Dwain Pannell
TVWBB Hall of Fame
I know everyone says seasoning is not required on the WSM series cookers. However, I also know that a well seasoned pit runs cooler than a new pit so I wanted to help get there sooner by smoking some fatty meats to "season" the insides of the new cooker. Combine my love for smoked breakfast sausage with the new 14.5" family member and my first cook is set. (I added a Turkey Kielbasa on the bottom rack for good measure.)
On this first cook I had a cpl observations:
1. The vent positions for full open/ full closed on the 14.5" is different than my 22.5" WSM. When fully open the "adjustment handle" tabs are at an angle on the 14.5" while on the 22.5" they are vertical. I don't know if this is good, or bad, or just different yet. It may have something to with the tooling or process for cutting the vent holes. Who knows. On the 14.5" the vent holes are tear drop shaped while on the 22.5" they are round. What I do know is I can glance at my 22.5" from across the Big Deck and see the vents 100% open or, if at an angle, some degree of closed. I guess the opposite is true for the 14.5". This breaks all the rules! I can see me forgetting which is which (I have CRS).
2. I'm not sure I like the grommet. There I said it. I know it has been the point of so much fan fare but it's kinda a PITA to use. Though it sealed well around the cable of the iGrill probe, I had to remove the clip that holds my ambient temp probe onto the cooking grate, thread the cable thru the grommet, thru the cooking grate, re-attached the clip and then install the clip onto the cooking grate. It was "hard" to do. Add to the PITA of installing the probe with me jerking the thermometer off it's rest when I remove the top cooking grate to wrap ribs or something or to tend food on the lower cooking grate and/or the water pan and I can see me cutting a slot pretty soon in this puppy.
All-in-all the 14.5" met my expectations and I am well pleased. It held temp like... well... like a WSM. Knowledge transfer from the 22.5" to the 14.5" was intuitive other than the vent positioning.
Oh, and since I wasn't seasoning the cooker - but simply cooking on it, one chub of the sausage will be my breakfast for the next few days and the other is a gift for a friend. The Kielbasa was eaten on-the-spot with cheese and crackers and a tankard of homebrew English Ale.
Cheers!
On this first cook I had a cpl observations:
1. The vent positions for full open/ full closed on the 14.5" is different than my 22.5" WSM. When fully open the "adjustment handle" tabs are at an angle on the 14.5" while on the 22.5" they are vertical. I don't know if this is good, or bad, or just different yet. It may have something to with the tooling or process for cutting the vent holes. Who knows. On the 14.5" the vent holes are tear drop shaped while on the 22.5" they are round. What I do know is I can glance at my 22.5" from across the Big Deck and see the vents 100% open or, if at an angle, some degree of closed. I guess the opposite is true for the 14.5". This breaks all the rules! I can see me forgetting which is which (I have CRS).
2. I'm not sure I like the grommet. There I said it. I know it has been the point of so much fan fare but it's kinda a PITA to use. Though it sealed well around the cable of the iGrill probe, I had to remove the clip that holds my ambient temp probe onto the cooking grate, thread the cable thru the grommet, thru the cooking grate, re-attached the clip and then install the clip onto the cooking grate. It was "hard" to do. Add to the PITA of installing the probe with me jerking the thermometer off it's rest when I remove the top cooking grate to wrap ribs or something or to tend food on the lower cooking grate and/or the water pan and I can see me cutting a slot pretty soon in this puppy.
All-in-all the 14.5" met my expectations and I am well pleased. It held temp like... well... like a WSM. Knowledge transfer from the 22.5" to the 14.5" was intuitive other than the vent positioning.
Oh, and since I wasn't seasoning the cooker - but simply cooking on it, one chub of the sausage will be my breakfast for the next few days and the other is a gift for a friend. The Kielbasa was eaten on-the-spot with cheese and crackers and a tankard of homebrew English Ale.
Cheers!
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