It is done


 
SteveEd said:
I picked up my WSK yesterday, assembled it and did a burn-in. No cooks yet but will do one tomorrow (Saturday). Lid arrived with several scratches but Weber is sending a new lid. Since they told me to keep the scratched one I continued with the assembly and burn-in. One chimney of Kingsford Pro on the lower grate, all vents wide open, the lid thermometer hit 600 quickly. Dialed it back just to watch the response time--impressively quick. Opened the vents again to let it burn out and 5 hours later was at 370. It took it 7 hours to get to about 220-230. I went to bed.

If you're wondering why "I picked it up" instead of waiting for delivery it's because Amazon only offered April 12 as the earliest delivery date. The pit arrived in my hometown Sunday. I called and asked for an earlier delivery but they said they couldn't do it so I went to their terminal and got it myself.

Edit: I don't think I adequately explained how stoked I am!
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Just dont forget to put the hinge bolts that stay in during transport + assembly back in before you swap tops or you're gonna have a seriously bad time when you loosen those cap nuts!

I just tossed 2 butts into a bucket of brine, gonna brine for 15 hrs then inject and cook them starting early tomorrow. First smoke on the WSK!
 
Thanks, Nick. I've got the safety bolts in a safe place but I won't replace the lid until needed which may be a long while.

What time should we arrive tomorrow?
 
SteveEd said:
I picked up my WSK yesterday, assembled it and did a burn-in. No cooks yet but will do one tomorrow (Saturday). Lid arrived with several scratches but Weber is sending a new lid. Since they told me to keep the scratched one I continued with the assembly and burn-in. One chimney of Kingsford Pro on the lower grate, all vents wide open, the lid thermometer hit 600 quickly. Dialed it back just to watch the response time--impressively quick. Opened the vents again to let it burn out and 5 hours later was at 370. It took it 7 hours to get to about 220-230. I went to bed.

If you're wondering why "I picked it up" instead of waiting for delivery it's because Amazon only offered April 12 as the earliest delivery date. The pit arrived in my hometown Sunday. I called and asked for an earlier delivery but they said they couldn't do it so I went to their terminal and got it myself.

Edit: I don't think I adequately explained how stoked I am!
Click to expand...
Congrats! That WSK makes some awesome hotdogs! We prefer Nathan's.
 
Brett-EDH said:
Congrats! That WSK makes some awesome hotdogs! We prefer Nathan's.
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I'm sure it does! I'll probably go with ribs low and slow for the first cook. I said first cook is tomorrow but I forgot about a grandchild's birthday party so it will have to be Sunday.
 
First cook went very well in many respects. Of course, the final product is what counts the most but everything leading up to that went very well and it's clear I've made a great choice of a cooker in large part thanks to this fine community of BBQ freaks. My curiosity about whether or not the WSK could handle chicken over the coals w/o a deflector is satisfied. It handled this cook w/o a problem. The coals were at the lower level and the food grate in its usual place. I did not elevate the food grate.

I used about 3/4 Weber chimney of Kingsford Original completely lit before dumping into the pit. I put about 10 unlit briquettes on top of that. A very short wait until the temp (Maverick ER-50) hit 230 and I set the lower vent on the smoke dot and the upper about 1/4 inch open and I then put the chicken on. The temp maxed at 325 or so once I had the chicken on the grate. About 1 hour into the cook the temp began to fall below 300 and once at 275 I put the lower vent at the rightmost dot and the upper vent wide open. The temp climbed back to 325 and the chicken finished. I like my thighs at 175-185. Total cook time 1.75 hours. No flares. I felt completely in control.

I could have gone with more charcoal and probably maintained 325 without effort but I like the frugality and didn't mind having to open the vents toward the latter end of the cook. So here you go. My very modest first cook. 2 thighs had already been eaten...20220410_164740.jpg
 
Brett-EDH said:
She’s a fuel miser. No need to waste fuel.
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My vision is poor and during the cook I was unable to see very well into the charcoal level. Now that the pit has cooled and the grate removed I can see what was going on. The temp drop during the cook was because of fat dripping onto the coals, so much that the fire was being partially extinguished. That was overcome by opening the vents. Here's what I saw once I removed the grate:20220410_210314.jpg
Those are extinguished coals. Before taking the pic I had raked them into a pile. That looks to be about half of what I started with.
 
SteveEd said:
My vision is poor and during the cook I was unable to see very well into the charcoal level. Now that the pit has cooled and the grate removed I can see what was going on. The temp drop during the cook was because of fat dripping onto the coals, so much that the fire was being partially extinguished. That was overcome by opening the vents. Here's what I saw once I removed the grate:View attachment 48788
Those are extinguished coals. Before taking the pic I had raked them into a pile. That looks to be about half of what I started with.
Click to expand...
If you use the CBs, usually the coals will relight due to being so close to each other and more concentrated heat.
 
