New WSM owner - grilling mod advice please


 
D

David Chapman

New member
Hi all,

I'm a new WSM owner and am interested in being able to grill on it. I've seen the "Grilling on the Weber Bullet" section that gives a couple of set-ups but I had a couple of my own suggestions for a set-up. They're both incredibley simple and I wanted to run it by the forum for your thoughts:

Both involve keeping the middle and top sections attached:

Set-up 1:
1) Place bottom cooking grate in it's normal position
2) Put charcoal ring on bottom cooking grate
3) Put coals on the bottom cooking grate (maybe buy a spare grate for this purpose?)
4) Place top cooking grate in it's normal position
5) Place food on upper cooking grate

Set up 2: (my preferred)
1) Place charcoal grate on the flanges in the middle cooking section
2) Place charcoal ring on top of charcoal grate
3) Put coals on the charcoal grate
4) Place bottom cooking grate on top of charcoal ring
5) Place food on bottom cooking grate

Set-up 2 is practically the same as the "Turing up the Heat" method here: http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/grilling.html but involves using the lower cooking grate instead of having to buy a new grate. I can't understand why the website recommends buying a new one.... am I missing something obvious here?

Any advice much appreciated!

Thanks

David
 
Rock's BBQ makes a WSM Grill Adapter

They say "Turn your WSM into a "Smokey Joe on Steroids". Add these 3 small adapter bars to the existing leg mounting holes. The bars keep the lid from sliding off. They are easy to install using your existing hardware. Use the WSM as a grill by removing your middle section and putting the grill on top of the fire ring."



I've done it without the adapters but I guess they could keep the lid on straight. It might be a pain the get the mid section on having to lower it straight down.
 
you could also set up regular way with no water pan and use the middle grate. Your #2 idea does sound interesting. Give it a try and let us know how it goes.
 
For quick and hot, I will put in the middle section cooking grate, place the charcoal ring on top of it, then I place an old stok grill grate over it and put the coals on the stok grate. It is great for searing and high heat. For medium I found placing two charcoal baskets on the middle cooking grate works well to. I don't think you get quite the same heat circulation as the regular kettle grill, but it works pretty darn good.
 
Thanks for the replies guys.

Are heated coals placed around where the bottom cooking grate normally sits going to damage the middle section of my WSM?
 
David Chapman said:
Are heated coals placed around where the bottom cooking grate normally sits going to damage the middle section of my WSM?
Click to expand...

Good question! I never tried that, but you should be ok as the mid-section is made of the same material as the bowl. If you keep the coals in the ring that leaves a few inches of clearance. The only thing that might happen if you have a really hot fire, is the handle could get distorted and any seasoning that you built up could bake off.

Tim
 
Not trying to be funny here but an honest question, why would you want to make your smoker a grill? Sure it can be done in a few ways I guess. But why? Only reason I can come up with is you have no room for an actual Weber Grill. In that case I guess it would make sense. Otherwise I don't get it.
 
David Chapman said:
Set-up 2 is practically the same as the "Turing up the Heat" method here: http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/grilling.html but involves using the lower cooking grate instead of having to buy a new grate. I can't understand why the website recommends buying a new one.... am I missing something obvious here?
Click to expand...
No, you're not missing anything. That was just what made sense to one individual, and I put his method into that article. Yours makes sense, too, and eliminates the need for that additional grate.

Please post some photos as your explore these grilling methods!

Thanks,
Chris
 
David Chapman said:
Set-up 2 is practically the same as the "Turing up the Heat" method here: http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/grilling.html but involves using the lower cooking grate instead of having to buy a new grate. I can't understand why the website recommends buying a new one.... am I missing something obvious here?

Any advice much appreciated!

Thanks

David
Click to expand...

I believe the 22 Kettle charcoal grate is the same as the bottom grate (17 +- inches) for a 18 WSM except the bottom WSM grate has a coating on it. I am guessing the poster suggested to use a 22 Kettle grate instead of the WSM bottom grate (for coals) to protect the coating/seasoning of the WSM bottom grate.

I just use the bottom WSM section only if I need to grill anything and want to save space. Get a used 18 inch Kettle lid if you like a tight fitting lid or just use the bottom and top without the center section.
 
David Chapman said:
Thanks for the replies guys.

Are heated coals placed around where the bottom cooking grate normally sits going to damage the middle section of my WSM?
Click to expand...

timothy said:
Good question! I never tried that, but you should be ok as the mid-section is made of the same material as the bowl. If you keep the coals in the ring that leaves a few inches of clearance. The only thing that might happen if you have a really hot fire, is the handle could get distorted and any seasoning that you built up could bake off.

Tim
Click to expand...

I stand to be corrected but I believe the mid section of the wsm is not as heavy a gauge of metal. I would not want to bank coals or have them in direct contact with the mid section however as has been mentioned keeping coals inside the charcoal ring or using the charcoal baskets should work just fine. Unless you are searing, you will get some great BBQ just by leaving out the water pan.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top