New Mini WSM built in London, UK


 

Jules B

TVWBB Member
Hi all, Jules here.

I've just joined the site after been a long time lurker! Ever since getting seriously into BBQ back in 2013 I have always wanted to build my own Mini WSM, but as you all know getting hold of a suitable pot in Europe is almost impossible, so I forgot about it and moved on ... until this summer. The wife and I were shopping in Asda (UK branch of Walmart) and I saw they had 2 Oklahoma Joe left recued to £200 on EOY clearance! I bugged my wife to get it but she just wouldn't want to hear anything about it, that it was still too much money and was way too big! :( Anyhow, I let it go but was really annoyed to have missed out on a good deal so I went back to consider building a Mini WSM since I really want a smoker to complement my 22.5 OTG.

I saw 2weeks ago that Target now ships to the UK so I ordered straight away an IMUSA 32 Quart pot and got it delivered this week! great if only the pot didn't arrived totally squashed dented and out of round!! :mad:

I was pretty annoyed about this but put a call to Target customer service and managed to find an acceptable solution, stay tuned for part 2!

BTW if any of you guys can help me and explain of do I go about posting pictures from a Google Drive account that would be great! I'm trying to paste link of my pictures but it doesn't work! :(
 
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Welcome aboard Jules!
Try right clicking on your image, click copy image address, then at the top here, where the icons are located, click on the third from right where it says insert image, paste the link there and click okay.
Hope this works for you.
 
Hi Bob, thanks for the tip, that's exactly what I have been trying to do but can't get it to work, I can post the link for the image but it won't let me display it in the body of the message, not to worry I'll inform myself on all the FAQs in the meantime, I'm sure a lot of other members must have asked the same question before.

Jules
 
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Welcome Jules !

I use an image hosting site (Tiny Pic) and simply copy/paste the IMG code provided by Tiny Pic into my post here.
You could try opening Tiny Pic and see if it can find your image on the cloud. (my pics are on my 'puter)
Be sure to utilize Tiny Pic's re-sizing option (see drop-down) if your image has not been re-sized.

Good luck with the build.
 
Hey all, thanks fro all the tips, I did some research online and it turns out that you can't link photos directly from Google drive onto forums such as this one, so I went and created a Photobucket account instead.

here are a few pics of the damage done in transit from Illinois to the UK to the tamale pot:







Jules
 
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So, now that I have figured out how to post pictures, I can go back to my Mini WSM build! As you can see, the pot arrived to me pancaked and completely out of round, at first I thought It might have o be a write off, obviously I called Target cust service straight away and the really helpful guy on the phone committed to a full refund including postage and custom charges :) . Since they don't want the pot back I thought well let's try to see if I can salvage it and still turn it into a working Mini smoker!

After a certain amount of time, putting it back into some sort of round, hammering the dents out with a rubber mallet and (not so) carefully crimping the top lip for a perfect fit with the Smokey Joe lid (the bottom slips perfectly into the Smokey Joe base), this is what I have managed to make:

Parts and cost:
  • Spring Green Smokey Joe Premium :smokeyjoe:(Gold in the US) ==> already had it so not counting this in the build budget! :cool:
  • Imusa 32 quart Tamale pot ==> initially really expensive but turned out free! :cool::p;)
  • All the bolts nuts and washers are stainless steel ==> cost about £5 in Screwfix
  • BBQ thermometer ==> £6 from Amazon
  • Replacement Smokey Joe cooking grate ==> £11.50 from Amazon
  • Stainless steel dog bowl to use as a water pan/diffuser ==> £5.50 from Amazon
  • Stainless steel M8 U bolt with backing plate (pair) to form the bottom grate handles ==> around £7.50 on Amazon
  • Straight coupling 8mm to 1/4" hexagon plumbing nipple and stop nut (to use as port for the maverick's probes) ==> £2 in Screwfix


TOTAL BUDGET: ~£38

Pics:






 
Other mods I did while I was at it, is I used some of the leftover bots nuts & washers and drilled a scrap piece of broom handle cut to size to make a top damper knob on the lid of the Smokey Joe (you can see it on the first picture).

I also wanted to heat insulate the tamale pot handles so I could lift it mid cook to add charcoal without burning my fingers, so I drilled out the middle and cut slit in 2 Champagne corks I had lying in the workshop, I then wrapped them in insulating black PVC tape to secure it together (pictures 2, 3 &), all in all it took 5 minutes if that, cost nothing and works really well. Cork is an ideal material since it is flexible and really good to insulate heat, I highly recommend anyone that has built a mini with the Imusa pot to give this a go! :)

Jules
 
thanks Bob, yeah! that's true, I'm really into wine and usually keep used corks to make art and use on various projects (apart from BBQ I do a lot of carpentry and building stuff out of junk).

I get most of my wine and champers straight from France too which is really cost effective, in fact I'm driving to France on Wednesday to resupply on wines and various good food that are hard (or very expensive) to get in the UK.

I'm thinking on getting a whole hog's shoulder (I can get a whole 16 pound shoulder for around €1.95 / Kilo) that's about 99c / lb for you guys in the US, how does that compare to the price of pork meat in Missouri for instance?

Jules
 
A wine run eh? :cool:

99c/lb is a great price!
Shoulder (Boston butt) do go on sale for that, at least here in the St Louis area.
 
Nice build !
So there really is a "Chunnel" ?

Seems weird to be able to "drive" to France from the UK.
 
Hi Joe, there is a Chunnel but you don't drive directly in it its a railroad tunnel only, you get your car onto special car carrying wagons on the UK side and drive off once in France, but TBH this is the pricey option, when we go for the day we pretty much always take the ferry boat which is slower bu much much cheaper!
 
Oh, I see.
As I think it through, it would be a challenge to vent the thing if it was full of regular traffic !
 
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