New WSM 22.5 - First cook and initial thoughts


 
T

Tony_D

New member
Hello all! The much anticipated delivery of my WSM 22.5 finally happened this week and couldn't wait to cook on it. After lurking on these forums for over a year, I anticipated that my cooker would run hot for the first few times and decided to break in the WSM with a pork butt. I'm now 7 hours in and here are a few of my initial thoughts...

The ease of use is really amazing. After using the Smokenator for over a year, no longer needing to tend to the charcoal every 45 minutes or refilling the water pan every hour or so is a blessing!

The temperature stability is incredible as well. Anyone that has dealt with the Smokenator is familiar with the song and dance that is involved in attempting to regulate the temperature. After a few tweaks to the lower dampers (two fully closed, one 1/4 open, and the top fully open) the WSM has been holding steady for the past 5 and a half hours.

It sure looks pretty in my back yard next to my 22.5 OTG. Why didn't I get one sooner?

Pics of the final product will follow.
 
Congrats. You'll find as it builds up a layer inside it becomes even MORE temp stable. I used to get my 22 set and then go to sleep. It's that stable. All my friends with electric or gas have converted after seeing how easy these guys are to control.
 
The pulled pork turned out great! The temp held steady for the majority of the cook. A little higher than I would like at 265, but hey it's pork butt not brisket so I just rolled with. I've been told that once I "gunk" up the WSM, the temps will run lower, so I'll just have to wait for the gunk;).
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Can't wait to fire up the WSM again!
 
Grant said:
You'll find as it builds up a layer inside it becomes even MORE temp stable. I used to get my 22 set and then go to sleep.
Click to expand...

That's one of the reasons why my Wife okayed me buying the WSM. She was tired of me staying up all night checking and refueling the Smokenator.
 
Bruce Bissonnette said:
Congrats Tony, great looking pork. Next time foil your pan it will save you a lot of time in clean up.
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There's different ways to go with the pan. If using water, I simply spray the inside with Pam before filling. I can clean up my 22.5" wsm water pan faster than I can put two sheets of 18" foil together and foil for a dry cook, (which I prefer though, for HH brisket, or butt cooks if using my ATC.)

Chris Allington foils the bottom of the Pam to keep it nice and shiny. So it collects some smoke like the rest of the cooker. It's fine as long as it doesn't have enough buildup to start smoking.
 
Thanks to everyone for their kind comments. Family and friends really enjoyed the pulled pork. Taking on a brisket this Friday. Can't wait!
 
Looks great!

Tip for quick gunking--get some of the cheapest bacon and chicken parts you can find. I got a big pack of thick-cut bacon and a big pack of chicken thighs from Costco. Remove your water bowl, load up some charcoal, and add about 3-4 times as much smoke wood as you'd usually use. Burn that meat to a crisp--let it cook in there until you're out of fuel, then trash the meat. Since you'll have really fatty meat in there, you'll get a ton of grease. As that drips into the coals and burns up it atomizes and gets carried around the inside of the WSM with the smoke. It'll stick to the inside of everything giving you a nice black patina very quickly. As an added benefit, your smoker will smell *delicious* from then on.
 
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