18" WSM on CL $100 OBO


 
like this part→ "I would also add that these older models are superior because they DO NOT have the thermometer in the lid. A lid thermometer on a water smoker will drip nasties on your beautiful BBQ meats. That is why Weber resisted installing them for decades. That and the fact that they are completely useless for this type of cooking. IMO, the Weber bullet type smoker is the most efficient device ever manufactured for producing charcoal-smoked pork shoulders."

????????
A lid thermometer on a water smoker will drip nasties on your beautiful BBQ meats.
That is why Weber resisted installing them for decades.
????????


wow.
 
I had the dripping thermometer problem w/ my 14.5" Weber smoker. Yanked it and rigged some metal over the hole.

Once upon a time, I bought into the temperature control mania. Now I believe that Weber was completely right with both their simple-minded cooking instruction booklet and no thermometers installed on the smoker. Analog lid thermometers are generally crap anyways....in addition to being in the wrong location.
 
I've had my eye on this for the past few days. Seriously considering adding it to the stable.

Joe;

I showed this to a guy at work yesterday,as he is interested in smoking, but he did not like it being a used unit.
I told the only difference between this and a new one was about 4 to 5 cooks.
These things clean up easy and quick.
IJoe you need this one for this price, a no brainer.
Kevin
 
like this part→ "I would also add that these older models are superior because they DO NOT have the thermometer in the lid. A lid thermometer on a water smoker will drip nasties on your beautiful BBQ meats. That is why Weber resisted installing them for decades. That and the fact that they are completely useless for this type of cooking. IMO, the Weber bullet type smoker is the most efficient device ever manufactured for producing charcoal-smoked pork shoulders."

????????
A lid thermometer on a water smoker will drip nasties on your beautiful BBQ meats.
That is why Weber resisted installing them for decades.
????????


wow.

Jim;

I am with you on this statement kind of out there.... I guess all the new Weber's kettles are no good either much less every gas grill out there. some statements are best left unsaid.
 
@Kevin L - Yeah, because the majority is always right aren't they? Weber puts cheap and effectively useless analog thermometers on their grills because that is what the majority of buyers expect to see. I have yet to find a single one of these thermometers that is accurate to begin with and, more importantly, maintains that accuracy. More important, because if it at least maintained its inaccuracy, then it could be used for relative measurements...but they don't even do that.

@Matt R - Taking liberties? Sounds like you own a "thermometized" grill. Sorry about your luck. As Harry Soo likes to say, "BBQ is ready when it is ready!" Implying, or course, that the BBQ cooking process is not an exercise in scientific precision. I guess he is "taking liberties" with such a statement.
 
From 1981 to 2008 (28 years total), the engineers at Weber felt that a lid-mounted thermometer was not needed for the WSM. What changed their minds? Popular perception, that's what. Perception is reality and sites like the one you are reading popularized the idea that obsessive temperature control was a vital part of proper BBQ smoking. That perception is an error. The temperature that needs to be known is the one inside the meat. While it is a good idea to check the cooker temperature once in a while, I just put my hand over the vent...exactly as I do with the 22.5" kettle. These cookers readily maintain the needed cooking temperatures and obsessive monitoring is a waste of effort.

Here is a good photo showing a Weber lid-mounted thermometer that is off about 100F. That's quite an error. The accompanying article quotes Alton Brown as saying, "Bimetal coil thermometers are about as accurate as a sniper scope on a nerf gun." With all that in mind, why in the hell would I want one of these things on my grill? Decoration? I don't think so.
 
@Kevin L - Yeah, because the majority is always right aren't they? Weber puts cheap and effectively useless analog thermometers on their grills because that is what the majority of buyers expect to see. I have yet to find a single one of these thermometers that is accurate to begin with and, more importantly, maintains that accuracy. More important, because if it at least maintained its inaccuracy, then it could be used for relative measurements...but they don't even do that.

@Matt R - Taking liberties? Sounds like you own a "thermometized" grill. Sorry about your luck. As Harry Soo likes to say, "BBQ is ready when it is ready!" Implying, or course, that the BBQ cooking process is not an exercise in scientific precision. I guess he is "taking liberties" with such a statement.

The lid thermometer is not to be used (in my mind) for cooking so much as a telltale to let you know about where your temp is at and to show that is is heating up on start up before you put your meat and good thermometer into play.
they are handy for what they are supposed to do, and by the way in never use it as a water smoker anyway.

Just my take.
Kevin
 

 

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