WSM first Q


 
H

Hank Hill

TVWBB Fan
I am slated to receive my WSM on Wed. Do I need to do any prep to eliminate chemical fumes from the new paint, crome polish, oil preservatives on the metals etc that will give off an unpleasant flavor to the meat during my first cook?
 
Wecome Hank
All I did was got some charcoal,chicken and a few cold ones. Went to the cooking topics and followed a chicken recipe. It ran hot the first couple of cooks.
Good luck and have fun
wsmsmile8gm.gif

Mike
 
Hi Hank,

When I bought mine home I did nothing but fill it with charcoal and and wood chunks and made some BBQ chicken that was fantastic. Not chemical taste what so ever.

Good luck.
 
Hank, the WSM is not painted and is made of porcelain coated steel. Other than washing the food grates, you don't need to season it or do anything before your first cook. Good luck!
 
As everyone above mentioned, the WSM does not need to be prepped in any way. Your WSM may run hot on the first few cooks due to not having smoke and grease built up on the inside of the cooker.

Have fun and let us know how it goes.
 
Excellent; thanks for your responses. So I've seen a couple of people did chicken for their honeymoon night with their WSM and one pork butt. Do you remember what your first cook was?

Outside of being aware of higher than normal temperatures, and washing the cooking grates, any other tips on using an out of the box WSM? I'm thinking of doing ribs
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My first cook was baby backs, and they didn't turn out that great. I was quite disappointed.

My second cook was 2 pork butts, and the pork was very well received, and my neighbors are still talking about it.

My third will be a high heat brisket and some chickens, but I will have to come back after Easter to let you know how it went.

The only tip I can come up with, besides buying a decent thermometer for the lid (my first mistake) is watch out for wind (my second mistake)
 
Originally posted by Derek D:
A Your WSM may run hot on the first few cooks due to not having smoke and grease built up on the inside of the cooker.
Click to expand...

I'd like to see the science behind this often repeated piece of information. In my experience any build up inside the smoker is going to have negligible impact compared to:
<UL TYPE=SQUARE> <LI> a change in the vent settings/air flow.
<LI> amount of charcoal lit/burning.
<LI> impact of direct sun/shade/wind and ambient outside temp.
<LI> Temp and quantity of meat soon after you load the smoker. 15# of refrigerated butt vs 2 babyback racks at room temp will have an impact on your temp reading, especially if your probe is near the meat.
<LI> amount and temp of water put in the pan.
[/list]

You might burn hot because you don't have a good handle on how to set your vents on your inaugural burn, but I don't think it is because the inside is a little bit shiny.

And don't blindly follow the instructions/recipes that come with your smoker. Unless it has been updated in the past 5 years, that manual is not very good. You will be much better off with advice from the experience here and the information that Chris has posted.
 
"Hank Hill gives up propane and buys a WSM!" If that's not the ultimate endorsement, I don't know what is! (Sorry for the horrible King of the Hill joke, but it had to be done.)
My first couple cooks were pork butts. I knew I'd be going through a bit of learning curve with regards to temp control, so I wanted a fairly inexpensive cut of meat that was fairly forgiving to inconsistent temps. Ribs were my third cook. Everything turned out great. After about 6 cooks, the inside of my WSM was fully "gunkified". This must have been the final step needed to seal things up because my temps became much more stable. Just another heads up, if you're anything like me, plan on being disappointed with your first brisket. It took me about three attmepts before I got what I would call "good" results.
Lastly, the only mod's I've done are: Thermometer in lid ($14 at Wal Mart), a couple handles mounted in the mid-section, and I replaced the Weber water pan with a larger Brinkman pan and a 12 inch clay saucer. Again, congrats on the WSM and welcome aboard!
 
Originally posted by brian lanius:
I'd like to see the science behind this often repeated piece of information. In my experience any build up inside the smoker is going to have negligible impact compared to:
<UL TYPE=SQUARE> <LI> a change in the vent settings/air flow.
<LI> amount of charcoal lit/burning.
<LI> impact of direct sun/shade/wind and ambient outside temp.
<LI> Temp and quantity of meat soon after you load the smoker. 15# of refrigerated butt vs 2 babyback racks at room temp will have an impact on your temp reading, especially if your probe is near the meat.
<LI> amount and temp of water put in the pan.
[/list]

You might burn hot because you don't have a good handle on how to set your vents on your inaugural burn, but I don't think it is because the inside is a little bit shiny.

And don't blindly follow the instructions/recipes that come with your smoker. Unless it has been updated in the past 5 years, that manual is not very good. You will be much better off with advice from the experience here and the information that Chris has posted.
Click to expand...

I think the first smoke/hot thing comes from sealing the cooker, and less about the shininess of the interior.

I think the gunk seals the smoker better, thus removes air leaks and temps are more stable.

I know after my first overnighter, the lid was practically glued to the smoker. This may be another reason to do a long butt smoke for your first (couple) outings.
 
My first smoke was 3 whole chickens (Costco had whole chickens on sale for .99 lb in 2 packs each 2 pack being about 10 lbs ... then at the register they said they were buy one 2 pack get a 2 pack free 20 lbs of chicken for $10!!) ala the Basic Barbeque Chicken recipe. Only problem I had was it took a little longer than I thought to get done but it was windy and cold. Best advice I've seen so far is the Minion method, if you don't follow this your crazy! (IMO)
 
My first WSM smoke ( I had made lots of messes with an ECB) was ribs. Could not get the temp down (Leaky WSM among other things) and I almost cooked the ribs beyond recognition. The second was butts and they worked out great.
 
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