S.J. Silver/Gold Mini WSM Smoker: Part 2


 
Started out just letting it burn for a few hours as a dry run, decided after 2 hours that I had to cook something. On short notice all I had was sausage that was going to be for a fatty, decided to just throw it on plain. Still good eating...
 
Just ordered my smokey joe gold (ordered through amazon link here on the forum ;) Can't wait to build my mini.... Perfect to compliment my wsm 22 for smaller cooks.
 
Freddy, good luck with the build. These minis are great efficient little smokers! I smoked a butt on my mini yesterday, 10.5 hours at 245*-260* without having to add any charcoal! Man I love these little things! Any questions, feel free to ask, as there's a wealth of knowledge here just waiting to be shared.
Again, good luck,
Tim
 
Hey all.

Just purchased the basic shell for the project and I'm REALLY looking forward to building and customizing my new Mini Smoker.

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It's been a couple of years since I have been on the site and I am really glad I checked back in for this project. Started it last Sunday and finished it last night. Maiden voyage is set for tomorrow.

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I've read parts #1 & 2 of this thread and I have the Mrs. convinced that since it's just the two of us home, we need a smaller smoker and leave the Lang 60 Deluxe for the big ol' family cooks. I noticed (thanks for on-line banking) that she spent $35.00 at Lowes yesterday and when I asked her what she bought besides the machine screws I need to hange her can opener, I received a quick "Mind your own business" and the "look" so I didn't press the issue any further. Looking to get the Tamale Pot this week and hopefully start the build next week.
 
I've read parts #1 & 2 of this thread and I have the Mrs. convinced that since it's just the two of us home, we need a smaller smoker and leave the Lang 60 Deluxe for the big ol' family cooks. I noticed (thanks for on-line banking) that she spent $35.00 at Lowes yesterday and when I asked her what she bought besides the machine screws I need to hange her can opener, I received a quick "Mind your own business" and the "look" so I didn't press the issue any further. Looking to get the Tamale Pot this week and hopefully start the build next week.

Wow, so your wife is buying the stuff up to surprise you with the parts for a mini WSM? That's awesome. What a woman.
 
Wow, so your wife is buying the stuff up to surprise you with the parts for a mini WSM? That's awesome. What a woman.

Yeah, I've been married to to Ma Dutch for 34 years (35 come Sept. 22nd) and she can still manage to pull off a "surprize" or twa now and again!
 
Hello, my name is Jennifer. This is my first post here!

After reading dozens upon dozens of articles & forum postings here (and all over the Internet) about Mini WSM I finally made one; thanks for all the help! (I pretty much followed the main article here on virtualweberbullet.com.) I really love it because my smokey joe is so easily convertible between a very hot grill and a low & slow smoker--both equally efficient on the charcoal. Since the whole system is so airtight, it makes it easier to manage the temperatures & snuf out the charcoal.

I smoked my first rack of ribs ever on this thing last night--fluctuating between 215 to 240 degrees F. They turned out delicious! I followed ideas from both the "best ribs in the universe" and another one meathead wrote up on baby backs. Here is a picture; (I should have taken a picture of the sliced rib showing the beautiful pink smoke ring, but being a dumb dumb I didn't think of it at the time.) [The rub I used was Mike Mill's Magic Dust and used Meathead's KC bbq sauce recipe]

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For the design of my Mini WSM: (about $110 total with taxes including the Smokey Joe)
1) Weber Smokey Joe Silver
2) Added 4" stainless steel vent adjustor bolt along with stainless steel nuts & lock washers.
3) I replaced the ash catcher plate with a 9" aluminum cake pan. Then I set a 9" aluminum pie pan inside that cake pan. So I can easily slide the pie pan full of ashes out of the base, dump in the trash, clean in the sink if I want to make it shiny again, then slide it back in. (I got the heavy duty aluminum cake pan and pie pan at the flea market for like 50 cents a piece a while back.) I put marks on the cake pan with a black sharpie coinciding with the vent adjustor bolt. (Closed, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 & Fully Open marks).
4) Extra large tuna can with 16 x 3/8" holes drilled around it at the very top sides (or inverted bottom if you will).
5) 16 gauge expanded metal charcoal grate over the existing charcoal grate; I use Hasty-Bake Lump Charcoal since I live here in Tulsa, Oklahoma (very low ash btw!)
6) Vasconia Tamale Pot w/ 20% off coupon code. (I tried to use the Imusa from Walmart and the Smokey Joe lid wouldn't fit) -- both ends of the Vasconia fit like it was made for the Smokey Joe! My Smokey Joe lid fits better/tighter on the Vasconia than it does on its own base! Cut out the bottom of this pot w/ 1 inch border with tin snips--filed & sanded it. (I also almost perfectly flattened out the snip ripples using a flat wood surface, flat piece of wood, long piece of wood and rubber mallet.)
7) Sitting where the steamer insert used to sit, I put a Weber replacement cooking grate.
8) I put a terracotta saucer (12") on that grate (turns out it's not 100% terracotta because another one I had broke and it has a concrete core (I'll take a picture of this another time). Covered this saucer with foil.
9) put a spare charcoal grate (for 18.5" Weber kettle) on top of the terracotta saucer for the lower smoking rack (which I seasoned to a nice rust free black).
10) Weber Q replacement thermometer ($10 on Amazon)
11) All stainless steel hardware (bolts, acorn nuts, nuts & lock washers)
12) Stock cooking grate 4" below rim of tamale pot.

Also, I have an A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker (AMNPS) on order and should have it Saturday. I plan on using this inside my Mini WSM for cold smoking cheese, sausages etc. (with a diffuser bowl filled with ice).
 
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