To start I want to appologize for such a long post. But I wanted to share my first time with you all w/o leaving out any details.
Came home on friday to this (18" WSM):
So that night I put her together:
While I was at it I decided to install my first mod. Guru eyelet:
So today I decided to do my first smoke. I was coming from a Char-Griller horizontal and was excited to see what all the fuss was about. Boy was I surprised at how much of a 'set and forget' type of cooker the WSM is. But I think the biggest plus of the WSM is the community here and all the info I was able to read in the past few months before getting it. I felt pretty prepared and did it pay off nicely.
So here was the victims coated in a rub recipe I found online:
And away we go:
Weather: 34 degrees. Slight wind. I had it set up under my deck, close to the house, and surrounded by one of those 4 panel fence things you can move around. Similar to this, but more solid so it made for a good wind shield. Stood the same height as the WSM.
I started with about a chimney and a half unlit Kingsford blue with 4 chunks of hickory mixed in. I then topped it with just less then a half of lit. I then added just over a gallon of boiling water to the bowl and threw the ribs on. All vents 100% open It climbed to 200 pretty quick and that's where I closed the bottom vents to about 33%. It then just settled in around 228. And just sat there. How awesome. I was amazed that it wasn't moving.
After a few hours I decided to add a little more boiling water. So I opened the door and dumped some in using a 20oz water bottle. I was surprised to see some of the wood was barely burnt and there was plenty of fuel. I was so used to the wood burning right up in the horizontal. Opening the door for that long period did cause a spike in temps. It jumped to about 275. So I closed off the bottom vents and when it dropped close to 250, I opened them up to 33% again and it settled in around 240 and sat.
Right around 4.5 hours the ribs were done. I was thrilled to see the temp was holding and there was still fuel burning.
One thing I did notice was the built-in thermometer would not go above what it reads below. I was using a maverick ET-73 at the grill level and when it was reading close to 250, the weber just stayed here. Even when I saw a fluxuation from 230-250 it just sat there. My guess is something is wrong with the weber's thermometer so i'll have to contact them tomorrow for a replacement. Even though I will most likely use the ET-73 during all cooks.
And the outcome:
In conclusion I am very happy with my new WSM. It truly is a set and forget cooker. I can't believe how easy it was to maintain temps even in such a cold time of year.
Big thanks to all of you that keep feeding this forum with info, recipes, and tips. It made my first time so easy.
Came home on friday to this (18" WSM):
So that night I put her together:
While I was at it I decided to install my first mod. Guru eyelet:
So today I decided to do my first smoke. I was coming from a Char-Griller horizontal and was excited to see what all the fuss was about. Boy was I surprised at how much of a 'set and forget' type of cooker the WSM is. But I think the biggest plus of the WSM is the community here and all the info I was able to read in the past few months before getting it. I felt pretty prepared and did it pay off nicely.
So here was the victims coated in a rub recipe I found online:
And away we go:
Weather: 34 degrees. Slight wind. I had it set up under my deck, close to the house, and surrounded by one of those 4 panel fence things you can move around. Similar to this, but more solid so it made for a good wind shield. Stood the same height as the WSM.
I started with about a chimney and a half unlit Kingsford blue with 4 chunks of hickory mixed in. I then topped it with just less then a half of lit. I then added just over a gallon of boiling water to the bowl and threw the ribs on. All vents 100% open It climbed to 200 pretty quick and that's where I closed the bottom vents to about 33%. It then just settled in around 228. And just sat there. How awesome. I was amazed that it wasn't moving.
After a few hours I decided to add a little more boiling water. So I opened the door and dumped some in using a 20oz water bottle. I was surprised to see some of the wood was barely burnt and there was plenty of fuel. I was so used to the wood burning right up in the horizontal. Opening the door for that long period did cause a spike in temps. It jumped to about 275. So I closed off the bottom vents and when it dropped close to 250, I opened them up to 33% again and it settled in around 240 and sat.
Right around 4.5 hours the ribs were done. I was thrilled to see the temp was holding and there was still fuel burning.
One thing I did notice was the built-in thermometer would not go above what it reads below. I was using a maverick ET-73 at the grill level and when it was reading close to 250, the weber just stayed here. Even when I saw a fluxuation from 230-250 it just sat there. My guess is something is wrong with the weber's thermometer so i'll have to contact them tomorrow for a replacement. Even though I will most likely use the ET-73 during all cooks.
And the outcome:
In conclusion I am very happy with my new WSM. It truly is a set and forget cooker. I can't believe how easy it was to maintain temps even in such a cold time of year.
Big thanks to all of you that keep feeding this forum with info, recipes, and tips. It made my first time so easy.
