WSM is AWSOME!!!!!!


 
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J

Jim Babek

TVWBB Pro
I cant even wait for the results but had to post. Im trying out my brand new WSM for the first time this beautiful afternoon, only 3 lbs of ribs with cherry wood, and its unbelievable. After struggling with an ECB for the past year the difference is really amazing. I honestly thought you guys & gals were blowing things a bit out of wack. Started with the Minion method and threw everything on at once. Kept the vents full open till 200 degrees then closed down. Now its chugging steady at 225 without fail. I keep going to the unit to baby it out of habit but just look at the temp and there is nothing to do...I love this thing. Definately gonna love using this. Thanks to everyone on this board for answering all the simple and stupid questions. Im sure I will have many to follow.

Good Eats!!!
 
O.k.....this isnt even a challenge anymore. Not sure that it was supposed to be but...going on 4 hours in and the temp hasnt fluctuated from 250 once....a total breeze...

I ended up throwing on some chicken legs and thighs, they were awsome too. The ribs ended in a big pile of bare bones. Now the wife feels better about the price tag of the smoker.
 
Everone chokes on the price - until they try it. The thing to do now is not let on how easy it is. People love it even more if you act like it was really difficult. I always tell folks how I worked all day doing ribs, when what they don't realize is that all I'm doing is getting up outta the chair every hour or so just to streach my legs (I mean check the smoker /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif ).
 
It's amazing the WSM is so great and the ECB so terrible at holding temperature when the overall design is so similar. Just goes to show how important quality and execution in manufacturing really is.
 
The ECB has no way to control the air flow, that's where the WSM wins hands down everytime. Plus when you're done you close the vents and use the left over coals for the next cook. With the ECB they just go up in smoke! It is the greatest thing since sliced bread. My ECB and Brinkmann offset are probably headed for the garage sale.

Bob
 
Jim,

Ain't it great!? The lazy man's way to cue. I remember my first smoke with the Bullet. And I remember posting about 3 hrs into the smoke. "Dang!", "There has to be more to it then this?!" I wuz almost bored to tears compared to what I was used to going through!

Mike
 
I have 2 ECBs that are coming out of retirement. I am going to put some vents on them sort of like the WSM just for the heck of it. If it works, great, and if not, I wont be losing much.
 
Ive tried all sorts of modifications to my ECB, with only minor improvement. I ended up cutting vent holes in the bottom of the ash pan and added grates for the charcoal to sit on so as not to smother them. This helped a little. Also, when the lid went on I would take foil and fill the gap between lid and body, this too helped a bit.

The huge problem is the gap between the ash pan and walls of the unit. There really is no way to seal this and that is the main reason the unit runs more like a kiln than a smoker. After a while you feel like an obsessive compulsive person checking it so much.
 
Jim,

I recently did a 30 hour cook with 5 large briskets. I had the WSM going non-stop the whole time. I only had to add fuel one time and after about the 15th hour the smoker was so steady in temp I went 6 hours without even checking it! The temps never got over 240 or below 215 the entire 30 hours!!

It makes me sick to think about how much money and meat I wasted on other smokers over the years. Buying this thing will actually SAVE me money over time. The WSM will pay for itself in a couple of years.

JC
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Jim Clay:
[qb]

It makes me sick to think about how much money and meat I wasted on other smokers over the years. Buying this thing will actually SAVE me money over time. The WSM will pay for itself in a couple of years.

JC [/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Yup! Paid $35 for an ECB 10 years ago and used it a total of 10 times. I bought my WSM 6 months ago and have used it 12 times. The $35 was a waste of money; the $175 was an investment.
 
I paid about the same for my ECB. I've had it for years and I'm not sure I used it 10 times. Then I was dumb enough to pay around $34 for the electric conversion and only have used it once. /infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif I've had my WSM since the end of Feb. Its got four cooks on it and many more to come. /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

Bob
 
Thanks Stogie, I dont know if its worth a try or not but like I stated earlier, I wont be missing much if the ECBs dont work out.
Bob,I did the same thing, and I also hated the electric model, stating that it was more like a kiln is a perfect analogy. I did have success with the ecb charcoal model, but I had to babysit the darned thing.
 
I have found the ECB 'Gourmet' model is a lot easier to use than the base ECB, especially since it's easy to lift the top and add charcoal...I've also had less trouble with it overall.

Still, I was shocked -- shocked, I tell you! -- the first time I used the WSM. I set it up, stabilized the temp almost immediately and said to myself, "It CAN'T be that easy." It was.

Looking forward to feeding 30 people this weekend. Cooking a couple of butts, a small brisket, four racks of ribs, a couple of chickens, some sausages and a can of SPAM (grin). Using the WSM for the butts and brisket and putting the rest on a barrel grill that's set up for offset heat. Can't wait!
 
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