New old member here. I had a WSM a long while ago and was somewhat active here back then. I had to leave the WSM behind in a move and have been without for the last decade. I also forgot what name I used when I registered here so I had to re-register.
Last year I grew weary of the frustration of trying to maintain a long low-and-slow fire in the Weber kettle grill. I didn't want to spend the money for a new WSM so I compromised on a cheap Brinkmann offset. Huge mistake. By the time I was done trying to turn that thing into a decent smoker that wouldn't have parts melting with each cook I could have bought the WSM and a nice remote BBQ thermometer. And that's not counting the 80+ hours I spent building a new charcoal basket, building tuning plates, sealing the multitude of massive air leaks, re-engineering air flow, etc. I bought high-temp gasket sealer to close up the massive air gaps in the firebox. I bought wood stove gasket material to seal the huge gaps on the firebox door and around the lid of the cooking chamber. I bought all the steel bar the local hardware store had in stock to make a charcoal basket. I bought steel rod when the steel bar turned out to block too much air flow. I bought angle iron to close the massive overhang at the ends of the cooking chamber lid. It went on and on. And I never did get the thing to where it worked well without constant fiddling.
This year I decided I was done with adjusting tuning plates and baby-sitting the fire, starting more charcoal every hour. Last week I bought a new WSM. After my first cook it was clear I should have gone for the WSM rather than the Brinkmann. I made spareribs this past weekend. Rather than spending the whole four hours tending the fire I spent most of it in the house, out of the heat, watching the WSM thermometer stay quite steadily right in the smoke zone. All I had to do was make a couple small adjustments on the intake vents during the cook. Compared to the Brinkmann offset it was an absolute dream.
Here are the ribs after two hours in the WSM.
At this point I wrapped them in foil and put them back on for another couple hours. Next time I'll do more smoke time and less in foil, but they were still excellent. They literally fell off the bone and were incredibly tender and juicy. I also liked having the juices from the foil pouches. I poured it off into a bowl, de-fatted it, then reduced it by about half. It was too sweet to use straight so I added a little ketchup and apple cider vinegar. The result was a very complex sauce with hints of various spices from the rub, brown sugar, honey, pork drippings.
Next time I may leap into an overnight cook of pork butt.
Last year I grew weary of the frustration of trying to maintain a long low-and-slow fire in the Weber kettle grill. I didn't want to spend the money for a new WSM so I compromised on a cheap Brinkmann offset. Huge mistake. By the time I was done trying to turn that thing into a decent smoker that wouldn't have parts melting with each cook I could have bought the WSM and a nice remote BBQ thermometer. And that's not counting the 80+ hours I spent building a new charcoal basket, building tuning plates, sealing the multitude of massive air leaks, re-engineering air flow, etc. I bought high-temp gasket sealer to close up the massive air gaps in the firebox. I bought wood stove gasket material to seal the huge gaps on the firebox door and around the lid of the cooking chamber. I bought all the steel bar the local hardware store had in stock to make a charcoal basket. I bought steel rod when the steel bar turned out to block too much air flow. I bought angle iron to close the massive overhang at the ends of the cooking chamber lid. It went on and on. And I never did get the thing to where it worked well without constant fiddling.
This year I decided I was done with adjusting tuning plates and baby-sitting the fire, starting more charcoal every hour. Last week I bought a new WSM. After my first cook it was clear I should have gone for the WSM rather than the Brinkmann. I made spareribs this past weekend. Rather than spending the whole four hours tending the fire I spent most of it in the house, out of the heat, watching the WSM thermometer stay quite steadily right in the smoke zone. All I had to do was make a couple small adjustments on the intake vents during the cook. Compared to the Brinkmann offset it was an absolute dream.
Here are the ribs after two hours in the WSM.
At this point I wrapped them in foil and put them back on for another couple hours. Next time I'll do more smoke time and less in foil, but they were still excellent. They literally fell off the bone and were incredibly tender and juicy. I also liked having the juices from the foil pouches. I poured it off into a bowl, de-fatted it, then reduced it by about half. It was too sweet to use straight so I added a little ketchup and apple cider vinegar. The result was a very complex sauce with hints of various spices from the rub, brown sugar, honey, pork drippings.
Next time I may leap into an overnight cook of pork butt.
