Used WSM 18'' - Previous Owner Used Water Bowl Incorrectly


 
M

Matt Ellis

New member
Hey there everyone. First off, just wanted to say thanks to this community, I've been reading it a lot lately to prepare myself for my first smoke this coming Sunday!

I've been looking to buy a WSM for a while now, and out of the blue last Wednesday happened to find one for real cheap ($140) on Craigslist. Obviously has some wear and tear at that price, but from what I can tell as a rookie, it seems like everything it still pretty good. At least good enough for a newbie!

However, when I bought it, I thought he may have lost the water bowl or not included it. But, when I did some more digging yesterday, it looks like he was using the water bowl incorrectly as a base for the charcoal. It's one of the shallow water pans so looks like this is an older model.

My question is, will I run into any trouble if I just clean out that water pan and use it as intended? I'm willing to order a new one, but can't find any online that offer quick enough shipping to get it to me guaranteed by Sunday, so just want to know if I can make do with this one! Also, I'll need to check again later when I'm home, but I can't remember if this WSM has the clips where the water bowl is supposed to hang, would that be a problem too?

If I can't use this one, do you all think I'd be fine just doing some basic ribs on Sunday without any water bowl in there? I realize it may be harder to keep the temp in that 225-275 range without water, but would really like to give this thing a test run on Sunday! I'll have plenty of time that day, so I'm willing to let them go as long as possible.

Thanks everyone!
 
If it won't hold water, I'd line it with foil and fill it with sand. Many here use sand all the time and never use water.
You need something to even out the heat and keep the fat from dripping into the coals.
 
I did ribs at 240-270 range without any water in a bowl for 6 hours. If it's not completely shot as a bowl i don't see why you'd have issues just running no water.
 
No need to guess the age. The date coke is stamped on the top vent wheel. Check ths out http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/determine-age-weber-grills-smokers.html

If the water bowl is porcelain coated it's the original Weber pan. If it's a flat bottomed painted pan it's probably a Brinkmann charcoal pan and that's what I use for a water pan.

You will NOT run into trouble if you use the pan you described. The water pan hangs on what's called a strap. It bends out at the location of the lower cooking grate and bends further out from the wall where the water pan sits. If the lower cooking grate is inside it now you should be set for the water pan. It sounds like you made a good buy.

I cook ribs with or without water but at 250 to 275. Baby Backs take about 4 hours and spares about 5 hours and I do foil for 45 minutes to an hour. Have fun and keep asking.
 
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BTW, WELCOME to the Forum. Lots of good folks with years of experience willing to help you. Definitely worth the price of admission. :wsm:
 
Awesome, thank you for the advice everyone! All of your help is very much appreciated and has me even more excited for my cook! I'll definitely be leaning on the experts here as I learn.
 
If they were burning charcoal in the water pan,it makes me wonder just what you have/or don't have in the bottom of the smoker.

There is supposed to be a charcoal grate
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B008VR62H4/tvwb-20

And a charcoal ring
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0088ER0US/tvwb-20

I bet the charcoal ring is missing if they were burning charcoal in the water pan. You could probably do without the ring for this weekend. But a grate is pretty much a must have to get air under the charcoal.

I would go to a nursery and get a clay saucer to cover the water pan,and put foil over that.. Thats what I do anyway :)
 
Matt,
I’ve never used water, foil the pan, get a plant saucer from a greenhouse that will fit in the pan and foil that too, use enough foil on the saucer to allow you to make a depression for grease collection being careful not to poke a hole or the grease will run through and make a big mess. Don’t ask.
 
Hey everyone,

After some more thorough investigation yesterday (and with some more info thanks to this thread!) I found out that the WSM is a 2004 model. And after I pulled it apart more it just appeared that the person had assembled it a little wrong. There are indeed all the parts necessary - a charcoal grate as well as a charcoal ring. So looks like I'm good to go in terms of parts! I'll make a run to a store and grab a clay saucer that a bunch of you have mentioned.

One more question I have is that it appears the door to the smoker doesn't close flush to the body, with maybe a half-inch of space between the body and door at the top, when closed. Should I look into taping that shut so I don't have a ton of heat loss?

Getting more excited in the lead up to my first smoke this weekend! Can't thank you all enough for the direction and advice.
 
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