom grill in your steamer pot? It looks like an 18" Weber Kettle charcoal grill, but you've somehow got it past the ridge where mine rests... I'd like to lower mine down to the position yours is in so that I can have the first cooking grate on the ridge for more space.
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I believe the grate is a 7440, and I think it is the charcoal grate for 18" kettle. It will fit, you just have to persuade it. Insert on an angle and push. It will pop in. Don't know if I can get it out, but see no need to. I do use a water pan, a foiled cake pan. It helps with the temp. Give it a try. I also should be receiving any day, a bottomless stainless cake pan (ring) that I will use as a charcoal ring after drilling holes in the side like the wsm ring.
 
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J Hoke said:
I believe the grate is a 7440, and I think it is the charcoal grate for 18" kettle. It will fit, you just have to persuade it. Insert on an angle and push. It will pop in. Don't know if I can get it out, but see no need to. I do use a water pan, a foiled cake pan. It helps with the temp. Give it a try. I also should be receiving any day, a bottomless stainless cake pan (ring) that I will use as a charcoal ring after drilling holes in the side like the wsm ring.
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You're absolutely right... I too have a 7440 grill, which as you say is the charcoal grate for an 18" kettle. I had it resting on the lip, and was sure it wouldn't go past it down to the bottom. After your suggestion I went down to the garage and tried it... Sure enough it did pop through the gap.

I worked out that you need to pop it in with the open sides of the grill pushing on the lip, so that you're not trying to compress one of the top cooking bars, as these probably won't bend enough to allow the grill to pop through.

Resting the first cooking grate on the lip gives me a ton of room inside for cooking now... I'm well happy with this simple mod, and it's the first time I've seen it despite all of the searching I've done and all the blog and build posts I've read!

Thanks very much!
 
I didn't cut the bottom out of my pot, I only drilled holes and rest a terra cotta saucer on the bottom, but I really want to add a lower grate to the smoker. I had a hard time getting a rack of ribs split in half to all fit on my one and only top rack.

What grate would work for that and be able to get past the bolts that hold the top shelf? I don't think a factory smokey joe one would get down there and past the bolts. It is even a bit tight trying to get past the rivets that hold the factory side handles on the pot.
 
Both of my grates are the same. Bottom one fits ok, but I'd suggest if you think you will need to take the lower out during the cook, I suggest handles for the lower grate. It does have to be tilted a little to get it in and out.

What I did on the wsm lower grate was use two stainless u bolts with stainless flat washers and nuts.
 
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