New WSM, First Smoke -- Advice


 
RichPB (richlife)

RichPB (richlife)

TVWBB Wizard
I see a lot of the same questions come up often -- and almost all have been answered in the Operating Tips & Modification section of The Virtual Weber Bullet. http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/tipsfaq.html

I just got a WSM 18.5. I just did my very first smoke with it tonight. Before doing it I read through everything I could -- especially that section. I found that everything went almost exactly as I had read about. My advice to all newbies is to read that information before you try making "new" mistakes.

All that I smoked was a couple of burgers with 4 lbs. of charcoal and 4 lumps of oak. The burgers basically came out very well with one hour in the smoker -- except that they were too heavily oak smoked which I had anticipated (but really didn't believe
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). Otherwise, I found the temp rose a little higher up to 275* over time (new smoker), but is now slowly moving down to 225* (after 6 hours -- only 4 lbs. of charcoal). The Minion method worked just as stated. I chose to use a half gallon of water and aluminum foil on the underside of the water pan.

All in all it was a really good first experience because what I observed fit very well with what I had read on this site.

And now for a "real" smoke!

Thanks to all who contribute here. Rich
 
Congratulations on your first smoke. As you found out, small foods like burgers are easy to over-smoke (as is poultry). Try a butt for the next cook - they're very forgiving, and generally turn out well even if you don't do everything just right.

(I was tempted to add "NCSU '68" to my signature temporarily, but I decided against it.)
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Rich, you'll find that things like ground beef,chicken, and fish don't need a lot of smoke wood. They can turn bitter real fast. Your observation about information on this site is true. If one does some research most of the questions people ask have been answered before but sometimes in answering these questions we get a different perspective into our own cooking. Are you ready to go for a pork butt or brisket? Pork butt is a relatively simple cook. Large window of opportunity as it gets done. Good luck
 
Thanks, Larry and Paul. Yeah, I pretty much assumed in advance what you both pointed out. Right now my difficulty is that I wanted to start breaking in the WSM, but I don't really have a lot of free time (maybe you know that "retirement" is just a license to over-extend yourself
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). Also, I wanted to observe for myself some of the things I've seen written up here -- even to over-smoking.

I actually smoked an 8 pound Boston Butt on my Genesis (actually, it was half a shoulder). I lined the sides and front with woodstove gasket to direct the smoke out the back, used lots of cherry chunks over the front burner and kept them smoldering at approx. 250* for 10 hours. The pulled pork (east NC style) was fantastic and pushed me to get a true smoker. So next will probably be baby backs, but I don't know when (tough week coming up).

As you noted, mostly I just wanted to attribute any success (and I consider my observations a success) to the info clearly available on the Virtual Bullet.

Larry, good to know about your affliction -- I'll make allowances
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. Rich
 
Hey Rich,

As most have pointed out, burgers are kind of outside of the spectrum when it comes to the WSM. My opinion is that steaks, chops, burgers etc... are best done on a grill if it's a summer-like BBQ experience you're looking for. Also, you won't get the char / carmelization you want for these on a smoker at lower temps.

I also agree that a nice butt (or even a picnic if you can't find a butt) is pretty forgiving but you do need to set aside enough time to cook it right. Ribs are a good mid-level choice. You can set aside an afternoon and be happy at dinner.

As a Minion fan for longer cooks (4+ hours), if you do choose to do short cooks (crispy chicken, beef roasts etc...)you may want to use a more direct method such as a few full chimneys of fuel at a higher heat. That said, I usually just use my grill and cook offset for these.

Anyway, best of luck and keep posting what works and doesn't.

James
 
Yeah, I agree James. But you have to admit, with a BURNING need to exercise my WSM and little time available, it was awful tempting. And it worked out well. I can't wait to do burgers on the WSM for my son-in-law. He used to always want RARE burgers before the contamination concerns got so high. The burgers cooked to temp on the WSM (with MUCH less or no oak) will come out still looking red with that "rare" feel. He's gonna love it!
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Rich
 
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