SteveEd said:
My vision is poor and during the cook I was unable to see very well into the charcoal level. Now that the pit has cooled and the grate removed I can see what was going on. The temp drop during the cook was because of fat dripping onto the coals, so much that the fire was being partially extinguished. That was overcome by opening the vents. Here's what I saw once I removed the grate:
Those are extinguished coals. Before taking the pic I had raked them into a pile. That looks to be about half of what I started with.
Click to expand...
The fuel economy is great. Even for a small cook I use the WSK rather than the kettle.

Do you think the 10 unlit briqs worked well?
I wonder if drippings on the unlit or partially lit briqs caused it to choke a bit?
 
Gary London said:
.........I wonder if drippings on the unlit or partially lit briqs caused it to choke a bit?
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That happened to me once. I was using the firedial and the drippings covered the unlit and prevented them from igniting. I couldn't work out what was going on as my smoke routine hadn't changed, until I lifted the top and middle sections and saw the briqs covered in gloop.
I ditched the firedial there and then, and replaced it with a 3mm solid stainless steel disc as a diffuser, no issues since.
 
Brett-EDH said:
If you use the CBs, usually the coals will relight due to being so close to each other and more concentrated heat.
Click to expand...


You are the authority on WSK around here, its appreciated. I'm getting really close to pulling the trigger one one. Have you ever put together a thread of tips for cooking on these? It would be greatly appreciated!
 
Ross W said:
You are the authority on WSK around here, its appreciated. I'm getting really close to pulling the trigger one one. Have you ever put together a thread of tips for cooking on these? It would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
You give me more credit than I deserve. Thank you. I am more of the crazy one who cooks to experiment and hone my craft. Glad people are finding my post of value.

I would be willing to build a tips thread, but would need everyone to post what they'd like to know so at least I'm writing down useful info. In my cooking posts, almost all my Photo Gallery uploads, I try to give as much detailed cook, temps, times, ingredients, recipes info. This would be where my "bible" exists today, but broken into a bunch of different cooks.

Let me know your thoughts. I'm happy to contribute. And I've been contemplating a YT channel for cooking. Just haven't had the time or mental bandwidth to launch it. But my time commitments are about to change in my favor. So maybe this is the right time...
 
Ross W said:
You are the authority on WSK around here, its appreciated. I'm getting really close to pulling the trigger one one. Have you ever put together a thread of tips for cooking on these? It would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
And it's the best cooker I've ever owned and used. If you like grilling, smoking, searing, indirect, direct, low and slow and hot and fast, the E/S6 does it all; perfectly. And pizza too! Go for it, if this is what you'd like to do. My grill is my sanity in life, right along with my car.
 
Brett-EDH said:
And it's the best cooker I've ever owned and used. If you like grilling, smoking, searing, indirect, direct, low and slow and hot and fast, the E/S6 does it all; perfectly. And pizza too! Go for it, if this is what you'd like to do. My grill is my sanity in life, right along with my car.
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Awesome! Im the same way i just keep expirimenting. I I will come up with more but the main things I would like to know are things that differ from a kettle. Here are the big ones:

- tips for dialing in smoking temp, roasting temp and high heat searing temp. Grate position, amount of charcoal, vent position, preheat time etc. I realize this is probably an asertation on its own.

- first thing I'll want to do is grill a few thick steaks. On a kettle or gasser I reverse sear. Start in center and move to outside?

- amounts of charcoal used for long smokes

- any weaknesses vs a kettle? Looking for reasons/ excuses to keep one around lol.

- any tips or tricks we wouldn't of thought of?

BTW start the YouTube! Simply reviewing the grill after years of use will get you started
 
Ross W said:
Awesome! Im the same way i just keep expirimenting. I I will come up with more but the main things I would like to know are things that differ from a kettle. Here are the big ones:

- tips for dialing in smoking temp, roasting temp and high heat searing temp. Grate position, amount of charcoal, vent position, preheat time etc. I realize this is probably an asertation on its own.

- first thing I'll want to do is grill a few thick steaks. On a kettle or gasser I reverse sear. Start in center and move to outside?

- amounts of charcoal used for long smokes

- any weaknesses vs a kettle? Looking for reasons/ excuses to keep one around lol.

- any tips or tricks we wouldn't of thought of?

BTW start the YouTube! Simply reviewing the grill after years of use will get you started
Click to expand...
See my hand cut NY steaks thread I posted last evening. Those were just under 2”, around 22 oz each steak. Hard sear up front, then the sides. Temps were around 102° after the searing part. Lots of flame and fire. Then went indirect for around 9-12 min to get to 133° and pulled and rested the steaks. Perfection!

Kosher salt and chunky black pepper all pressed into the steaks. Gently oiled with cooking olive oil. The seat atop the 1100°F CI burner.

I’ll get to the other items soon. In a very busy and demanding week.
 
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