Safety on an Overnight Cook.


 
JeffB

JeffB

TVWBB Pro
I was talking to some guys at work about overnight cooks on my WSM. One guy told me that about 25 years ago, a guy he knew cooked some meat on his grill near the house and went to bed after pulling the meat. Presumably hours later. Overnight the wind whipped up and long story short, the house went up in flames and it was a complete loss.

My question is how safe does everybody feel about an overnight smoke on the WSM? My 22.5 is about 20 feet from my detached garage in the corner of my small yard, and about 4 or 5 feet from my wooden privacy fence.

I wonder if I need some sort of heat deflector to hang over the fence on an overnight smoke?

Comments? Thanks.
 
As a retired Insurance Claims Adjuster, I ALWAYS opt for safety.

Your garage is not close enough to be a hazard but I would worry a bit about the wood fence. I suggest you DO take necessary precautions.

There is almost nothing sadder than someone who has lost their complete household. It is truly sad.

FWIW
Dale53
 
Heat goes up not sideways. Even if winds were strong enough to blow the heat toward the fence the heat from a cooker is nowhere near that required to ignite a fence 4 feet away. For that to happen you'd need lit embers blowing out of the cooker. If the wind were that strong I'd me more concerned about the wind affecting my cooktemps.

Not something I've ever worried about.
 
Jeff,I did several overnight cooks with the WSM sitting on my deck. No wind screen,no drip pan underneath,nothing and the only thing that happened was great BBQ! But if you feel better about a wind break or something else for your own piece of mind,go for it. Not worrying about something is it's own reward.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> </div></BLOCKQUOTE>yard, and about 4 or 5 feet from my wooden privacy fence

Look at some of the carts that people have built here. If they have wood 6 to 8 inches away from the smoker, I wouldn't worry about a fence 4 or 5 feet away. And I don't want to think about a wind that could knock down a smoker.After all, the smoker is round, the wind will go around it.
 
I keep all my grills outside. (covered) They have seen 50-60 mph winds that have removed large limbs from my trees but never budged them, even when empty. I try not to grill during storms but this is Michigan and things can change in a hurry. When I let my grills go over night I have never had any issues.
 
I personally would not be concerned at all in your situation. I've never worried that the wind would blow over my 18.5". And 4 or 5 feet from the fence seems like a very safe distance to me.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Phil Perrin:
Jeff,I did several overnight cooks with the WSM sitting on my deck. No wind screen,no drip pan underneath,nothing... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Leaving a grill or smoker unattended to on a wooden deck or porch is what you've got to watch for. One of my cousin's friends down in MS just had his house burn down this summer from a smoker fire.

From what I understand it was a Brinkman water smoker left unattended to on the porch overnight and they suspect that free-roaming dogs or some other animal knocked it over. I'd say you could use a concrete pad underneath a cooker with no worries at all, but I have a concrete pad for using with charcoal grills that still ended up with some holes in it. It was a little chimney accident on the patio, thankfully not a deck.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dave Russell:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Phil Perrin:
Jeff,I did several overnight cooks with the WSM sitting on my deck. No wind screen,no drip pan underneath,nothing... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Leaving a grill or smoker unattended to on a wooden deck or porch is what you've got to watch for. One of my cousin's friends down in MS just had his house burn down this summer from a smoker fire.
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Oh, yeah, I would suggest you be carefully about a wood deck. Just this summer an overnight cook set a deck on fire in my area. Link to that thread.
 
This is great timing. I was e-mailing a friend of mine in Idaho that I just bought a new 18-1/2” WSM to take the place of my Performer/Smokenator for smoking. I was telling him how I was looking forward to doing over night smokes. His comment was they can’t do that in his neighborhood because of grizzly bears.
 
Well we are gettin to the time of the season where grass, brush and leaves are starting to dry out.
When it's windy or when I set up my 18.5" WSM on my deck, I like to use a 17 gal metal wash tub. It's tall enough to shield the bottom vents from any wind gusts, and also contain any stray coals or embers that might fall out.
5624915013_7baa89c322_z.jpg


I bought that at Ace but HD also carries em in the cleaning supply aisle. For the big boy WSM you might have to check at a farm-feed-agr store.

Tim
 
Moved all grills in garage for Hurricane Irene a few weeks ago, but the WSM should have been ok that close to ground.

I did lose a few trees on my small lot. Some fence damage.

Never worried too much about overnight cook though. On patio stones. Coals would need to be blown by wind 10 to 15 to house. But still not a bad idea to take some precautions.
 
As a rule of thumb, I do not cook UNATTENDED (overnight) on a wood deck unless it is unattached to the house. You never know what could happen. I cooked last night on the WSM (It's still going actually). I went outside just to check the temp of the WSM because I was doing a couple of butts. Temp was 225. So I used a spray bottle and basted the meat and I heard it sizzling inside like when the fat drips down. No way I am out of water yet.
I pulled the door off and looked in and the water pan had fell off the tabs and was sitting on the charcoal! I have had my WSM over 10 years and this never happened b4! The meat seems ok though....You never know.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by dean: I pulled the door off and looked in and the water pan had fell off the tabs and was sitting on the charcoal! I have had my WSM over 10 years and this never happened b4! The meat seems ok though....You never know. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Get the Brinkman pan, Dean! There's no way this could've happened with either my Brinkman pan or the '09 weber pan. I've never had either of my BIG pans run completely dry, either. The Brinkman pan allows a good bit more room for better tending of the coals and piling up more on long cooks. It won't tip over after removing at the end of a cook, either.
 
No problem. Folks have been using the Brinkman water smoker CHARCOAL pan on the wsm for years since the original pan had shortcomings both in capacity and a secure fit in the cooker.

If you have an Academy Sports nearby, they stock it and sell it for about $5. If not, check out some other place that sells common bbq supplies or order online. Make sure it's the CHARCOAL pan and not the water pan. The pan isn't as heavy duty as the Weber pans, but that's not an issue. Bottom line is that it's the best pan available for the 18.5" wsm.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top