S J. Gold Mini WSM Smoker


 
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Just wanted to report that I found 3 of the 32 quart IMUSA tamale steamers at Walmarts near me.

If you search the Walmart.com website for "imusa 32" it's the only hit.

(Edit: Here is the URL: http://www.walmart.com/ip/TAMA...EAFOOD-STMR/13370045)

From there you can use "FIND IT NOW" to find the nearest Walmart to a given location, that has them in stock.

Or you can order it online.

(Edit: And it looks like they also provide free shipping to a local store, using "site to store". Shipping that way appears to take up to about 2 weeks.)

$24.97 online, $23.97 at my store.

For what it's worth, of the 3 I found, 1 was dented badly, 1 had a corroding handle and 1 was alright. So I got the alright one.

I haven't done anything with it yet; busy with other projects. Probably work on it tomorrow.
 
I ordered another IMUSA 32 from target. Everything looks good. Right around 28 bucks after ups ground and tax. I like the walmart ship to store idea to save a few bucks. Thanks for the info, M.G.
 
I finally got out to the Springdale Walmart to get my 'pot', they had 22 of them all lined up on display in the produce area. Found a good one free of all dents so now lets see if I can get the mod finished without damaging it.
 
My daughter and I have been using our "smoker joe" a lot. Great Fun!!

May have to stock up on an extra pot or two. I've started to wonder about the expected lifespan of these pots. Any thoughts here?

As I said, we use our a lot (several times a week). It has been used at a few comps as well (great little sausage cooker) and may have picked up some dings during transport. I've got some interesting dimpling/denting happening. Not really sure what's going on. Again, looking for some thoughts. Thanks.
 
they are thin so you need to be carefull. if you find that you need to replace them then it might be cheaper $$$$$$ to go out and buy the thicker models from a restaurant supply place.
 
I've decided to build this mod as well!

Got a new SJG on sale and the IMUSA 32qt pot from Wal-Mart.

The pot measures 12-1/2" tall and 13-7/8" wide though it tapers just at the rounded base. Inside, it's 2" below the steamer tray indent and 9.5" above it. The pot fits in the SJG's base well, as does the SJG's grate, but the SJG's lid just barely won't.

As Neal and Justin did, I lightly 'squeezed' the pot's upper lip with channel-locks. It didn't take much and I stopped when I 'felt' movement. Protecting the pot with a folded paper towel, I worked around the edge, squeezing about every inch. Now the lid fits great.

I found a 12.25" saucer at Home Depot but, at $9, it's got me thinking about just using a foiled 12" pan, like George.

Right now, I plan to use the steamer tray as support for the pan/saucer and drill 16 extra 1/2" holes around the outer edge of the steamer tray as a 12" pan/saucer will cover all the others.

I found the 14" replacement grate at Academy but it measures 12.5", not 13.5". Part# 19992, Academy# 0260-41150-0008-0000, UPC# 4-00180-90043-3. If I use it, I'll have to use at least 1" mounting bolts.

I'm going to cut a 11-3/4" hole out of the bottom in case I want to use that 14" grill in the future.

I plan to mount an upper grate about 3-3/4" from the top and a lower grate about 1/2" above the pan/saucer, if not directly on the pan/saucer.

Then build a 10"x6" charcoal basket. The goal is at least a 10-hour burn for small butts.

Pics and detailed plans to come.
 
I don't use a charcoal basket and never get hot spots on the outside edges. It doesn't seem helpful for this particular cooker IMO. Good luck with the build.
 
I don't use a charcoal basket and never get hot spots on the outside edges. It doesn't seem helpful for this particular cooker IMO. Good luck with the build.
Click to expand...

I think the charcoal holder helps control the burn rate by keeping the charcoal stacked several layers deep to reduce airflow, and to ensure that unburned charcoal has enough exposure to the burning so it catches fire. Of course, if you have it piled several layers deep all up the sides of the bowl, I guess there's no concern. I'm a little uneasy putting that much burning charcoal in direct contact with the bowl.

On another note, I've always seemed to live in the place that has nothing anyone on the internet talks about. No Smokey Mountains in stores. No good Weber grills or smokers on Craigslist. Don't have whatever fancy charcoal folks are talking about. No smoke wood. And so on. I guess this is my comeuppance. Both Wal-Mart and Target here have all of the 32 qt. IMUSA tamale cookers you could want!
 
Originally posted by TravisH:
...

Then build a 10"x6" charcoal basket. The goal is at least a 10-hour burn for small butts.
Click to expand...

I use a basket about 10"x3". At about 4 hours, there's little charcoal left and temps start to drift down. I find that I have to finish stuff in the oven, but by then It's probably taken on sufficient smoke flavor - and perhaps all the flavor it's going to get. But I usually use mine for smaller stuff like chickens and/or sausage. If I'm doing pork, I usually get enough to make it worth firing up the regular (18") WSM.

If I wanted a 10 hour smoke, I'd definitely have to reload charcoal and smoking wood. Fortunately that's pretty easy with the mini as the entire top portion is easily lifted off and set aside.

