Hello from the Far East of the Western World!


 

Jeff - Canada

New member
New WSM 18.5 owner from St. John's, NL, Canada. I have never owned a smoker and am really excited about getting it out of the box and have my first cook. Unfortunately, it's a Christmas gift and the missus put it away until Christmas morning, but that gives me lots of time to brush up on the forums, review excellent vlog pages and order my first mods :). I love my Weber 22 that I've had for years and use my Weber Genesis propane grill for those quick and dirty meals for the kids and family.

I live in the most easterly city in North America in the middle of the North Atlantic, so by the time Christmas morning rolls around, it may be cold, snowy and windy. Last winter, we had 200+ inches of snow and have had 275 inches in the past. I just moved my two grills into the garage and normally open one garage door and a window to grill, but looking to see how other folks use their WSM in the Northern States and other parts of Canada. Just wondering if I can keep a decent temp going for longer cooks outdoors when it's colder and windier.

While we have the largest Costco in Canada, they have a limited supply of what I consider good meat choices. I checked today and they have decent brisket in the 8-14 lb range, ribs and pork shoulder roasts, but nothing like the selection I see many folks cooking in videos online. It really doesn't matter as I know I'll still have great fun learning the smoking process.

I purchased the Weber iGrill 2 and Thermapro instant read thermometer last year so I have a good starting point and really need to decide what meat cuts to pick and what recipes to follow (too mant great choices online) before I even get ready to learn the WSM.

We have access to Kingsford Blue & Pro as well as Royal Oak briquettes locally and I have been using Cowboy brand lump charcoal from Costco and am happy with all three.

So just wanted to say hello and look forward to reading posts here on the forum to learn the ropes to a point that my family and I happy with my cook results.

Jeff
 
Welcome Jeff from next door here in N.S. I have had lots of Good times in St. John’s and look forward to your posts. Great group on here willing to share there expertise so you came to the right place.
 
Welcome Jeff from Ontario, I guess you can hardly wait till Christmas to unpack that WSM 18.5 and yes b'y fire up a scoff, I hope you don't get too much snow down on the " Rock " this year .
 
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New WSM 18.5 owner from St. John's, NL, Canada. I have never owned a smoker and am really excited about getting it out of the box and have my first cook. Unfortunately, it's a Christmas gift and the missus put it away until Christmas morning, but that gives me lots of time to brush up on the forums, review excellent vlog pages and order my first mods :). I love my Weber 22 that I've had for years and use my Weber Genesis propane grill for those quick and dirty meals for the kids and family.

I live in the most easterly city in North America in the middle of the North Atlantic, so by the time Christmas morning rolls around, it may be cold, snowy and windy. Last winter, we had 200+ inches of snow and have had 275 inches in the past. I just moved my two grills into the garage and normally open one garage door and a window to grill, but looking to see how other folks use their WSM in the Northern States and other parts of Canada. Just wondering if I can keep a decent temp going for longer cooks outdoors when it's colder and windier.

While we have the largest Costco in Canada, they have a limited supply of what I consider good meat choices. I checked today and they have decent brisket in the 8-14 lb range, ribs and pork shoulder roasts, but nothing like the selection I see many folks cooking in videos online. It really doesn't matter as I know I'll still have great fun learning the smoking process.

I purchased the Weber iGrill 2 and Thermapro instant read thermometer last year so I have a good starting point and really need to decide what meat cuts to pick and what recipes to follow (too mant great choices online) before I even get ready to learn the WSM.

We have access to Kingsford Blue & Pro as well as Royal Oak briquettes locally and I have been using Cowboy brand lump charcoal from Costco and am happy with all three.

So just wanted to say hello and look forward to reading posts here on the forum to learn the ropes to a point that my family and I happy with my cook results.

Jeff
Welcome to the forum! I'm trying to figure out how to bbq a bit more on my WSM this winter too. Looks like you have some good ideas already, but maybe try some hot and fast methods 275 to 300F instead of 225 to 250 with a fire dial and/or hanging apparatus if you're interested? I think running hotter on the 18" might be easier than the 22 but I've not tried an 18. Maybe try lump charcoal if you can get a good quality, since it burns hotter. The thermal blanket is a great suggestion as well.

In terms of meats - Loin Back (aka baby-back) Ribs and Chicken are the fastest cooking "traditional" bbq meats. For port shoulder, and larger cuts don't forget that finishing a bbq indoors after a few hours of smoking and the bark is a great idea. Once you've got that smoke flavor, "btus are btus".
 
Just ordered the 22.5 from HD online and bringing back the 18.5 I bought at my local HD store. Wife and I thought with our family of five the kids' boyfriends and girlfriends and summer parties that the 22.5 might be the better option. I actually measured the rib packages at Costco and Walmart and the 22.5 will be a little roomier.
 

 

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