WSM like a Webber Kettle kinda?!!!

[Dennis Slusher]

Has anyone else done this before? I’m sure someone has! I am still new to this community and there is so much info that helps me every time I BBQ or SMOKE. Whether it’s my Traeger or Webber I’m gain so much from yall! Here are some green chile burgers I cooked on my WSM! I moved my charcoal ring and grate up to where the water bowl would be and use the top grate like a grill!

 

[Steve Hoch]

Seems like a reasonable thing to do to me. How did the burgers come out?

 

[Jonas-Switzerland]

Sniffle season hit early this year. We wanted to grill on an open fire place in the woods, and ended up with the bottom half of the wsm.



It makes a good movable fire place.

 

[ChuckO]

We often use the WSM as a BBQ

 

[Jim C in Denver]

Dennis -- There's two ways to use your WSM as a grill.

Charcoal unit up on the water pan tabs -- like you did.

Or remove the middle section and put the cooking grate down on the bottom bowl. This method is good if you are doing a smoke cook first, but then want to sear at the end of the cook.

Chris explains.

Grilling On The Weber Bullet - The Virtual Weber Bullet

Several approaches to grilling on the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker are shown, all of which require bringing hot charcoal and cooking grate closer together.

www.virtualweberbullet.com

 

[Dennis Slusher]

Seems like a reasonable thing to do to me. How did the burgers come out?

Really good I left them

Seems like a reasonable thing to do to me. How did the burgers come out?

they came out great I left the on a little to long I like the medium well and they came closer to well done

 

[Dennis Slusher]

Sniffle season hit early this year. We wanted to grill on an open fire place in the woods, and ended up with the bottom half of the wsm.

View attachment 100891

It makes a good movable fire place.

That’s a woderful idea!

 

[Dennis Slusher]

We often use the WSM as a BBQ

Do you still leave the coals on the very bottom?

 

[Dennis Slusher]

Dennis -- There's two ways to use your WSM as a grill.

Charcoal unit up on the water pan tabs -- like you did.

Or remove the middle section and put the cooking grate down on the bottom bowl. This method is good if you are doing a smoke cook first, but then want to sear at the end of the cook.

Chris explains.

Grilling On The Weber Bullet - The Virtual Weber Bullet

Several approaches to grilling on the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker are shown, all of which require bringing hot charcoal and cooking grate closer together.

www.virtualweberbullet.com

Dennis -- There's two ways to use your WSM as a grill.

Charcoal unit up on the water pan tabs -- like you did.

Or remove the middle section and put the cooking grate down on the bottom bowl. This method is good if you are doing a smoke cook first, but then want to sear at the end of the cook.

Chris explains.

Grilling On The Weber Bullet - The Virtual Weber Bullet

Several approaches to grilling on the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker are shown, all of which require bringing hot charcoal and cooking grate closer together.

www.virtualweberbullet.com

See I knew I wasn’t the smartest person alive y’all got it figured out already haha I need to go through this. Thanks for posting this!

 

[Josh Dekubber]

@Dennis Slusher How's that Skyline doing?

 

[ChuckO]

Do you still leave the coals on the very bottom?

Yes, the only difference is sometimes I remove the diffuser (water bowl) and sometimes I don't. But mostly, without the diffuser. All vents wide open

 

[Dustin Dorsey]

The first time I'd seen it was a youtuber called Phil in Florence that has since passed away. I'm sure it's been done before him. The main drawback I see is that you would wear out the plated grates that come with the WSM quicker, but that charcoal basket should help. I think that makes more sense than trying to balance the lid on the charcoal section. Also I'm not sure the height between the two grates is the same as on a Kettle. Phil did some kind of modification to the grate holders I think and his was 22.5 WSM.

 

[timothy]

Has anyone else done this before? I’m sure someone has! I am still new to this community and there is so much info that helps me every time I BBQ or SMOKE. Whether it’s my Traeger or Webber I’m gain so much from yall! Here are some green chile burgers I cooked on my WSM! I moved my charcoal ring and grate up to where the water bowl would be and use the top grate like a grill!

Try smoking them next time.

Smoked Hamburgers - The Virtual Weber Bullet

How to make smoked hamburgers in less than 1 hour using the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker. A delicious twist on an American classic!

www.virtualweberbullet.com

 

[Jim C in Denver]

The first time I'd seen it was a youtuber called Phil in Florence that has since passed away. I'm sure it's been done before him. The main drawback I see is that you would wear out the plated grates that come with the WSM quicker, but that charcoal basket should help. I think that makes more sense than trying to balance the lid on the charcoal section. Also I'm not sure the height between the two grates is the same as on a Kettle. Phil did some kind of modification to the grate holders I think and his was 22.5 WSM.

As Chris' note discusses, the simple method (charcoal grate up onto water pan tabs) gives you like 8.5 inches from charcoal grate to cooking grate. A bit too far as compared to a kettle. I have my WSM rigged up (like Phil did) for three cooking grates. So when I do this, I can cook on a 4 inch gap (middle bracket grate) or an 8 inch gap (top grate). Works OK.

Although you're still only getting an 18 inch grate to cook on with an 18.5 WSM. So the better play imo is to get a used/cheap 22 kettle or 18 Jumbo Joe. And grill on that. The WSM as grill seems to make more sense if using a 22 WSM.

Primary time I use the 18.5 WSM as grill is to do a combined smoke/grill cook. Like smoked wings that I crisp up at the end. Using just the lower bowl for only a minute or two.

 

[Andy Kaminski]

Dang Phil died .