New 22.5 Smokey Mountain


 
J

Jimmy Palm

New member
Hey everybody I'm new to the forum and just bought a weber smokey mountain 22.5. My friend owns a hardware store and at first i was set on getting the 18.5. The thing that changed my mind and led me to getting the 22.5 is that my buddy said "Jimmy…. your always going to want more room". Plus the 50$ he knocked off for me didn't hurt ;). Anyways I'm super excited about the smoker and can't wait to break it in, i just have a couple questions.

First: My smoker seems a little bit out of round. I measured from each side using the 4 grate holders as my end to end points. The first measurements i was getting was one side was 23" and the other about 22-1/2". After preforming the bear hug technique i got it down to one side measuring 22 3/4" and the other was about 1/8" shorter. When i put the top grate on it seems to almost want to dip under the grate holder. Ive messed around with it and no matter how close it gets it won't fall under. Should i keep messing around with bear hugging or just say screw it. My thought is if it aint broke don't fix it. Im also thinking about putting the gaskets around the top and bottom of the mid section as well as the access door. I've already heard to use the smoker a couple times before doing this. Anybody have any thoughts/luck with the gaskets?

Second: seasoning the smoker. by this i mean should you do a burn with no meat just coal and wood chunks. My friend who works at the hardware store told me today its probably unnecessary. He is a big green egg owner and says with the WSM you'll probably be fine not doing a seasoning. I kind of want to do one just to mess around with the temp regulation before i do a cook. Im sure putting a few young chickens on wouldn't hurt for the first burn though :). For Temp I've read two bottom vents closed and one open with the top vent all the way open is pretty popular. My first big cook I'm planning on doing a brisket so I'm thinking 220-230 would be ideal. Whats have you guys been having good luck with regarding temp?

Thanks again everyone i can't wait to break this baby in!
 
Welcome Jimmy, congrats on your 22" good choice, bigger is better :)

If it's out of round, I'd take it back and get one that isn't

Best way to season it, (first burn) Put a 8 to 10 boston butt on that bad boy and start cooking, it's ready to cook right out of the box
 
I agree with ChuckO, my 1st cook was a BB and it was quite successful. No seasoning necessary. I just got my 2nd wsm and moved up in size as well and am planning my 1st cook on it this weekend.



Drink a little drink, Smoke a little smoke :wsm:
 
Congrats on that new big bad boy! Throw something in it and start cooking! If it ain't broke- it ain't broke! Some people like the gasket material, but I've read some posts where after people applied the gasket material they had to open their vents more. Well duh!! The thing needs to breathe and if you choke off all the built in leaks of course you're going to have to open the vents more. So why bother? Just my own take on gaskets. I've never thought I needed them for my 18.5 WSM. But if you like to play around with modifying your smoker maybe gaskets is something you'd like to spend money on! Have fun with your new smoker!
 
Keep hugging and measuring until the measurements are the same - which it sounds like you have done. Have you tried both grates? One is smaller than the other which is the bottom grate. It is smaller to make it easier to bypass the top to get to the bottom. On some of the newer models, the bottom grate handles are bent with a "dip" in the handle to make it identifiable.
 
The only thing that I didn't like one the 22.5"wsm was the door. I pick up one of the cajun Bandit doors and like that much better. I didn't do a "seasoning" either, just called up a few friends and told them to bring a pork butt and i would cook it. Had about 8 butts on that day.
 
Have never gotten a new WSM that wasn't out of round. Just keep at it and it will get real close in diameter.

Put a flat washer between the bracket that holds the grates and the barrel section. This will move the bracket in somewhat and the top grate will not want to slide off and into the smoker.
 
Congrats on the new smoker.
I put the gaskets on mine. This gives me better control when using the vents. Of course I do have electronic control via a heater meter. A lot of fun to build.
The key is, do what you think is right for you.
 
Congrats on the new smoker and welcome to the forum, I won't add any more as you have some good advice already. Will be looking forward to seeing that in action
 
Jimmy Palm;
Welcome to the club!!

Any and all of the Weber WSM's are great smokers. I always run the smoker empty and fire it up with all of the vents open to burn out any possible contaminants. I run until the fire goes out. After a few cooks, the "gunk" seals the "seams" and temperature control becomes easier.

Do a few chickens and pork butts and before you know it the smoker will be very predictable. Don't forget to check out the "Cook Topics" here:

http://virtualweberbullet.com/cook.html

You could do a lot worse than following the recipes and techniques exactly until you have a few smokes under your belt.

Just a thought or two...

Keep on smokin';
Dale53:wsm:
 
I didn't put gaskets on mine, but if I had been inclined to do so I would have done it while it was fresh out of the box.
Once smoke and grease are on the metal it will have to be cleaned before glue/RTV will stick.
 
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