First pulled pork smoke & no off switch

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rowan Brownlee
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Rowan Brownlee

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I just received my wsm from amazon (half price delivered to my house in Sydney Australia compared to local retail :-)) After a test run to try out the vent settings for temp control I smoked a 2.3kg pork shoulder to an internal temp of 90 C - used the minion method. The results were delicious and I used a 'North Carolina Lexington' style rub and coleslaw dressing from Raichlen's BBQ USA.

I'd read that new wsms can let in air and I found this to be the case. Even after closing all the vents, the coals kept burning through the night. I imagine it may take a few more runs to build up enough internal gudge to be able to starve the fire once the vents are shut.

Anyway, for a first attempt, it was a dead-set marvel.
 
Congratulations on your first smoke and Welcome to this forum. This is a Great site with Great folks. I too just completed my 1st smoke on the new WSM. This is good stuff!
 
Welcome to the forum Rowan. Congrats on the purchase. You also should check your door for a tight fit. If its not, you can bend & twist a little for a better fit.
 
Rowan, I had the same issue. After a few cooks you can generally gunk up the factory leaks. My door came flush but I've read many posts here where people had to bend it to fit better. If you continue to have bad leak issues you may have an out of round issue. You can search on here for lots of info on that too.

Welcome and good luck !
 
As to proof that use will gunk up and seal the air leaks I can offer this.

When I got my WSM 6 years ago, the door had a crack along the top raised seam that is stamped in to make the shape more ridged. I also had chips along the bottom edges of the top dome.It was a factory thing, so Weber sent me free replacement parts. Of course being the impatient person I am, I was ready to play with the new toy so I did two smokes before the parts got here.

Fast forward 6 years to today, and the replacement door and dome are still in the Weber shipping box in the basement. The crack sealed up after the first smoke and the grease took care of sealing the edge in the spots where the porcelain had chipped off.

Is my WMS air tight? Doubt it, but it does not bother me as it works as expected and as well as any I see posts for here.

I would not worry about it. Try a few cooks first then adjust as needed.

As to a WSM not shutting down if all the vents are closed. I would not worry about that either. Charcoal is pretty inexpensive and I have tried to reuse leftover coals and not been happy with the results. I have since learned to have extra meat on hand to take advantage of hot coals and just open up all the vents when done to let it burn it's self out (my WSM is under a 13' high covered porch so I don't have to worry about rain or dew getting in through the open top vent, that might be a consideration as wet wood ash is caustic).
 
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