WSM heat ranges


 
Darryl - swazies

Darryl - swazies

TVWBB Diamond Member
I have a fella I'm chatting with and considering a swap of my Traeger for his WSM. I will miss doing jerky on my Traeger as it turns out being some of the best meat you can sink your teeth into. It makes the MRS. urge me not to sell it or trade it. I usually smoke the jerky at 180 super indirect, and it takes about 2 hours. Does the WSM reliably smoke at 180 or lower and hold that steady for a couple of hours? And also how hot can you get it up to? Like is 275 wide open vents and fuel lasts a few hours only. I am talking grill temp and not dome temp. I just don't know what to expect before getting rid of something that works well for me. I look at the grates on the WSM and would it appear as though i could hang the jerky meat over the racking to be able to do a lot at a time. I am sure some have tried this before...am I making a mistake on thinking like this? Thanks!
 
Hi Darryl - I haven't tried making jerky on my WSM, but I'm sure with some trial and error and a little advice you could achieve a stable 180F temperature. I agree with your perspective on hanging jerky as well, that seems like a good fit My concern for you with trading the traeger for the WSM would be that the traeger as I understand it is very set and forget, user friendly, whereas the WSM as much as I love it, takes a little practice. So, if you don't mind practicing at all, maybe do the swap, or, ideally if you have the room, keep the traeger and buy the WSM that way you can keep making jerky on the traeger while practicing with the WSM.

Controlled temps of 275 to 300 are definitely achievable, and how long you can hold them without refueling will depend on your weather, how often you peak, etc... but given a relatively warm day (72F or so) I think a 18" or 22" should be able to run well over 6 to 8 hours without issue, after that time, if you need more fuel, it's easy enough to add more. Some of us rig up "coal chutes" for this purpose, but I usually just add more fuel by hand with welders gloves on.
 
Weber web pages want to lie to me I think. I was reading one somewhere and I cannot find it again and it was saying that I can cook at 150 degrees. It was a page somewhere on the Weber site. It sounded too good to be true and then I posted here to get some real life numbers. Can you tell me how your jerky turns out and why you don't like it? I don't see how hanging it cannot work very well. Does it cook fast like the edges get brown and the center is still raw looking?
 
This is the time one will like SNAKES.... even if it only one SNAKE ;)
(hint... it's in the bacon thread and in Chris' how to section )

Bacon thread is under the Charcuterie subheading...
 
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Morning Darryl, I smoke jerky and bacon on my 22 WSM all the time. Like Bob said If you set the coals up the right way it can run very low. These pictures are of my set up for bacon, 165 degrees for (4) hours.

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I believe you could easily achieve this low temp with the snake method as well. You could also do the same in a weber kettle. Just saying.
 
I have made Jerky on the WSM and 3 different pellet grills. Once I did it on the pellet grill I use it exclusively. More capacity and less hassle. Without water in the pan I got my WSM up to about 400 degrees. I’m a fan of both cookers but I wouldn’t make that trade.
 
JimZ said:
I believe you could easily achieve this low temp with the snake method as well. You could also do the same in a weber kettle. Just saying.
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I have been having a hard time maintaining low temps so far but I know I could be doing more to achieve this. There just wouldn't be enough room on the 22" to do jerky. I am getting a pork butt ready to cook Saturday, I will be sure to post details the day before on what I am attempting to do so I can get any advice possible and will have pictures to show results. So I want to be able to hang in there with about a 225 grill temp. Steady temp is my biggest concern.
 
Lew Newby said:
I have made Jerky on the WSM and 3 different pellet grills. Once I did it on the pellet grill I use it exclusively. More capacity and less hassle. Without water in the pan I got my WSM up to about 400 degrees. I’m a fan of both cookers but I wouldn’t make that trade.
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The size is the best part, my Traeger is working on just under 3 feet long and its wide enough to lay a rack of ribs the opposite way. I can get 5 lbs of about 1/4 inch thick beef cut in strips on there in 2 cooks....so it takes about 4 hours on a Sunday to do that. I think I will take everyone's advice here......and my wife's advice LOL and not make that trade. I just feel like the space it takes up and the amount of use it will get seems silly.
 
