3rd smoke, It just gets better with age.

[e reynolds]

Had a, lets just say, adventure yesterday during the smoke. It was one of the most consistant cooks I have had to date. Temps held 245 for 4 hours (I was doing loin ribs). That was until "the rain". If you were on the northern east coast (I am in NJ) you know what I am talking about. I stood there watching the temp. in the cooker fall and hoping for a break to go get the ribs from the cooker. It came about an hour later. All in all the ribs did come out very good. This 18.5 WSM is idiot-proof. I ought to know.

Ed

 

[TravisH]

Congrats!

There are several rain options you could explore for next time.

The easiest is this clip-on umbrella if the wind's not up - WSM Umbrella

Cooking in the Wind, Rain & Cold

 

[Dave Russell]

Ed, glad you're lovin' the wsm, but if you stick around here long enough, you'll change your mind about it being idiot-proof.

I'll never forget the post of a retired engineer who said he understood thermodynamics. He complained that everytime he put the stack on, his fire went out. For some reason he'd decided to leave the top vent completely shut, specifically stating so, but replied in a subsequent post that he must have been "over-thinking it."

P.S: If someone reads this and thinks I'm not being civil (like my wife), please interpret all in good humor. Somebody said "stupid is as stupid does", and I've been there, like when I dumped a chimney full of lit coals into my wsm without the ring in place.