First Cook On New WSM 22.

I did a 2lb fatty and 6lb chicken. The fatty got Adkins Western Style Rub and the chicken was marinated in Italian dressing for 24hrs and rubbed with Badia Complete. Everything turned out great. It was 53 high today and light rain ALL day. I could have picked a better day but I like adversity. I'm impressed with the first cook and will follow up with a few notes if you care to read. Nice cooker.

53 degrees today and light rain ALL day. The cooker was wet the entire time.

1. I used about 2/3 of a 20lb bag of Embers briquettes. Not the best charcoal but it's what I had.
2. No doubt the cooker was designed to run 225-250 . I actually took the full water pan out because it refused to leave 225-230 with all the vents wide open.. I knew I needed more heat for the chicken. I'm sure the weather played a factor too.
3. Removed water pan and 350 was a matter of minutes. I dialed it down to 275.
4. Thin blue smoke was apparent in about 20 mins of lighting the cooker using Minion method. It got "kinda" dirty after an hour but I opened the side door and it was at that point the lit charcoal had reached the wood chunks. Not sure anything can be done about that but it settled back to thin blue about 25mins after the chunks were burning good.
5. Used more charcoal than I expected but again the weather wasn't ideal and not the best briquettes.
6. My first impression is this could be a superior cooker to my old 55gal UDS but this was a first run. I loved my UDS and knew it well and used it year round. I'm looking forward to more cooks on this machine. It was a fun day minus the rain.
Oh, and after 5.5hrs and the cooking done, the cooker is still hanging at 215 degrees. It's making it's case for set and forget.

Cueford T. Justice said:

Chicken looks great! I’ve had my WSM about 8 years and I love it. It’s very fuel efficient and pretty versatile. We are passing in the night. I’m taking delivery of my Shirley patio this week and can’t wait to try my first true stick burner. It will be interesting to see what we cook on the most. Enjoy the new cooker.

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You will love the Shirley. I sold mine this weekend but plan to get another. It made the best bbq I've ever cooked. A little more hands on but well worth it.

Another observation. At one point I checked the temperature through the thermometer port. I didn't use a grate thermometer this time. The lid said 255 and the port, below the upper grate, said 320 using my Thermapen. I'm guessing my grate level was around 280 but I plan to get an adjustable lid thermometer and set it off of grate level. Already ordered a stainless door from Cajun Bandit. The tin OE door is not up to Weber standards IMO but I guess they have to keep cost down somehow.