A couple initial cook questions...


 
T

T Perkins

TVWBB Fan
Getting ready for my initial WSM cook this weekend(cant get here soon enough!).

Gonna do a BB using the quick cook method just to get a feel of the smoker.

Should I use water or other heat sink for the quick cook?

Should I go with a full charcoal load or a partial for the quick cook?

Will I have any better luck using some K for this or some Cowboy Lump? Ive got both on hand.

Thanx in advance!!!
 
T Perkins, Welcome to the world of WSMs and all other Weber cookers.

What type of meat are you cooking? I assume BB= Baby Back ribs. What do you mean by "a quick cook"? Does that mean a High Heat cook?
The aswer to this will help us give you a reasonable bit of help.

I personally never use water in my water pan for anything other than bathing but you will get a variety of answers. If you use lump might as well fill er up and put er out at the end, you can reuse the uncooked coals later. That is if you cooker seals up well and being new it may not.

Mark
 
Cowboy pretty much bites. I'd go with the K.

If cooking high heat then no water. It'll. Just use an empty foiled pan.

Full ring of fuel. Me, I always Minion the start. Up to you on that front.
 
I would suggest not using water in the pan. Just foil and leave it dry for easy clean up (Chris has some awesome videos posted that help with foiling). I always load my WSM full of charcoal and when I am done, I just shut all the vents and choke the fire out and use any remaining charcoal on the next cook. Charcoal is your choice. I have been using Cowboy without any problems, but some people hate it. I cook my butts low and slow, so I can't help much with temps other than to give you one heads up. You may find it difficult to get the temps up high enough. My cooker will not usually get above 300 without turning the door upside down and propped open slightly. Here is the mod I used Door Prop Mod.
 
Your choice. You can go any way you want. I always Minion the start and use whatever briquettes as the lit, no matter what I'm using as the unlit. I'll mix fuels in the ring if running out of one or the other and want to finish the bag.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Any advantage or disadvantage to using a mix of lump and K?
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Can't think of any advantages. The disadvantage would be mismatched sizes and shapes which could make it more difficult to control your temps. Large gaps in between your lump/briquettes tend to yield sporadic burns. Since this is your 1st cook, go with the easier to control briquettes 100%. They're engineered to be all the same size and burn consistently. Your butt will taste fine. 1 piece of advice, if I may, is to catch your target temp on the way up. Load your ring (full), open all vents 100%, minion start, add meat right away and monitor your temps. When you're about 50* below target; starting closing your bottom vents a little to get a feel for how that affects your cook temp. Catching the temps on the way up is a lot easier than trying to bring them down.

Paul
 
Good luck on your first cook this weekend. Looks like the weather will be OK.

I'm a noob too. Work in Richfield but live in Mtka. (We were all cooking with Nat Gas yesterday).

Did you get your WSM locally or mail order? I am looking for a local dealer b4 I decide on size.

Thx,

kbflanigan
Minnetonka, MN
 
KB,

I picked up my WSM at Home Depot off 66th Street and Cedar. They had 4 or 5 of them in stock last Sunday. All 18.5, no 22's that i could see though.
And yes, it is sure nice that all this snow is finally melting off up here. Im a VW guy too, not an Audi, but same family. Hoping to maybe get my dune buggy out on Saturday for a quick spin around the neighborhood.
 
Drove up to the 'Po on my lunch hour.
OMG - Grill Central! Must of had 20 models of Brinkmans on display.
The 18.5" WSM was nicely displayed and looks to be about the right size for my small townhouse patio to sit along side my Silver-B gasser.

Looks like I'll have a Happy BD this year!

KB
 
Foiled water pan and loaded charcoal late last nite over a few beers. Rubbed/bagged butt as well. Rerubbed this morning. Fired up WSM using MM. Used 3 hickory and 3 apple chunks.


Butt on at 10AM this morning. Temps seem to be steady between 250-260 right now. This is soooooo much easier to control heat than the Brinkman.
Not using any internal thermometer. Gonna check internal temp after about 3 hours and see if we need to foil then.
Ill check back in a bit....
 
Awesome, Awesome, awesome!!! Tented the butt around 2pm. Meat temp got to about 195 at 415pm. Let it rest about 60 minutes. Bone pulled right out(first time Ive been able to say that!!!).

Wont say I "nailed" it on my first WSM cook, but it was the best butt Ive done to date. It can only get better from here.
 
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