Just bought a New 18.5 WSM


 
B

Bryan B

TVWBB Fan
Hello all,

After posting some questions on this forum a few months ago, and lurking back on occasion, I finally decided to pull the trigger and buy an 18.5" WSM.

I plan to do a pork butt on it this weekend, as most people agree that is the most forgiving meat. Since i have read that new WSM' run 50 degrees hotter, I would like to try something easier first until I get better at controlling temp and until my wsm gets broke in.

On to my question...compensating for the fact that the new WSM will run hotter, how do you recommend I start my charcoal load? I would like to try the minion method as that is the main reason I'm getting a WSM. Currently have an offset, and it is so frustrating to do long smokes due to the repeated charcoal loads, that i rarely use it for anything other than chicken.

Anyways, if you could give me some specifics such as how much unlit charcoal to dump in the bowl, and then how many lit charcoal to pour on top....and how to set up the vents?

Thanks in advance,

Bryan
 
thanks for the link, forgot that it was there. Also, probably a dumb question, but is "the ring" the same thing as the charcoal chamber?
 
Bryan, Welcome to the group. You have gone and stepped off that cliff. The falling is great. When you need help this is the place to come. Your landing will be smooth. There are slight variations of the MM mostly pertaining to placement of the hot coals. How many hot depends on your goal cooking temp. The butt won't care what temp you cook at. Very nice piece of meat.
Send pics of your first cook for our enjoyment and congrats on your new WSM.

Mark
 
I recently bought a new 18.5 WSM and so far have only cooked two slabs of BB ribs. I used the MM method and filled the charcoal ring all the way to the top with unlit charcoal and then added around 30 lit and spread them around. The outside temps that day were in the low 30's and windy and is why I used a little more lit than I was originally planning on.

I cooked the ribs for around 5 hours at around 240 degrees and had plenty of coals left when I pulled the ribs. I did shut all of the vents down but in the morning all of the coals were gone so my unit was not air tight, mainly because the charcoal bowl was out of round.

Good luck on your cook.

Wayne
 
Hey Guys,

Had my first go-round with the new WSM this weekend. Did a pork butt on Saturday, using the mr.brown recipe and it turned out great. Started it around 7:00 and it was done about 4:00.

I was able to do the whole smoke on the 1 initial charcoal load (truly amazing compared to my offset smoker). I even had some coals remaining this morning. The WSM is definitely an amazing piece of equipment, I think I'm officially hooked! Here's a couple pics....

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Glad to hear everything went well Bryan.

It is very addictive cooking on the WSM. When i first got mine i was cooking on it every chance i got. Wife was getting OD'd on smoked things so i had to reel it in a bit. ha-ha!

Happy Smoking!
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