My new WSM loses it's virginity tomorrow..

[caseydog]

I went ahead and pulled the trigger on a Weber bullet

I have two chuckies and some BB ribs for it's first cook.

I burned it out last night with a full chimney of red-hot coals, to get the manufacturing funk out of it. So, it should be all ready to go.

I got the tutorial for the Minion method in a WSM from the Virtual Bullet site. But, any suggestions in addition to that are welcome.

CD

[JazzCat]

Well Casey, I believe you wasted a full chimney of charcoal last night... (shoulda at least grilled some dogs with'um).
Another than having a cold case of your favourite libation on hand, sounds like you got everything you need.
One tip, in case you haven't read it or heard it....
Leave your top vent ALWAYS open.
Control your temps by adjusting the lower three. 1/3 closure should be enough.
For any and all answers (good, bad and/or ugly), refer to the Virtual Bullet site.

Good luck AND Congratulations!

[Black Dog BBQ]

Congrats, be sure and post the results of your cook.

[45fan]

Good Luck! I will be out early in the AM with my new UDS. I hope we both do OK!

[caseydog]

Originally Posted by JazzCat

Well Casey, I believe you wasted a full chimney of charcoal last night... (shoulda at least grilled some dogs with'um).
Another than having a cold case of your favourite libation on hand, sounds like you got everything you need.
One tip, in case you haven't read it or heard it....
Leave your top vent ALWAYS open.
Control your temps by adjusting the lower three. 1/3 closure should be enough.
For any and all answers (good, bad and/or ugly), refer to the Virtual Bullet site.

Good luck AND Congratulations!

Thanks for the tip on the vents. That was a big concern of mine.

As for the wasting of charcoal, I have to disagree. For the first 20 minutes of that burn out, my smoke smelled like an old small block Chevy with bad valve seals. Major oil smell. I wouldn't cook anything, even hot dogs, over that kind of funk.

CD

[Dave Russell]

CaseyDog, congrats on the buy. You won't be disappointed. I'd suggest you study up on Chris A.'s cooking topics and info on his virtual bullet site, but take the pointers off of his forum for what their worth. No disrespect to any of the posters there, but what works for some may not work for all, and Chris' instructions cover the bases and are very straight foward, especially for beginners. I just don't share his preference for Kingsford Blue.

[chambersuac]

Well, I'm sure you're gonna be up early to get the food on before Church, and will most likely be praying about it during the service. :)

The WSM is a great machine. What are you putting in the water pan, if anything?

It took me a cook or two to get mine dialed in, but even on those "learning" cooks, it was pretty easy. Except for the time I added to much cold water on a cold windy day. You'll love the WSM. If not, there's something wrong with ya. LOL. j/k

[bmanMA]

Use water in the pan, at first anyhow. I still use water after 5 years of consistent use. It has some nice thermal properties that make it act like a big wet capacitor. Sure, you may burn a bit more energy, but you will also be a lot less likely to have large variances during the thick of the cook. What the other guys say is true; top open (assume no vent system), control at the base. I agree that 1/3 per damper is good once the cooker is fully heated. Adjust if windy.

I like to overshoot my target cook temp by ~15-20*, then dial the dampers down. Let that sit steady for a good while. Once it looks locked in, it is. One hell of a cooker.

[caseydog]

Originally Posted by chambersuac

Well, I'm sure you're gonna be up early to get the food on before Church, and will most likely be praying about it during the service. :)

Since I am agnostic, I won't be awake in time to go to church, and don't expect prayers to save me from bad cooking.

I'll just have to take the advice of the Brethren, and hope for the best.

Life, and BBQ is an adventure.

CD

[Vince B]

I rarely use water in mine and use a clay pot base. In most cases because my wsm leaks like a siv I normally can run my lower vents closed most of the time and at times will partially close the top vent a scouch to maintain temps. Right now its in the lower 30's here and my wsm is sitting at 248*ish and I have not touched it in 4.5 hours! I normally get a good 12-14 hrs on a fully loaded ring and mix in layers of wood chunks with my KF. When you fire up your wsm make sure not to use to many lit coals if you are shooting for low and slow temps. With mine if I use more than 15-20 lit coals my temps will be higher than I want. Most of the info on the vwbb is pretty good however I disagree with some of the advise on how much fuel to light. Also this site here is great for info and there are many here that use the wsm. I found that I get quicker info here than the "other site!" Enjoy your new bullet!

[TomB]

You'll love the WSM and will get plenty of advice. Best advice is to just play with it. I'm hoping to add a second WSM this spring for competition. Water or no water? I've done both but have found no difference in cooking and easier to use no water and just foil the pan. Good luck with the maiden voyage!

[caseydog]

Originally Posted by chambersuac

Well, I'm sure you're gonna be up early to get the food on before Church, and will most likely be praying about it during the service. :)

The WSM is a great machine. What are you putting in the water pan, if anything?

It took me a cook or two to get mine dialed in, but even on those "learning" cooks, it was pretty easy. Except for the time I added to much cold water on a cold windy day. You'll love the WSM. If not, there's something wrong with ya. LOL. j/k

I'm just using water in the water pan. Nothing fancy. I also decided not to do the ribs on this one, just the chuckies. I figure it would be a good idea not to have too much $$$$ on the smoker this first time.

CD

[caseydog]

Originally Posted by Vince B

I rarely use water in mine and use a clay pot base. In most cases because my wsm leaks like a siv I normally can run my lower vents closed most of the time and at times will partially close the top vent a scouch to maintain temps. Right now its in the lower 30's here and my wsm is sitting at 248*ish and I have not touched it in 4.5 hours! I normally get a good 12-14 hrs on a fully loaded ring and mix in layers of wood chunks with my KF. When you fire up your wsm make sure not to use to many lit coals if you are shooting for low and slow temps. With mine if I use more than 15-20 lit coals my temps will be higher than I want. Most of the info on the vwbb is pretty good however I disagree with some of the advise on how much fuel to light. Also this site here is great for info and there are many here that use the wsm. I found that I get quicker info here than the "other site!" Enjoy your new bullet!

It is sunny and 75 here, and I have 20 briquettes in the chimney, but thanks to your post, I think I'll start with about 15 and see how that goes.

Thanks!

CD

[Vince B]

CD make sure to take some pic's! One other bit of advise for the charcoal grate in the bottom of your smoker. I use a second grid from a Weber smokey joe and run the grate in the opposite direction. Heres a link for you. http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=80866I find that this works well for keeping the smaller chunks of fuel from falling into the ash. Have fun with your smoke! Vince

[chambersuac]

I used water a few times and had troubled maintaining the temps...one thing I think was too much water. I have had a much better time using foil balls. Whatever works for YOU the best is what you should do, of course.

Good idea, CD, by the way about not putting too much on the first time. Hope all is going well for ya. Keep us posted, will ya?