WSMs Serious Competition Cookers??


 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I replied something about being able to turn out a good product by knowing your cooker really well. He said that that was complete bull-biscuits and recommended I go buy a Stump's, Spicewine, FEC, Traeger, etc. It would have hurt less if he had punched me in the stomach. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
He's an idiot. You are correct. Additionally, it is a matter of knowing how to cook really well, something that is utterly lost on many comp cooks. and many if not most judges.
 
Russ,

Obviously on here you know the response you will get. However I am of the belief its the cook not the cooker. At my first comp I took first in chicken next to a guy with a $15k smoker and I just had my 18 and a performer. Hope to see you up here this year. We will show them what the WSM can do.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Rick Kramer:
One of our very own members here at TVWB would tell Mr Ferrari that he'd be happy to put his Volkswagons up against anything they had to offer ... and most likely beat their butt! Check out Vincent's website. When it comes to WSMs in competition, he is the Master!

Rhythm n Que </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thank you, Rick, for your kind words about our team. Alexa and I have been very fortunate to have enjoyed so much success and it is an honor to be respected and recognized by people like you.

As for whether WSMs are serious competition cookers, we obviously think they are and so do a lot of other people. Here's an interesting story to tell anyone who wants to criticize the quality of these little cookers...

A very good friend of ours here in Arizona is Jay Benedict. His very successful cooking team is "Otis and The Bird". Jay has cooked on just about every kind of cooker out there and has had success throughout all the different cooker combinations he has used. When we first met Jay & his wife Monica, (sadly, Monica passed due to cancer a couple years ago), they were cooking with 2 original Big Drum Smokers and two 18" WSMs. I can tell you from first hand experience that Jay and Mon were always one of the best teams in any contest they entered and it was our pleasure to compete against them.

Anyway, after Monica passed, Jay decided that he was going to get a Jambo, about the only cooker he hadn't used before. We all know how good Jambos are and that some of the most recognized teams in competition barbeque use them including Cool Smoke, Pellet Envy and Smokin' Triggers. Well, after a year of cooking on his Jambo and even winning a GC along the way, Jay decided that he was going to go back to cooking his briskets on a WSM because he just liked the end product that the WSM produced over the one that came off the Jambo.

I've heard people say that "it's all about the roll up", meaning the impression you make with your rig when you arrive. We used to "roll up" in a Lincoln Town Car with a 5 x 8 U-Haul trailer and folks would laugh. Then we started to win a few contests and, well, folks didn't laugh so much anymore, not that it ever mattered to us.

Now we've moved to a minivan and we can fit our entire set up inside the vehicle which saves us a huge amount of money on fuel costs since we don't have to pull a trailer anymore. And moving from a 13 mpg vehicle to a 24 mpg vehicle doesn't hurt either. Tell those critics to try getting that kind of mileage with their Ferraris!
 
It ain't the cooker...we have done very well with our WSM's...they took us to The Jack last year and we're hoping to do it again this year. Vince and Alexa are one of the top teams in the world...I hope to be as successful with my bullets one day!
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by J D McGee:
It ain't the cooker...we have done very well with our WSM's...they took us to The Jack last year and we're hoping to do it again this year. Vince and Alexa are one of the top teams in the world...I hope to be as successful with my bullets one day!
wsmsmile8gm.gif
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>Ditto
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Russ,

I use two or three WSM's when competing. We took the 2010 SCBA team of the year in South Carolina while cooking on WSM's. Who ever told you that is full of it imho! Sometimes teams say things just to throw you off. If you do well using a kettle keep at it is my opinion.

Doug
 
Yes the WSM's are serious competition cookers. I have trophies to prove it. My biggest complaint about them is loading them up for the ride to and from the contest.
 
Does anyone have any handy ways they transport their WSM's? I have always just taken my apart and carried it in my truck, but that takes up so much room. Plus, if I get another one, I won't be able to haul them both that way.
 
I turn the cc bowl upside down in my truck. I then stack the top two thirds separately and put the cover on to keep the top from coming off. This past weekend I realized the top two thirds of an 18 fit inside of the top two thirds of a 22.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Does anyone have any handy ways they transport their WSM's? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Get straps to go around them top to bottom.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Ryan Ko:
Does anyone have any handy ways they transport their WSM's? I have always just taken my apart and carried it in my truck, but that takes up so much room. Plus, if I get another one, I won't be able to haul them both that way. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

We travel in a minivan to and from contests and here is how we move our WSMs:

1. The charcoal bowl has, from bottom up, the charcoal grate with the charcoal ring resting on it. The water pan then nests inside the charcoal ring. The bottom cooking grate locks into the top cooking grate by pushing the bottom grate through the handles on the top grate and those now interlocked grates rest (handles down) over the water pan. This configuration will create a stable platform upon which you can place equipment or bags of charcoal.

2. Next, place the center section on the charcoal bowl and align the handle of the door directly over one of the legs. You can now place equipment or bags of charcoal inside the cooker and rest them on the inverted cooking grates.

