Christopher G
New member
Hi Guys,
I bought a WSM 18.5 and had my first cook ever the other day. I'm completley new to smoking. I don't have friends or family that smoke, have no restaurnats in my area that offer smoked meats or have seen the process from start to finish. My only exposure to smoked meats is that I saw it on TV a couple times and every time it resulted in my mouth watering. So I bought a WSM and educated myself online
So I took the plunge and bought a WSM. I did alot of research before my first smoke so I was actually very prepared and I couldn't believe how easy the whole process was. As someone who doesn't even cook or BBQ regularly, I was able to make an amazing meal with minimal effort.
Some lessons learned:
I read alot of posts about WSM cooking hot when first used (due to shiny/reflective inside). This couldn't have been further from the truth for me. I used the Minion method and assembled the smoker immediatley after i put the hot charcoals on the unlit pile.Maybe I didn't struggle because I read tips online and only lit a dozen charcoal, assembled smoker immediatley so as to limit exposure to air (which feeds the fire) and tried to catch temps on way up as was suggested on the boards (all great advice). I never had an issue controlling temps and sat at the 235-250 range the entire cook (6 hours)
I used a Maverick ambient grate thermometer which sits on the top cooking grate. This thing was well worth the money, it's what made my smoke stress free. I was able to monitor the temps from anywhere in my house and it was dead accurate (I tested it). I was also able to monitor temp of meat without opening the lid and looking (apparently that's a sin). I did have a small panic attack because my grate thermometer was about 25F hotter than the built in hood thermomter on the WSM. I broke out the computer and searched the forums, which allowed me to breath easy again. Apparently it's common knowledge, to everyone except noobs, that grate thermometers are 25F hotter than a hood thermometer (closer to heat source and food on top rack absorbing heat). As advisted the grate thermometer is more accurate so I held my temp at 240 on the maverick while the wsm was at 215F. I read lots of posts about people not being able to get temps up to 250F on WSM thermometer but knowing the variance they really didn't have an issue.
Coal used. It was my first time so I filled the charcoal ring to the top (added wood) and lit using the minion method. After 7 hours (1 hour watching, I was worried about holding temps and cooking hot) and 6 hours smoking, I have well over half the charcoal left. I could have smoked for another 6 hours, with fuel to spare. I will reuse what is leftover in my next cook. 1 large Weber chimey of unlit, wood plus 12 lit coals is all I needed for my cook (I think I would still have fuel left over).
I also read that everytime the lid is opened it take 15 min for smoker to come back up to temp. This is a myth, IMO, as my grate thermometer got right back up to temp in minutes. Infact, because I had lid open and was feeding more oxygen to coals, the temp actually spiked (to about 277F) for about 5-10 min before I was able to bring it down by playing with lower vents. Since the lid was off, and cooling the temp dropped on the hood thermometer and took 15 min to get back up and read the right temp, but the smoker didn't lose any heat.
I was really surprised at how effortless whole process was. Once assembled and charcoals lit, I just sat around and relaxed (minus the 10min I was franticaly trying to figure out temp difference between grate and hood). I would adjust vents every once a while (there was swirling winds which were a bit of a pain) and ensure my grate thermometer was in the 240 range (plus or minus 10F). I didn't have to manage the charcoal (IE loosen ash) or add water to water pan. Just sat there and waited (it was my first time, I was too exicted to leave the backyard).
I just wanted to post my first time experience, hopefully another first timer will see this and learn something that I had to learn on the fly.
I bought a WSM 18.5 and had my first cook ever the other day. I'm completley new to smoking. I don't have friends or family that smoke, have no restaurnats in my area that offer smoked meats or have seen the process from start to finish. My only exposure to smoked meats is that I saw it on TV a couple times and every time it resulted in my mouth watering. So I bought a WSM and educated myself online
So I took the plunge and bought a WSM. I did alot of research before my first smoke so I was actually very prepared and I couldn't believe how easy the whole process was. As someone who doesn't even cook or BBQ regularly, I was able to make an amazing meal with minimal effort.
Some lessons learned:
I read alot of posts about WSM cooking hot when first used (due to shiny/reflective inside). This couldn't have been further from the truth for me. I used the Minion method and assembled the smoker immediatley after i put the hot charcoals on the unlit pile.Maybe I didn't struggle because I read tips online and only lit a dozen charcoal, assembled smoker immediatley so as to limit exposure to air (which feeds the fire) and tried to catch temps on way up as was suggested on the boards (all great advice). I never had an issue controlling temps and sat at the 235-250 range the entire cook (6 hours)
I used a Maverick ambient grate thermometer which sits on the top cooking grate. This thing was well worth the money, it's what made my smoke stress free. I was able to monitor the temps from anywhere in my house and it was dead accurate (I tested it). I was also able to monitor temp of meat without opening the lid and looking (apparently that's a sin). I did have a small panic attack because my grate thermometer was about 25F hotter than the built in hood thermomter on the WSM. I broke out the computer and searched the forums, which allowed me to breath easy again. Apparently it's common knowledge, to everyone except noobs, that grate thermometers are 25F hotter than a hood thermometer (closer to heat source and food on top rack absorbing heat). As advisted the grate thermometer is more accurate so I held my temp at 240 on the maverick while the wsm was at 215F. I read lots of posts about people not being able to get temps up to 250F on WSM thermometer but knowing the variance they really didn't have an issue.
Coal used. It was my first time so I filled the charcoal ring to the top (added wood) and lit using the minion method. After 7 hours (1 hour watching, I was worried about holding temps and cooking hot) and 6 hours smoking, I have well over half the charcoal left. I could have smoked for another 6 hours, with fuel to spare. I will reuse what is leftover in my next cook. 1 large Weber chimey of unlit, wood plus 12 lit coals is all I needed for my cook (I think I would still have fuel left over).
I also read that everytime the lid is opened it take 15 min for smoker to come back up to temp. This is a myth, IMO, as my grate thermometer got right back up to temp in minutes. Infact, because I had lid open and was feeding more oxygen to coals, the temp actually spiked (to about 277F) for about 5-10 min before I was able to bring it down by playing with lower vents. Since the lid was off, and cooling the temp dropped on the hood thermometer and took 15 min to get back up and read the right temp, but the smoker didn't lose any heat.
I was really surprised at how effortless whole process was. Once assembled and charcoals lit, I just sat around and relaxed (minus the 10min I was franticaly trying to figure out temp difference between grate and hood). I would adjust vents every once a while (there was swirling winds which were a bit of a pain) and ensure my grate thermometer was in the 240 range (plus or minus 10F). I didn't have to manage the charcoal (IE loosen ash) or add water to water pan. Just sat there and waited (it was my first time, I was too exicted to leave the backyard).
I just wanted to post my first time experience, hopefully another first timer will see this and learn something that I had to learn on the fly.