I'm also using an SJ with vents on the bottom so I have to clear them of ash from time to time. Double the charcoal would make that more difficult.

My biggest objection to the 6" height would be the loss of room for meat. I'm doing 2 4lb chickens (stood leaning on each other in the lower section) and a spiral ham. I had to trim the ham to fit under the lid on my top grill. The top grill itself is just touching the tops of the birds standing on the bottom grill. I don't have another 3" to spare if I'm going to try to smoke that much.

-walt
 
Originally posted by WalterWhite:
I did it! I ordered the 32 Quart IMUSA pot from Target/Amazon and made the cooker this morning. I used a large stainless dog bowl for the water bowl and 1 1/2" "L" brackets to support it just above the groove that would otherwise hold the false bottom. I also added a smaller stainless dog bowl with the bottom removed for a charcoal ring. That turned out to have about zero clearance with the water bowl so I cut it down further to allow some space. The original grill fits snugly within the pot and rests on the top edge of the "L" brackets. As others noted, the pot fits snugly into the bottom and the SJ top fits perfectly on the aluminum pot.
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How are you cutting the bottom out if the pot while leaving smooth edges?
 
Originally posted by James Trapp:
How are you cutting the bottom out if the pot while leaving smooth edges?
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I've used aviation snips and a sawzall with fine blade. The saw was way overkill and both left jagged edges which I dressed using a file.
 
Swung by Academy Sports yesterday, and the 14 inch grills are on sale for $2.98 each. I grabbed two of them and 8 - 3/8 x 3" carriage bolts for legs. Assembled them this morning and ran a test cook of chicken thighs and drums utilizing all 4 racks. 4 1/2 hour cook and all levels cooked equally. I just set the new racks with legs on the existing racks I have and this puts about 2.75 inches of space between racks. I had done the bolt leg thing 40 years ago on my first weber with a rack from an old round half-hood grill. This doubled my indirect cooking acreage. Same with my mini. 10 pounds of chicken pieces in one cook with lots of charcoal to spare. Also found a terra cotta 12" dish and the temperature never varied over twenty degrees between clean-outs.
 
Had my first cook today on my SJS Mini WSM, everything went fine. My thanks to all of you who shared your experiences, especially Ldean. I cooked a 5-1/2 lb brisket flat (Angus from Sam's club). 4 hour cook and it turned out terrific. I used a full basket of lump, 6/8 lite brickets, 4 chunks of hickory. After the 4 hr cook I still had more than 50% of the charcoal in the basket and very little ash, decided to cook some more so put on 3 large boneless chicken breasts.

My version includes 2 cooking racks above steamer ridge, the Academy rack in the bottom with 11.5" clay saucer (foiled). Today I used the clay saucer on the first rack sitting on the steamer ridge, as I have not received the academy rack yet. I had too much charcoal to control the heat at 225 consistently, but kept it between 225 and 250 for the whole 4hr cook. Then took it up to 300 to do the chicken breasts.

This is going to be great fun, I look forward cooler weather so I can get really serious. I have pics of the rig and the cook, but haven't figured how to post on this site. I can get them on Facebook and everywhere but this place.

Thanks again for all your inputs.
 
Great job guys. I am impressed with the four cooking racks... I was proud of my 3 racks. This thing really is a lot of fun to use, and works great.
 
Here is my newest mod. The goal is to take up as little vertical space as possible to allow for a bottome cooking grate to go on the indented tamale holder area of the cooker. I have possible 3 cooking grates spaced 4.5 inches apart if I remember correctly. The middle is used for small cooks with the top and bottom added as needed.




These are stainless carriage bolts with washers. I used 4 but you could certainly use 3. They are 3.5 inches long 1/4 inch size.


The foiled saucer rests directly on top of the bolt heads, leaving a little bit (didn't measure) of space below the bottom grate if used. You could use longer bolts for more fuel.
 
Ernie.....Wow!
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Gorge - I promised you some pics of my ash build up solution, so here they are.

The "barricade" is a SS puppy pan that I picked up at a yard sale for a quarter. I drilled four holes in pan, very near the "bottom" edge of the pan (the "top" as the pan is used in the smoker).

Using this pan and Kingsford charcoal, I was able to hold 250 degrees for a little over 9 hours. The "after" pictures show the ash in the bottom of the SJS charcoal bowl, but notice that the holes in the SS puppy bowl are not clogged. By sheer luck, when I sat the bowl in the SJS charcoal bowl, the holes in the bowl lined up with the holes in the bottom of the cooker. When the ash dropped through the holes in the bowl, it also seemed to drop through the holes in the bottom of the cooker and into the ask catcher pan on the bottom of the cooker. Neat. The charcoal burn was complete.

Here you go:

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Pat
 
pat, thats what i mentioned that i did. i used a can turned upside down. i drilled a whole bunch of holes all the way around. but my theory is that the air coming in actually keeps the air holes clean. but who cares ? it works like a charm ! my can is 2 in tall and 4 in wide. i drilled a bunch of large holes all the way around but i'm sure i could have done half that and it would have been ok. turned upside down the holes would be at the "top". anyway, ita a great fix for the ash issue. i now use mine all the time.
 
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