New to WSM, not to Webers


 
R

RStephen

TVWBB Member
Hello,

Wife bought me a 22" WSM for my birthday. Adds to my Weber collection, a 1997 22" Blue One Touch Gold, 2000 Black 22" One Touch Silver and Smokey Joe. Never smoked before, but I have grilled a lot on my Kettles. Grew up around Webers, my Mom was a sales rep/demonstrator for Weber back in the late 80s. Never owned anything but my Webers. So on here reading and learning before starting out with the WSM. I have a few questions I haven't been able to figure out through searches:

1) Thermometers, seems there are several options, haven't settled on one yet. Are any that are not part of a fan control system, that can output to a phone or computer for temperature logging? Not sure I want to spend the money for a controller system yet, but a logging system would be nice to help learn from mistakes and successes.

2) I live in Colorado at ~5,600 feet. My Dad lives at ~7,200 feet. He gave up on charcoal at his place due to the low oxygen content making it hard to keep coals going hot enough for grilling. I'm assuming this will have a larger affect on the WSM. Does anyone have experience at altitude to give me some tips?

3) Suggestions for meat/cut that is best to learn on?

Thanks for the help. Looking forward to more reading around here.
 
Hi R, and welcome!

Our friends at iDevices make the iGrill2 which handles up to 4 temp probes and connects to your smartphone via Bluetooth and has graphing/exporting capabilities.

iCelcius sells something similar with 1 or 2 temp probes with logging and chart capabilities.

ThermoWorks has a unit called BlueTherm Duo that has similar functionality for 2 temp probes.

If these are too pricey, you can start with a cooking log and manually record temps every 15 minutes to get a good idea of what the cooker is doing. Maybe upgrade to a logging thermometer later.

Here are a couple of threads on high-altitude smoking to get ya started:


Since all meat has gotten so expensive lately, the best meat to learn on is chicken. It can be finished in 60 minutes to 4 hours depending on how you cook it using the WSM over high heat or low & slow heat. Good way to learn how to fire-up the cooker, control temps via the bottom vents, and the resulting yardbird is mighty tasty! Then move up to ribs then pork butt and finally brisket.

Good luck, and look forward to seeing photos of your accomplishments in the Photo Gallery forum. Don't hesitate to post questions in the New WSM Owners forum...not question is too simple or too dumb to ask! :wsm:
 
Well Chris pretty much covered your questions, except I'd start with a pork butt instead of chicken, so I'm just going to say welcome to the group R.
 
RStephen said:
Hello,

Wife bought me a 22" WSM...
1)...
2) I live in Colorado at ~5,600 feet. My Dad lives at ~7,200 feet. He gave up on charcoal at his place due to the low oxygen content making it hard to keep coals going hot enough for grilling. I'm assuming this will have a larger affect on the WSM. Does anyone have experience at altitude to give me some tips?
3)...

Thanks for the help. Looking forward to more reading around here.
Click to expand...

RStephen, It was striking for me when I moved from 5,300 in Albuquerque to 7,000 just outside of the city. I had to adjust a few variables to get back in the groove, it took me a while to get them sorted out.

That said, since you are staying put, you probably will not see much difference in how the coals will burn between your kettle and your new WSM as you are familiar with cooking at the elevation. (WSM will probably give you better temp control - you will like it.) If you have trouble, follow the advice to use a few more lit coals when staring up and "more" vent, if using minion and the cooking tips on this site. Happy cooking!
 
welcome. For short cooks to learn on go with chicken. for your first long cook go with a pork butt!
 
Thanks for the replies. Forgot to add my name is Ryan. I put the WSM together yesterday. I installed a gasket on the door and for the lid, so had to wait for that to cure. Will probably fire it up next weekend for it's first run.
 
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