First smoke with WSM: Memorial Day '14

aks801

aks801

is Blowin Smoke!
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Got the WSM last week, and did a burn-in on Saturday.
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=188354

Got up at 5:30 and got a half-chimney of KBB going. Got the WSM base set up: no top/bottom coffee can in the middle, KBB all around, 3 chunks of pecan (one of which will get lit right away). While that was going on, trimmed up the 14.5 lb brisket, made up a rub (SPOG) and rubbed it on down.

Set up the cooking chamber and topped it with the lid.

Carried the big ol' brisket out there at 6:30 and set it on the grate of my kettle. Took off WSM lid, grabbed the brisket to put it on. Crap! Forgot to put on the grate! Crap! Forgot to put in the water pan! Scramble to foil the pan real quick, scramble to find ceramic saucer and foil it. Place the pan down into the chamber. Cough, cough, cough, lots of smoke in my face! Pan falls down onto the charcoal. Crap! Grab pan to lift it up, get it into position correctly. Cough, cough, blister up tip of one of my fingers. Get the top rack put on, put on the briskie, lid on. Ahhh.....

Smoke ran dirty for a little bit but not too long, then turned into a nice thin blue. Dome thermo is settling in at about 275, so going on the assumption it reads about 20 degress higher than grate temp, that seems about right. Not running the new Maverick 733 today because, well, I forgot to get it set up.

More to come, going to put the ribs on at about 1:30 or so in the afternoon.
 
Hmm. Stuck a thermo probe in the side grommet and it read 305, while the dome read 275. Maybe I had that temp differential backwards.

Closed off the bottom vent to about 1/4 open (the other two are closed) to back it down a little.

Man, it is smelling good already out there!
 
The dome gauge on the wsm is not very good (putting it mildly). I never trusted it and always put a temp probe at the grate. My experience has been the same as yours with regards to temperature readings.

Good luck in your cook. The wsm is truly an awesome smoker, and helped me grow my hobby and passion for good bbq.
 
Side-grommet thermo is now reading about 280. More like it!
 
If you're not using water in a 22" WSM you can expect it to cook hot. I've had some of my best cooks on the WSM without water but the temps always seem high, even with a guru, and hard to maintain for the first few hours.

If they climb again close your exhaust vent down 50% and watch the temp over the next hour. You'll get pretty good control of your temp this way and be able to adjust it without it running away.
 
Lol. Love the keystone cops routine. Pretty soon the process will become so rote you'll be able to do it in your sleep. Sounds like you've got it under control.

Good luck on your maiden voyage. :thumb:
 
Just opened it up for the first time, to spray on some 50/50 H2O/Worcestershire.

Lookin' good.
 
good luck


next time get the cooker all ready the night before......including your pan, grate, charcoal and chunks. have the rub ready too. then all you have to do to get the wsm going in the am ........is put a few hot coals on top of the unlit and chunks.

really helps. easy peasy in the AM.

ok. now you get up ...and take the brisky out of the fridge. Go out and start a few coals in your chimney. Go back in the house and rub that brisky down.

go back out and put the hot coals on , and then
lift the body........with pan and grate all set..........and put it back on top of the base. put on the lid. set your vents ( with top full open ) and wait for your blue.


Oh............I stick a 7 inch candy thermometer in the top vent.
Better read than the dome.
It's just a few inches above the grate ........and actual grate temp is probably 15 degrees .......plus or minus........ lower than the candy.
The candy thermometer gives me a good sense of what's going on. And is confirmation that my maverick is operating ok.
 
floydo said:
alan

^^ no condescention intended. Might have come off that way.
Click to expand...

None taken, Homes!

What you laid out was pretty much exactly my plan yesterday. But then my son and I went last night to see the X-Men movie (8.5 out of 10!) and got back kinda late, and my laziness set in.

I do like what you said about the assembled body of the smoker. already have the pan set up in it, instead of reaching down to set it in there.

By the way, looks like some rain is moving in: cool! Get to see how the WSM chugs through it.
 
The WSM will be reliable and steady after a dozen or so cooks. My 18.5 WSM doesn't cook too hot at all now that it's been used a while (also straightening out the slightly bent circular rim on the bottom of the center section helped as well). In fact, I had a problem getting it up to 350F the other day for some weird reason.
 
aks801 said:
Hmm. Stuck a thermo probe in the side grommet and it read 305, while the dome read 275. Maybe I had that temp differential backwards.

Closed off the bottom vent to about 1/4 open (the other two are closed) to back it down a little.

Man, it is smelling good already out there!
Click to expand...

Correct... I have a 22.5 WSM and a Maverick. My dome thermometer is always 20-40 degrees cooler than the grate temp I get with my Maverick.
 
12:30 PM: Phase II begins!



Here are the ribs trimmed (crudely) and dusted, about to go in the heat.



Brisket set to the side (inactive Kettle, doubling as brief holding place) while I put on the ribs. First internal temp check of the day: 153*. About what I expected, not quite yet to the stall. Did another spray of the 50/50, put it back in and sealed it up again for awhile.
 
Yeah, after a few cooks, you'll get a system down. I remember my first couple not going as smoothly as I thought they would. First time I think I forgot to insert the Maverick probes, then another I remembered to set them, but didn't have the grate probe in a good spot based off the side of my meet. :doh:

My dome lid is really weird. It's like 15* low when I am trying to cook low and slow and about 20* high when I try hot and fast. The thing to remember is that this is Q. It's been done for thousands of years. Just don't panic and learned to adjust.

How well is your WSM sealing up? Any leaks? If they are small, they will seal up with use. Any larger leaks might require a little reshaping and / or the gaskets.
 
THoey1963 said:
... How well is your WSM sealing up? Any leaks? If they are small, they will seal up with use. Any larger leaks might require a little reshaping and / or the gaskets.
Click to expand...

When I first fired it up and there was that initial ton of smoke coming out, it was losing some smoke around the top of the side-door, and a bunch where the lid sets on the body. Now I KNOW there will be a gunk build-up at the top, so I expect that won't be like that for long. Side-door, meh, not sure.

I can say that since things have settled in, I have seen no smoke other than out of the top vent.
 
Sounds good! I probably rushed to get gaskets / door / latch, but all in all, it wasn't that expensive nor difficult. I may have been happy without them, but I am happy with them too.
 
3:30 PM: the skies open up

Pulled the brisket off so I could get to the ribs on the lower rack. Pulled the ribs out, spritzed with apple cider vinegar, wrapped and put them back on. Probed for temp on the brisket: 156. Not much progress, must be in the stall. Sprayed some 50/50, put it back in, and covered up.

While this was going on, a BIG T-storm line rolled in with heavy rain and LOTS of lightning. Nice.

Looks like temps are having a hard time coming all the way back up (230 indicated at grate), so once the rain lets up I'll probably add a pecan chunk and open up a bottom vent.
 
5:00 PM: Holy Smokes, what a mess

The rain never did let up! The temps dropped WAY down. I lit half a chimney and put that in, with some pecan, but it just wasn't enough fuel (I am assuming). Had to make an executive decision after standing by the WSM holding an umbrella for the better part of an hour.

Took things indoors. Set oven at 275*. Foiled the brisket and put it in. Took ribs out of foil and put them in.

And of course once I did all that, the rain let up to about to just a drizzle.
 
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