3. Now, place the lid on the cooker and orient the top handle so that it is perpendicular to the door handle and make sure the top vent is on the side opposite the door.

The next steps will help you to secure your cooker in such a manner that you can carry the entire unit with the top handle. All you will need is a ratchet strap. You are going to fish the long strap through various parts of the cooker and then tighten it up. Here's how:

4. Your ratchet strap should have a very short strap affixed to the ratchet itself and then a long strap that you can run through the ratchet. Have the short strap to the right and the long strap to the left.

5. Position yourself on the side of your cooker so that the door is on the left. Remember to have the door handle oriented directly above one of the legs. One end of the top handle should be pointing directly at your gut.

6. With the ratchet mechanism to the right of the top handle, fish the long strap through the top handle all the way to the ratchet mechanism. I then wedge the strap into the small gap where the handle is welded to the dome to hold the strap in place so that the ratchet doesn't slide down the side.

7. With the strap wedged in place at the top, fish the hook and the long strap all the way though the leg that is directly below the door handle and then back up to through the top handle again. You will need to once again wedge the strap between the leg and the charcoal bowl to hold it in place and be sure that there are no twists in the strap. You should have what looks like a "V" with the strap running from the top handle through the front leg and back up to the top handle.

8. Next, run the hook through the leg that is on the far side of the cooker being sure to have the hook positioned as high up on the leg as possible and nearly wedged between the bowl and the leg. The hook should now be secured to the leg.

9. Working backward from that hook, begin taking out the slack in the strap again using the wedge process to help hold the strap in place while you move from hooked leg to top handle to front leg back up to top handle. Wedge the strap on the near side of the top handle when you're done.

10. Fish the hook on the short strap through the leg that is on your right and secure it the same way the hook on the other leg is secured.

11. Gently begin working the ratchet to tighten the strap. Do not over tighten!

12. Once the strap is snug, you've got a tightly secured cooker and you can easily move it just by grabbing the top handle.

I also like to slide the cover over the cookers for transportation because it helps to deaden the sound of anything that might rattle or jiggle around on the inside during the drive.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">
Afterwards I started thinking about what he said and with the exception of Harry Soo, who really does very well at Comps with a WSM?

Russ </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Having cooked competitions with the WSM for the past 6 or 7 years, I can honestly say that "yeah" there are people out there who are turning out great product on a WSM on a pretty regular basis (and lets be pefectly clear, according to my scores I am NOT one of them). That being said...and rebutting the KCBS mantra that "It's the Cook NOT the Cooker"...I strongly believe that under less than ideal conditions (rain, wind, cold, etc, etc) that the "set it and forget it" crowd has a leg up. Put another way, if it's 55 degrees and peeing rain a great WSM cook suddenly becomes "average" and an "average" cook using a computer controlled-gee-whiz "Ferrari" suddenly becomes great.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Steve Pearson:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">
Afterwards I started thinking about what he said and with the exception of Harry Soo, who really does very well at Comps with a WSM?

Russ </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Having cooked competitions with the WSM for the past 6 or 7 years, I can honestly say that "yeah" there are people out there who are turning out great product on a WSM on a pretty regular basis (and lets be pefectly clear, according to my scores I am NOT one of them). That being said...and rebutting the KCBS mantra that "It's the Cook NOT the Cooker"...I strongly believe that under less than ideal conditions (rain, wind, cold, etc, etc) that the "set it and forget it" crowd has a leg up. Put another way, if it's 55 degrees and peeing rain a great WSM cook suddenly becomes "average" and an "average" cook using a computer controlled-gee-whiz "Ferrari" suddenly becomes great.

Oh...and BTW...I have also noticed something of what you described at recent contests. There does seem to be a not uncommon (although definitely NOT universal) arrogance (for lack of a better word) amongst the "Ferrari" crowd when it comes to discussing cookers (see my post "Is Competition BBQ the new "NASCAR"). </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Sorry, but I strongly disagree. Rhythm 'n QUE has competed in just about every weather condition you can think of and at elevations from below sea level to nearly 9,000 ft. and every one of our events has been cooked with WSMs. We have bested teams who are cooking on every other type of smoker you can name, the true superstars of barbeque as well as those that have been created by the media. Our team has become the premiere WSM team in the nation because we know how to use our cookers, not because they are double insulated, have built in rotisserie systems, are hopper fed, cost $10,000 or are mounted on a custom trailer. We succeed becuase we are good cooks and because we know how to use our cookers. It's that simple.
 
I've since talked to him again and mentioned that his comment bothered me. He said that he didn't mean anything by it but that I should work to make him eat his words with scores. I told him that it was a deal.

I also mentioned that I'm going to find a Volkswagen insignia and put it over the rear door of my new trailer sort of like a good luck horseshoe. That way I can be constantly reminded.

I'm thinking that the day I finally beat him, I'll have that emblem gold plated or something.

Russ
 
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