S J. Gold Mini WSM Smoker


 
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on many golds, where the holes are cut out, the metal kinda deforms out. this allows a lot of air to get in. check that. lowsey quality control.
 
I ordered the bottom vents from Weber for the 18.5" WSM and I plan to retro fit them to my SMS, for my mini smoker. Everyone here seems to think the SJG makes a better smoker base so I am trying to upgrade and see. The set of three vents only cost $6.00 from Weber. I am going to try to do it today if I get a chance,

Brian
 
Looking forward to seeing it, Brian.

I had both and liked the gold better. The air flow limitations that make it a frustrating grill make it a wonderful smoker. The only downside is you don't really have the option with the gold to get the mini over 300 degrees. I tried. I never actually tried that will the silver before I sold it.

But for low and slow, you can't beat it.
 
just did some pork belly last night on the mini using the gold as the base. both vents open and it still took near 2 hours to cook. thats a bit to long. i think it will work great in the summer but i think i will use the silver for winter cooking. we shall see !
 
Justin, you may just need more air flow and/or fire burning.

Some options:

1. Slide/crack the lid off a little so there's more air flowing through.
2. Use a full load of coals-my tamale pot is cut open (as opposed to drilled) and I use a loaded basket (expanded metal) of coals.
3. Add more air space between the top of the coals and the difusser-can cut some small tin cans (like tuna) for spacers.
4. Add WSM vents like Brian above.

I suspect the best air flow configuration might be a Silver with WSM vents as Brian is doing.
 
John,
Thanks for the suggestions. Can you explain how the tuna can spacers would work? I don't quite follow.

Thanks,
Justin
 
Originally posted by Justin W:
John,
Thanks for the suggestions. Can you explain how the tuna can spacers would work? I don't quite follow.

Thanks,
Justin
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I'm not sure of your set up but if you use the orginal steamer plate/pan with a pie plate difuser on top instead put some spacers in between the steamer pan/plate and the difuser.. in other words lift the difuser higher off of the coals...this allows more air flow below. The tuna cans was just a sugestion and you could use any appropriate spacer materials including small tomato paste cans or maybe aluminum/stainless materials.
 
Originally posted by Brad Baker:
I'm noticing a lack the ability to control the fire when both vents (gold) are fully closed so I'm going to try a nomex gasket on the bottom curve of the pot. I had considered just cutting the bottom of the pot off and just going straight in to the SJ bottom section but I think I'll try this first.
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Which gasket did you buy from Amazon? There are different ones available for different cookers (BGE, Primo). Also, what adhesive did you use?

The problem is with the the way the pot sits on the bottom SJ bowl - that's where I see the smoke leak from. The vent holes don't seem to be the issue, on my SJG at least.

Has anyone tried to improve the seal with rope gasket? I have some of that lying around.
 
Originally posted by ashish debroy:
The problem is with the the way the pot sits on the bottom SJ bowl - that's where I see the smoke leak from. The vent holes don't seem to be the issue, on my SJG at least.

Has anyone tried to improve the seal with rope gasket? I have some of that lying around.
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Sounds like your pot is the wrong size or your bowl is misshapen. The pot should sit flush without any leaks... so there should be no need for a gasket.
 
No the pot is the right size. I know because there was no leak when I first built it.

I found the problem - I had cut 2 small rectangles of expando to lean against the SJG vents, in order to improve air flow. I leaned them too high against the bowl, and thus the pot was not sitting flush on the rim. Solution is to trim the expando so it is not so wide and thus won't interfere with the seal. Problem solved!
 
Originally posted by ashish debroy:
No the pot is the right size. I know because there was no leak when I first built it.

I found the problem - I had cut 2 small rectangles of expando to lean against the SJG vents, in order to improve air flow. I leaned them too high against the bowl, and thus the pot was not sitting flush on the rim. Solution is to trim the expando so it is not so wide and thus won't interfere with the seal. Problem solved!
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Sounds good. I think you are over thinking the SJG. Just use it as it is, it works well enough as is, and I have never had an issue with the fire. Neither when I used it as a smoker nor as a simple grill.

Jay

Jay
 
I completed my SJS conversion. I ordered the vents for a 18.5 WSM from Weber and added them to my SJS mini smoker. Everyone seems to think the SJG is the way to go so I wanted to try to mod my silver to be more like the gold with vents high up on the side. A set of three vents from Weber cost $6.50. Once I got them I decided where to put the vens. In retrospect I might have put them higher but it will be fine. First thing I totally disassembled the grill. I replaced all the hardware with stainless. The bolts that hold the legs on were all rusted and fused together. I had to cut them off with a dremel cutoff wheel. I soaked the legs in Rust buster just to get any rust off of them. I put he legs back in then I marked the location of the WSM vents. First I drilled the center hole, Then I marked the three holes and used a step drill to gethem to the right size. I replaced the weber screw with a stainless screw. I did use the weber nut as it was unique and I couldn't find a stainless equivelent at ace. Maybe McMaster Carr, but I didn't care that much. I am very excited about using it, however it has gotten very cold here and I might not be able to get another cook in before it needs to hibernate for the winter. I'll be using my regular grills but I don't know if I can do an 8hr cook in 30 degree weather. Maybe someone here can give me some advice.

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Oh and here is my newly installed wood handle. If anyone is interested in an oak set e-mail me direct.

Brian
 
Good job Brian .....you might just have the best of boyt worlds.I might have to get a bottom vent and make a silver out of my gold.Let us know how it works for you.
 
Brian, looks great, I think if I find another garage sale Silver I will do the same mod but go slightly higher with the vents and add three.

Let us know how it performs.
 
Originally posted by J Reyes:
Brian, looks great, I think if I find another garage sale Silver I will do the same mod but go slightly higher with the vents and add three.

Let us know how it performs.
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I was worried If I went too high the vents would not fit properly on the curve of the bowl. As they sit not I could have only have gone an inch higher at the most.

I never thought of putting three on, maybe I should have. I would put them between each leg.

Brian
 
Looking forward to hearing about the control you'll have with the 2 daisy vents. Just curious why you didn't install 3 vents? Do you plan to use the bottom vent?

It all looks good!
 
I guess that three seemed excessive. I was thinking more along the lines of the SJG that only has two vents on either side. That was stuck in my mind and I didn't think about three. I could use the bottom vent if I was just using the SJ as a grill and not a smoker, but hey I can always experiment.

Brian
 
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