Placing charcoal directly into the base stand - no charcoal - of the smoker


 
On one of the grilling shows I saw the other day, the chef used a different technique with his 22” Bullet that set off my Spidey sense.
In setting up to smoke a salmon fillet, he removed the lid and cylinder, then removed charcoal ring and charcoal grate from the bottom stand. Then he added charcoal directly into the stand, put the ring back in, and placed the empty water bowl on that. Note that the water bowl for the 22” bullet has a flat bottom. He then added a slurry of soaked wood chips mixed with dry, and poured in 1 C of bourbon for good measure. In the cylinder, he placed a cooking grill in the lower position, lay the fillet on that, reassemble the whole thing and smoked merrily away for a while. Left on the side was the charcoal grill and the 2nd cooking grill.
I can see the advantages of using this setup for smoke and getting the fillet close to the heat, but I have hesitations. Has anyone else done this? My first concern is the heat of the charcoal is very quickly going to weaken the metal of the base. Would laying in a couple of sheets of HD foil offset this?
I’m also going to try and get a response from the chef, but we know how insulated these TV guys are from have to deal with the viewers.
 
I could be wrong, but it sounds like that "chef" doesn't have any idea how a WSM works. Your concerns are well founded IMHO. I would never place charcoal directly in the bottom of the smoker. It is made with a charcoal grate for a reason.
 
My first concern is the heat of the charcoal is very quickly going to weaken the metal of the base
I would doubt it would weaken the base, in fact, the smoker would probably run cooler than if the charcoal were on the grate in the charcoal ring, due to reduced airflow. The grate & charcoal ring make the WSM run efficiently, placing the charcoal directly into the bottom of the WSM would bypass the efficiency of the grate & charcoal ring. If the lit charcoal came into direct contact with the vents, it would eventually damage them.

I could see how running the smoker like this could have some advantages in certain type of cooks, but over all, having the charcoal on the grate in the ring is probably the best over-all way to run the WSM

The one I think I would avoid is soaking (or pouring) the bourbon directly onto the lit charcoal in a WSM. That's asking for a flash fire, and that's probably something to avoid in most instances :)
 
What if he was shooting for lower temps? You don't smoke fish at the same temp as pork, chicken or beef. Usually its in the 150-180 deg range. So by placing the coal directly in the bottom bowl your helping to reduce the temp by not allowing the coal to breath as well as placing on the grate.
 
I would doubt it would weaken the base, in fact, the smoker would probably run cooler than if the charcoal were on the grate in the charcoal ring, due to reduced airflow. The grate & charcoal ring make the WSM run efficiently, placing the charcoal directly into the bottom of the WSM would bypass the efficiency of the grate & charcoal ring. If the lit charcoal came into direct contact with the vents, it would eventually damage them.

I always pile lit charcoal against the back side of my kettle and there has been no problem other than a little discoloration. That's in a kettle with the vents wide open and 1/2 the time with no lid on at all.
 
I always pile lit charcoal against the back side of my kettle and there has been no problem other than a little discoloration. That's in a kettle with the vents wide open and 1/2 the time with no lid on at all.
Me too. My favorite kettle is my 78 blackie. It has the daisy wheel vents and they have come into direct contact with lit charcoal numerous times, and they are a real pill to turn these days. Granted, it could be because the BBQ is 38 years old, but I have to think it's because of the direct contact with the charcoal that Weber did away with with the wheels and went with the sweeps at the bottom, now. Then again...It could simply be Weber & their constant cost cutting that did in the daisy wheel vents in the bowl...
 
Thank you everyone for weighing in; hopefully there will be further input. So far I see some "this is not SOP" issues, and only one technical problem (the hinge point of the vents gets sticky) but nothing definitive pro or con. JBooker notes it could be to get a cooler temp.
I did track the TV show where this came from, it's almost a decade old and the chef in question appears to have disappeared - the trail went cold.
Perhaps someone from Weber may wade in with the company's POV.
 
OK, so he used the dry water bowl as a sorta smoker diffuser pan by adding soaked wood chips and booze and placed that on the hot coals.
That's an interesting concept and I would like to try it.:wsm:

Tim
 
Just got off the phone with Weber Grill Academy (talk about great customer service!) and, as I expected: 1) Removing the charcoal grate and placing coals directly on the base of the bullet nullifies the warranty. That's obvious. 2) Removing the charcoal grate and placing coals directly on the base WILL cause structural weakness over time, resulting in failure of the structural elements and posing risk for a fire. Not good. 3) Placing the coals directly on the base removes the option of controlling heat with the lower vents.
My conclusion - the guy on the TV show is out to lunch.
Cheers, and thanks all for contributing to the post.
 
Just got off the phone with Weber Grill Academy (talk about great customer service!) and, as I expected: 1) Removing the charcoal grate and placing coals directly on the base of the bullet nullifies the warranty. That's obvious. 2) Removing the charcoal grate and placing coals directly on the base WILL cause structural weakness over time, resulting in failure of the structural elements and posing risk for a fire. Not good. 3) Placing the coals directly on the base removes the option of controlling heat with the lower vents.
My conclusion - the guy on the TV show is out to lunch.
Cheers, and thanks all for contributing to the post.

#1&2 are typical answers when you ask any company about using the product out side of the guide lines stated in the manual.

#3 How so? Does the air vents magicly close and allow for no air? Or do the coals pull air directly through the steel and burn out of control? How does placing the coal directly in the bowl render the bottom vents totally useless?

Their answer to #3 shows how much thought they also put in to answer for #1&2.
 

 

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