TEisenhauer
New member
I have been on the fence for months as to which WSM to get. I think I have probably read every thread on this site on this topic. Well, I finally pulled the trigger on the 22.5. I figured for the extra hundred bucks I get a lot more room, which might not get used on a regular basis but is available if needed.
Santa came in August
I was very pleased with how easy it went together. The only accessories I have right now are the Maverick ET-733. I will probably get a few more as time goes on.
I decided not to "season" the cooker as I just couldn't bear to not cook on it right away. For the first cook I did a 5 pound pork butt, two naked fatties and two slabs of spares.
I filled the charcoal basket full with kingsford and used a mixture of apple and pecan chunks. I lit 12 coals and spread them out over the basket and let it be.
I won't bore you with putting my cooking log on here but basically I was very pleased with the temp control. I thought for my first cook I would be fighting with high temps but that really wasn't the case. I really like to stay in the 250 range give or take 20 degrees.
The cooker did great, I was able to keep it around 270 for the life of the cook (appx 8 hrs). I let it run just to see how long I could get out of a full basket of kingsford. I started around 8am and at 11pm the WSM was still at 256!!!!! I went to bed but at least I know it will go 15 hours.
Here are some pics:
charcoal set up
After adding 12 lit coals, it only took about 20-30 minutes to get up to temp
First wave of food
Fatties done
Spares ready to go on (using 3-2-1 method)
Spares ready to be wrapped
Out of the foil, I sauced one and left the other dry
The pork butt off the grill and rested for appx 2 hrs
Sorry but there are no plated pics but I can say that the pork butt was awesome. The sauced ribs were great and the dry ones were good as well but they were smaller and I should have pulled them a little earlier.
Overall, I was very pleased with the performance of the WSM 22 and glad I got it over the 18.5. I think I might make a smaller basket that I can use for smaller cooks and maybe add some casters. Thanks for looking.
Santa came in August
I was very pleased with how easy it went together. The only accessories I have right now are the Maverick ET-733. I will probably get a few more as time goes on.
I decided not to "season" the cooker as I just couldn't bear to not cook on it right away. For the first cook I did a 5 pound pork butt, two naked fatties and two slabs of spares.
I filled the charcoal basket full with kingsford and used a mixture of apple and pecan chunks. I lit 12 coals and spread them out over the basket and let it be.
I won't bore you with putting my cooking log on here but basically I was very pleased with the temp control. I thought for my first cook I would be fighting with high temps but that really wasn't the case. I really like to stay in the 250 range give or take 20 degrees.
The cooker did great, I was able to keep it around 270 for the life of the cook (appx 8 hrs). I let it run just to see how long I could get out of a full basket of kingsford. I started around 8am and at 11pm the WSM was still at 256!!!!! I went to bed but at least I know it will go 15 hours.
Here are some pics:
charcoal set up
After adding 12 lit coals, it only took about 20-30 minutes to get up to temp
First wave of food
Fatties done
Spares ready to go on (using 3-2-1 method)
Spares ready to be wrapped
Out of the foil, I sauced one and left the other dry
The pork butt off the grill and rested for appx 2 hrs
Sorry but there are no plated pics but I can say that the pork butt was awesome. The sauced ribs were great and the dry ones were good as well but they were smaller and I should have pulled them a little earlier.
Overall, I was very pleased with the performance of the WSM 22 and glad I got it over the 18.5. I think I might make a smaller basket that I can use for smaller cooks and maybe add some casters. Thanks for looking.
Great 1st cook!