Darryl - swazies said:
There just wouldn't be enough room on the 22" to do jerky.
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Sounds like you've made your decision to keep your Traeger. Fair enough.

Just to close on the topic of jerky, the way to increase capacity in any WSM is by going vertical, not horizontal. You can buy inexpensive pizza screens for a couple of bucks, lay jerky strips on the screens, and stack them up with spacers in between.

I know the following are really old posts, but it's classic and it's good info. From one of our earliest members, Kevin Taylor, who became the default forum jerky expert.

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Jerky on the WSM....

Note From Moderator: This was the latest known link to Kevin Taylor's excellent Beef Jerky page that shows how to make jerky on the WSM - http://www.thebbqguru.net/tutorials/kevis-jerky/ Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be working. For now, I will attach a screenshot of an old version of the...
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Quick Summary of Jerky Posts

I have been looking over a lot of posts about Jerky on this site as well as Stogie's page. I just wanted to review a few things before I throw my first run at jerky on the WSM tomorrow. Here is what I have gathered. Let me know if anything is missing. 1) Smoke for a few hours trying to stay...
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And here's a current post from member Bob Correll on making jerky by hanging with toothpicks.

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Jerky by the book and Egg Bites by the IP

It's been a long time since I've made jerky by the book. Found some short dated, thin sliced, sirloins for a small batch, about 1.5 lbs. total. Frozen, then sliced thin so it would get done on the WSM without dragging my dehydrator up from the basement. Marinated exactly as the recipe was...
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And the old recipe he refers to.

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Old Surveyor makes deer jerky from 35 year old recipe

Edit 7/31/2016 Since Chris put this post in the recipe section, I thought I would put the typed recipe up top in case my photo of it goes away. Plus, I've added a bit more of my process. Thanks again for the kind comments! Adapted from the Missouri Conservationist magazine 2 lbs lean beef or...
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Thanks for the links, I will look into these for sure. I like the idea of spacers, the thought of hanging over the grate was what I thought to be a great idea but no one seemed to agree. If there was a need for pellet smoking jerky advice be sure to ask me. I have it nailed down pretty hard to the point where the guys at work are asking me to make them some in quantity for money.....I don't ever do it, so when I bring it in for snacks it goes over very well.
 
Darryl - swazies said:
The size is the best part, my Traeger is working on just under 3 feet long and its wide enough to lay a rack of ribs the opposite way. I can get 5 lbs of about 1/4 inch thick beef cut in strips on there in 2 cooks....so it takes about 4 hours on a Sunday to do that. I think I will take everyone's advice here......and my wife's advice LOL and not make that trade. I just feel like the space it takes up and the amount of use it will get seems silly.
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I use a set of Jerky racks that fit my 24" Camp Chef and my EX6 and think I could fit 2 in the EX6. One set holds 5 lbs. about 1/4" thick and the tray underneath makes cleanup less hassle. This is the set and 2 years ago the cost was about half of what it is now. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0085ISSR6/?tag=tvwb-20
 
Looks great, I always have a hard time finding things like that, do you use that rack on the Weber or is it too big to fit with the lid on?
 
Darryl - swazies said:
Looks great, I always have a hard time finding things like that, do you use that rack on the Weber or is it too big to fit with the lid on?
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Darryl, by Weber I'm not sure which you're talking about. It will not fit the 18.5" WSM and probably not the 22.5 WSM either. It will fit both Smokefires. This is it in my Smokefire EX6 and you can see room for another set next to it. I actually squeezed it into a Rec Tec RT-300 but I had to fold the top legs under in order to close the lid. The RT-300 is much smaller than your Traeger which I think will be limited to only one set of racks but don't know for sure. Jerky 8-13-20.JPG
 
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