WSM like a Webber Kettle kinda?!!!


 

Dennis Slusher

New member
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!
 

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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.

 
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.


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.

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!
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
Much higer heat than wsm sees .burns off grease......will make plated grates fail, drastically shorten wsm life when compared to use as greasy low temp smoker. You can do it ...really not good idea. Kettles.are much cheaper than wsm...just buy one.
 
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!
Dennis,

I’ll almost always this option when I need to sear a protein before slow cooking. The water pan is pulled, foiled, filled with lit charcoal, placed on lower cooking grate to sear. Here’s a couple pics to illustrate.
 

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