WSM - Water Extinguish


 
R

Ryan_Cam

New member
I was fortunate enough to pick up a new 18.5 WSM this past week. And gave it a first run on Memorial Day. After about a year and half on an electric smoker, I felt good about making a leap.

I read up and did some research throughout the week. But after I had finished cooking (whole chicken was so $$$), I just didn’t feel comfortable leaving it to naturally extinguish with the vents closed. It was an extremely windy day. And I just didn’t feel safe about leaving it, in fear it might blow over.

So I hit the coals with the hose, putting it out. And now I’m really worried. Did I just ruin this 400 dollar smoker right off the bat? Would I be able to see the cracks in the enamel?

A day later, I did clean out the coal sludge. And rinse off the ash and water bowl.

Thoughts? 🥴
 
I don't think you ruined it. Mine has gotten heavily rained on when cooking before. Mine is gasketed so it will self shutdown pretty quickly. I've never water extinguished the coals, though.
 
You haven't ruined it, but you created one hell of a mess for yourself to clean up. Just close the vent next time and let it go. It will go out, and the better sealed it is the quicker it will go out. If you're worried about the wind, prop it up in a corner somewhere, but mine have been out in some extreme wind for years and neither one has ever gone over.
 
A close examination may reveal fine cracks in the porcelain, or they may reveal themselves with time, but at this point it's too late to do anything about it...just move forward, but I would not recommend doing it again.

BTW, you may get some fine porcelain cracking with years of use, too. I've got some, have used my WSM for 25 years, and I never extinguished with water. Just the repetitive heating/cooling cycles is enough to cause some cracking.
 
My WSM lives outside and gets rained on routinely during cooks (Florida). Clean it up and keep cooking.
 
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