Smoking in a thunder storm


 
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Mike Drewery

TVWBB Super Fan
Looks like a big thunderstorm is coming my way and I have three racks of BB and 6# brisket flat going. What do you do with a heavy rain coming down? Do I close the top vent or not??

Mike
 
Hmmm. I haven't been in that position myself (well, light rain), but don't close the top vent. Your rain is gonna' REALLY have to try to get in there, and lots of it is going to evaporate on the lid (or even above). I don't think you'll have any problem. BUT...others might have more experience with your situation.

You could always lay a big ol' piece of foil over the top of the lid (kinda crimp it at the handle to make it stay) so you still have lots of airflow, but you protect your open vent. Be creative!
 
Your problem will not be rain getting in the vent-- leave it set as you normally would. The problem will be-- if the rain is strong enough, and it won't take much-- that water running off the dome will run into and down the inside of the cooker, collecting in the bottom of the charcoal bowl. I don't find the dome is hot enough to "vaporize" rain hitting it. If enough rainwater collects in the bowl, it will act as an additional heatsink, affecting your cooker temp. Also the fact that ambient temps usually drop when rain comes will have an effect on cooker temp-- no more solar gain. I have a 6 foot umbrella and a stand for it I use when it rains.
 
Rain water running down into the charcoal bowl also creates a yucky mess that you'll have to clean up later when emptying the ashes.
I still need to get myself a big umbrella to keep this from happening. (un)Luckily we've had quite a drought here in Utah so rainfall hasn't been a major problem for me yet.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Susan Z:
You could always lay a big ol' piece of foil over the top of the lid (kinda crimp it at the handle to make it stay) so you still have lots of airflow, but you protect your open vent. Be creative! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I new I was asking in the right place! Great idea about the foil. I made a tent an it is keeping the water from the vent and not restricting flow. I also took the foil and made long strips that I tuked in the joint between the lid and mid section to try and deflect water there. While I was setting it up the storm hit. It's raining like hell and so far so good.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Mike
 
I've had horrible luck with this; about half of my smokes have been interrupted by thunderstorms.

The biggest problem is indeed the water that collects in the bottom of the bowl. This, along with the high winds that generally accompany such a storm, tends to reduce your temperature. The messy gunk leftover in the bowl is pretty annoying, too.

If it's a short storm, you can weather it and keep smoking, but it takes some time to get the temp back up. Plan on a considerably longer overall cook.

P.j.
 
The first time this happened to me what I did was get a sheet of heavy cardboard (cut from the side of a large cardboard box), and punched four holes near the middle (but a little closer to one end). Then I passed two lengths of cooking twine through the four holes. Then I cut open a garbage bag and completely covered the "top" side of the cardboard and taped it down on the underside. Now you have the perfect rain cover. Just tie the twine around the handle, and you'll have a light-weight "roof" for your WSM. The fact that the holes were not made right in the middle will mean the roof will flop one way, point this side into the wind, and tie the roof so that the long side is on the opposite side as the vent. That'll prevent rain getting under the roof to the lid, and allows the vent to freely do its business.

I have been meaning to come up with a better solution, but this one has worked so darn well I haven't needed to so far! My bit of cardboard has lasted several boughts of rain, and many more boughts of drizzle. The only thing is the garbage bag, maybe due to the heat of the smoker on the other side of the cardboard, maybe due to age, is slowly starting to shrink. To the point where it is starting to kink my roof. Still works well though!

If the description above isn't too clear to anyone, let me know and I'll take a photo.
 
Shean,
Please post a photo of your cardboard roof when you get a chance. I think I was able to envision most of what you're talking about, but a picture would really help.
 
Get your umbrella ready or it will effect your cook, I use an umbrella everytime it rains. If you ever leave your WSM out in a moderate to heavy rain you will be suprised how much water gets in. For some reason Weber did not drill drain holes in the lip of the mid section where the top rests.
 
I envy you guys that can simply put an umbrella up for the rain ~ Most of the time, when it rains here, it rains sideways /infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif.

Like the others said, water in the bottom of the WSM is the worst part. Quite a mess, and it does affect the cooking temp.

Larry, I believe that, should Weber ever decide to redesign the WSM, all of the sections would overlap the lower sections /infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif. GO SKINS!!! /infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Bill Hays:
Larry, I believe that, should Weber ever decide to redesign the WSM, all of the sections would overlap the lower sections. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
If they did, everthing that drips down the inside would seep out.
 
Okay, here's a kind of 360º view. It looks a little shabby for sure, but it was just something I quickly whipped up while watching the black clouds roll in over my vunerable little Weber. I swear the plastic has shrunk during the times it sits in the garage, not when on the smoker.

You'll have to wait to see the full animation. I highly compressed and optimized the image to get it down to 200Kb:

http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~pollen/weber/cardroof2.gif

Hope that helps.

Note from Chris Allingham: I have replace the embedded photo with a hyperlink to the photo, so users can choose whether or not to incur the 200K download hit.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Originally posted by Doug D:
If they did, everthing that drips down the inside would seep out.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Maybe, but, if the inner wall of the lid was lower than the supporting wall of the center section, everything would remain inside, no?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Bill Hays:
Larry, I believe that, should Weber ever decide to redesign the WSM, all of the sections would overlap the lower sections. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I think that I agree with Doug if he's suggesting that it might not be a good idea.

I've been watching how much grease and smoke accumulates at the intersection of the dome and center section. I have had times where the dome was securely glued in place and it took a fair amount of effort to shake it loose after it had cooled off. Some amount of it must run down the inside, but if the dome lip covered the center section, that stuff would run down the outside and be pretty messy.

FWIW
 
For seepage both inside and out to be prevented, the bottom of the dome lid and the center section would each need a profile like a lowercase "h", making that which dripped down the outside stay outside, and that down the inside stay inside. To achieve this, a much more costly manufacturing process would need to be applied.
 
I agree with the "h" profile but with a small modification and taking the coating into account, I think it could be accomplished without the "much more costly" manufacturing process, butt, what do I know???

Thanks for your insight, guys /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Sorry Larry . . . Butt ~ GO SKINS ! ! !
 
It boils down to the difference between a stamping and an extrusion-- and it would probably make the dome lid into a casting.
 
Why could they not roll the edge and then fold it back on itself, thus making the lowercase "h" shape? I know I've seen this shape on other steel products, so it must be possible.
 
Why, Thankyou, Sean . . My point exactly /infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif And the coating should easily cover so as not to trap H2O.

Sorry about Telstra's destruction of "thebasement.com.au" ~ Sorry mate, can't say anything else here.....
 
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