22.5 WSM as backup OTG

[John K]

At the beginning of April I got a Weber Performer Platinum and I dearly love it. The only fault I can find with it is your space challenged when cooking for family and friends. Especially if you are cooking indirect. After mothersday (we had guests) I told the wife that I wanted to buy a One Touch Gold to have more room so I could cook meat on one and veggies, potatoes, or whatever on the other. She said she understands but she really didn't want another BBQ pit on the deck. With the Performer a deckbox and a WSM we do have limited space on the deck. She said why don't you use the WSM for that. So I thought about how I could do that and this is what I came up with.
Went to Home Depot and bought
1. New Weber charcoal grate which measures 13.5 in. in diameter $8.99
2. Sheet metal aluminum 21 gauge 6"x18" $8.97
3. Assorted stainless nuts, bolts, and washers

Went to Walmart to find a pot that the charcoal grill would slide into. Didn't take long to figure out that wasn't going to be easy. I was about to give up then I see this piece-a-crap wok made in China that measured 13 3/4" for $5.00! Really $5.00! I figured for $5.00 I would make it work!


Sorry for the crappy pic.



Took the handles off set the grill on top and secured with two nuts and bolts with two fender washers. I grabbed the washers with a pair of vice-grips and bent the tip 90 deg.







Took the aluminum sheet metal and split it length ways to make two 3"x18" pieces. For those who don't know simply score two or three times with a straightedge and a SHARP utility knife. then you can snap it in two. Drill three holes in each end bolt together and now you have a charcoal ring.




I put an old pizza pan on top of my lower cooking grate for good measure (but you don't need this at all) then set the bowl and smokering on top. I didn't drill holes in smokering like the one that comes with the WSM because I figured it could draw air from outside the ring into the bowl.







I have the Cajun Bandit SS door on my WSM which left me with the old door with no latch. I wasn't sure if having the coals in that location would melt the plastic knob or not so I didn't take any chances. I switched to the old door and used a wingnut bolt and two washers to secure.




Lit about half a chimney poured it in and made me a couple burgers for lunch!



It worked exactly as I hoped it would! After the burgers were done I let it burn wide open for about an hour and the fire was still going strong with the lid on. I'm guessing it's getting enough oxygen. Then I closed all vents and it was out in about 1.5 hours. All the ash fell into the bowl and made no mess. Lifted it out dumped the ash in the ash can and made a spot for it in my deckbox.
The total cost of this project for everything tax and all was $34.18. I am very happy with the results of this project as it saved me well over $100 on the cost of another pit. Almost forgot the hardware on the door got pretty hot, not so hot I coundn't touch it, but pretty hot. I still don't know if it would melt the plastic knob or not.


By the way....... The burgers were GREAT!

Thanks for looking.

 

[Chris Sherman]

Fantastic ideas and work! Thanks for sharing.
For me, I just remove the middle section from my 18.5, place the top grate right over the charcoal basket and the lid fits right on top using some aluminum stock to keep the lid from sliding off.
Looks like this. Credits to the http://virtualweberbullet.com homepage for the photos.

 

[John K]

Chris, Thanks for the reply. I saw this idea before but wanted to come up with something taller because we use a 15 inch cast iron skillet to fry potatoes and such. When your an old fat guy thats just a little to low. I've used mine two times now and, depending on what your cooking, discovered real fast that you need to cover the bottom cook rack with foil to have easy clean up! I was reading later that Harry Soo said you shouldn't cook hotdogs, burgers, and such in your WSM. Ooops... too late for that!

 

[Chris Sherman]

Chris, Thanks for the reply. I saw this idea before but wanted to come up with something taller because we use a 15 inch cast iron skillet to fry potatoes and such. When your an old fat guy thats just a little to low. I've used mine two times now and, depending on what your cooking, discovered real fast that you need to cover the bottom cook rack with foil to have easy clean up! I was reading later that Harry Soo said you shouldn't cook hotdogs, burgers, and such in your WSM. Ooops... too late for that!

Hahahaha! Very good...I totally get it.
As far as hot dogs and fish (I don't exactly remember him mentioning burgers), I would not buy a separate WSM for those, I'd just cold smoke in a box then use my kettle or my gasser.
Better yet, I like my hot dogs boiled, and my fish deep or pan fried, so they mostly stay away from the outdoor equipment.