Fired Up the 22


 
Dan,

How tall did you make the ring?

I picked up a 2' x 2' piece of expanded steel, plus bolts and washers.

I was thinking about making it taller, so it could hold more fuel for long cooks. By my calculations, making it 14.5" diameter (same as 18" stock) and 8" tall (3 1/2" higher than stock) it would increase the capacity by 23% over the stock 22" ring (68% increase over 18" ring). For shorter cooks, you just fill it as you need it.

I think that with the water pan being so much higher on the 22", one could really build a taller, narrower charcoal basket. I just think that will be more efficient than a wider, short layer, like the one that ships with it.

I guess I'll build one and find out. I bought a couple of metal cutting blades for a jig saw and will see if that works.
 
I also finally started my first cook on my 22 inch WSM today. I should have used my 18"WSM ring. I filled the 22 inch ring using the Minion method. Now, I can't get my temp after 3 hours below 325 with the vents closed. I am only cooking an 8 pound pork shoulder. I did start with hot water in the water pan and the temp outside is about 65-70 (Los Angeles).

What I also noticed is that there were a lot of smoke leaks around the door and the dome.

Should I have expected a first run to have higher temps? I beleive this also happened when I used my 18 WSM the first few runs. Maybe I should look at this as good for when I load it up with more meat.
 
It will probably run hot the first cook, but 325 seems extreme. Then again, I don't know what your target temp is.

Are you relying on the weber thermometer? Lots of people, myself included, have found them fairly inaccurate.

I wouldn't worry too much about the smoke leaks, but I did put some foil tape on the inside of the door to help the seal a bit.
 
I was hoping to get temps stable around 235-250. I have my candy thermometer in the top vent and a second thermomoter on the grate. I also stuck my thermapen through the top vent and it verified all the other readings within 5-10 degrees.

I'll just have to play with it and experiment with the smaller ring.
 
I too started my maiden voyage with the new 22.5" WSM and I used heat tape on the door and I am using my DIGIQ II with a 5 CFM fan (not quite enough, but it works) and I am able to keep it right at 225 as dialed. I ran a candle test before loading this beast up, and the candle never did go out, but that is a lot of oxygen to get rid of. I double checked to make sure it wasn't out of round, and it wasn't, so I was pretty pleased. It takes a pretty long time for it to come up to temp, but I can always open the bottom vents to have the temps come up quicker, although I would rather not do that unless I am standing by.

I must admit, I was pretty scared to pull the trigger on this unit, but so far, knock on cherry wood, it seems to be spot on as my 18" is. I am looking forward to doing a turkey this weekend. I planned on doing it today, but she is still a wee bit frozen, and I want to brine the turkey anyway.

I also found that by removing the tabs on the vents made it much easier to make sure they close all the way, and that will make it easier to choke the fire and conserve some of the unused fuel.

The only other thing that I need to do is to tighten the temp gauge as it seems to be leaking a little around it, which isn't a big deal at all, but just want to try and keep it as air tight as I can.

Looks like this summer is going to be a blast...
 
Hey Pat. I made the ring just slightly taller (1/2") than the stock part. Only problem I see if you make it as tall as you suggest that it may make it difficult to reload with fuel on extremely long cooks or in adding more wood chunks. Plus I'm not sure about what will happen with the heat source so close to the pan. But like you say - build one and try it out.
 
Pat and Dan -

Can you guys post some pics of your projects?

I'm a visual person rather than a verbal person - I can't replicate your specs in my mind, but I would love to see your results!

Pat Smith
 
Pat

Mine looks like the one shown in your posting.

Somehow I got the the diameter of the expanded metal to be a "Tight" fit, when I inserted the charcoal grate, actuall I have the 2 grate criscross as discussed on the form.

I also wired the grates to the expanded metal, so I can shake it as necessary.
 
