Lee Murrah
New member
I joined recently after buying a Weber Smoky Mountain 18.5" smoker, and I'm just now getting around to introducing myself. I took up barbecuing seriously after retirement and started with a New Braunfels Longhorn Deluxe horizontal smoker using mainly stick wood for fuel. I have had good luck with it and have made some great barbecue, but I have wanted a WSM for some time because of their reputation for holding temperature for long cooks. We also travel some in a motor home, and I wanted a smoker that I could take with me on trips. The 18.5 WSM seemed to be the best solution.
I burned one load of charcoal in the smoker to clear out the manufacturing residue before embarking on my first cook. I chose a 6.5# pork butt because I had never done pulled pork. I filled the charcoal ring full since I did not know now long it would take. I was careful to start dialing back the lower dampers when the chamber temp exceeded 200 because I did not want to overshoot and start yo-yo-ing. I was able to hold about 250F indicated by gradually closing the lower dampers as time went on. Eventually they were almost fully closed. I was a bit surprised that I was able to hold temperature so well since I had read that new WSMs are a bit temperamental. I used a Maverick electronic thermometer to keep track of internal temperature and simply ran the line under the lid. It took about 10 hours to reach almost 200F internal. After resting the meat in a cooler for a couple of hours, I shredded it with meat rakes that I bought on Amazon (they worked great), it almost fell apart. My wife made some mustard-based barbecue sauce, and the resulting shredded pork was outstanding. It was among my better efforts. We had quite a feast, and we enjoyed reheats and sandwiches for several days afterward.
So I am very pleased with the WSM thus far. Next are probably some baby back ribs.
I burned one load of charcoal in the smoker to clear out the manufacturing residue before embarking on my first cook. I chose a 6.5# pork butt because I had never done pulled pork. I filled the charcoal ring full since I did not know now long it would take. I was careful to start dialing back the lower dampers when the chamber temp exceeded 200 because I did not want to overshoot and start yo-yo-ing. I was able to hold about 250F indicated by gradually closing the lower dampers as time went on. Eventually they were almost fully closed. I was a bit surprised that I was able to hold temperature so well since I had read that new WSMs are a bit temperamental. I used a Maverick electronic thermometer to keep track of internal temperature and simply ran the line under the lid. It took about 10 hours to reach almost 200F internal. After resting the meat in a cooler for a couple of hours, I shredded it with meat rakes that I bought on Amazon (they worked great), it almost fell apart. My wife made some mustard-based barbecue sauce, and the resulting shredded pork was outstanding. It was among my better efforts. We had quite a feast, and we enjoyed reheats and sandwiches for several days afterward.
So I am very pleased with the WSM thus far. Next are probably some baby back ribs.
