Beginner Pit Master!

[Guest]

I've been reading this forum for a little while and purchased the WSM. This has been a wonderful experience. Until this year I mostly grilled dry steaks and burnt chicken. I trashed my propane grill and purchased 2 Weber charcoal grills and the WSM. Thanks to this site and the WSM, my family and friends think I am a Pit Master! The truth is the WSM is the master and I am grasshopper. I have cooked the BRITU ribs 3 times now up to 7 racks at a time and every time they come out awesome. I am adding time to the cook each time to get more tender ribs thanks to some posts here.I had to laugh because last cook I don't think the temp varied more than deg. either way. I made small adjustments every 15 mins or when I walked by. I carry a little kitchen timer clipped to me an set it for 15 min so it beeps I go to the smoker and make a fine adjustment or when I walk by I check it. I use a digital probe inserted in top tent about 2-3 inches and has worked great. Funny thing is on July 4th I got up at 5:30am to start preparing ribs for a family picnic and I have never gotten up that early for anything on a day off before! Thank you to all the great people here that lavish the advice on us newbies in a very friendly way, and a big high-five to Chris Allingham for an awesome site! I say a regional or national BBQ picnic for members of this site is in order!

 

[Pat Barnes]

Hi Richard,
Glad you are enjoying yourWSM. It is a marvelous piece of equipment. You say you are making adjustments every 15 mins. I/we all did this until I learned to trust the WSM and the advice of these good people. I make adjustments at first fire to get my target temp and then leave it alone
and go do something else for a while. You will be surprised at how well the temp holds. I cooked 4 butts this weekend and maintained the temp at 230-260 for about 12 hrs with very few adjustments.
Enjoy. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

 

[Dave Lewis]

I did the same thing with my new Weber. Last weekend was my first smoke (chicken! chicken!) and I made adjustments every 15 minutes and sometimes every 5 minutes to keep my target temp of 250. It was amazing, move the vent a little and watch the temp immediately rise a few degrees, close the vent a little and watch it drop a few degrees. Easy. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif I couldn't resist playing with it to see how perfect I could keep the temperature. What the heck, its my new toy. Next weekend, BRITU ribs. I can't wait. /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif I am so glad I researched and bought the Weber verses ECB or Charbroil. I looked at them all and this website convinced me otherwise.

 

[Guest]

Can't wait to learn that stuff! I'll be looking through the archives and stuff. I want to perfect my ribs since they are quicker then I'll move on to whatever is the next awesome thing to BBQ. Can I get a whole pig in this thing?! laf.