Got the pictures finally. Couldn't download off of camera from home (computer problem). Couldn't do on computer from work (computer problem). Had to have out IT guy do and then e-mail home, then copy, etc. Here they are:

The Ring

SS Fasteners

Closeup

It worked great. Maybe a little hotter burn with all of the extra air vents. Glad I did this.

Dan
 
Dan

Looks good, that 3/4 in as compared to my 1/2 in, seams like you have quite a bit more air flow. I'm surprised at the difference.

I'm going to try to get a digital camera and see if I could post a picture of mine so you could see the difference. Don' know for sure if I can but will try.
 
Well here's my home made ring.

As mentioned in my previous post, there is quite a difference between the 1/2 in and 3/4 in Dan used, don't know if it would make a difference in the burn rate or not.

First pic is of course the ring itself.

Second pic is kinda a closeup of the bolt,nut, washer configuraion I used.

First pics and maybe the last pics (only kidding), I've posted, I don't know why I had a hard time "Posting", Taking the pics was easy even though it was 10 degree out this am.


http://s726.photobucket.com/al...current=000_0002.jpg
http://s726.photobucket.com/al...current=000_0003.jpg
 
John, what were the practical results of this modification. Did it result in longer burn times (if yes about how long), less fuel used, etc. Any update on perfromance issues would be greatly appreciated after you have used it for a few cooks.

Thanks
Mike J
 
mike

Dan the one who started this thread, wanted to try the smaller ring I believe to save charcoal.

He was disussing how he was making a smaller ring and I told him, I had made a similar size charcoal ring for my ECB I used to use, that's the pics in my last post.

I don't have a 22 in WSM yet, I do have the older model 18 in WSM and just use the stock ring that came with.

I haven't used the ring shown which again was made for my retired ECB.

It's actually slightly larger (higher cap) than the stock one, but so far haven't used in the WSM.
 
Mike - to answer your question. Before I got the 22" there was a lot of talk about the fuel consumption with the large ring. So I decided to use the ring from my 18 WSM from the get go. I found no problem with either high temp or longer 250º temp cooks with the smaller ring. And fuel consumption was no different from using the 18. So I figured that I should purchase an 18 ring from Weber and found that with shipping it would run me $37.00. So John convinced me to make my own from expanded metal. $14 and seems to work great. Plus it was a nice weekend project.
 
Dan/John,
Thanks for the rapid response and informative info.

I am considering purchasing my first WSM. I could get along OK with the size of the 18", but if the 22" does not burn significantly more fuel and is capable of longer cooks (12 hrs or more), it would be nice to have the extra space.
I was concerned about burning 50% more fuel for my average cook (which would be for 2-4 people).
Sounds like your modification will work fine, and thanks for the pics.

VR
Mike J
 
mike

no problem. good luck with your WSM.

If I didn't already have my WSM 18 in, I'd probably go out and get the 22 in for the reasons you mentioned.
 
Dan,

I understand the concept, however can't you just use less charcoal in the 22 ring with the same results, i.e. fuel is fuel regardless of the container. I guess what I am trying to say is, let say for instance you have a Ford Pinto with a 10 gallon gas tank and one with a 20 gallon gas tank, wouldn't the fuel economy be the same, assuming you put in 8 gallons of gas?

For example, I am cooking Baby Backs this weekend. My previous cook which entailed some pork butts and 18 lbs of K gave me 13 solid hours of 250° - 260° degrees before starting to descend. So I did the math:

What I know>>>>
18 lbs of K in a 22 ring @ 60 degress ambient w/12 lbs of cold meat = 12 hours @ 250°

then,
What I am assuming>>>>
9 lbs of K in a 22 ring @ 60 Degrees ambient w/3 lbs of cold meat = at least 6 hours @ 250°

What do you guys think? Thanks...
 
I suppose you can. I just like to fill tight in the ring up to the top. Just thinking that only partly filling the large ring the fuel may get spread out too much and affect the burn. All you can do is experiment.
 
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