tre77inpc
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 3, 2013
- Location
- Tallahassee
I have been on the fence for months as to which WSM to get. I think I have probably read every thread on this site on this topic. Well, I finally pulled the trigger on the 22.5. I figured for the extra hundred bucks I get a lot more room, which might not get used on a regular basis but is available if needed.
Santa came in August!!!!!
I was very pleased with how easy it went together. The only accessories I have right now are the Maverick ET-733. I will probably get a few more as time goes on.
I decided not to "season" the cooker as I just couldn't bear to not cook on it right away. For the first cook I did a 5 pound pork butt, two naked fatties and two slabs of spares.
I filled the charcoal basket full with kingsford and used a mixture of apple and pecan chunks. I lit 12 coals and spread them out over the basket and let it be.
I won't bore you with putting my cooking log on here but basically I was very pleased with the temp control. I thought for my first cook I would be fighting with high temps but that really wasn't the case. I really like to stay in the 250 range give or take 20 degrees.
The cooker did great, I was able to keep it around 270 for the life of the cook (appx 8 hrs). I let it run just to see how long I could get out of a full basket of kingsford. I started around 8am and at 11pm the WSM was still at 256!!!!! I went to bed but at least I know it will go 15 hours.
Here are some pics:
charcoal set up
After adding 12 lit coals, it only took about 20-30 minutes to get up to temp
First wave of food
Fatties done
Spares ready to go on (using 3-2-1 method)
Spares ready to be wrapped
Out of the foil, I sauced one and left the other dry
The pork butt off the grill and rested for appx 2 hrs
Sorry but there are no plated pics but I can say that the pork butt was awesome. The sauced ribs were great and the dry ones were good as well but they were smaller and I should have pulled them a little earlier.
I did learn that I need to be quicker when tending to the meat. Every time I had to do something that required the lid to come off, my temps shot up. Also need to find another spot for the cooker as the afternoon sun was hitting it directly and causing the temps to go higher.
Overall, I was very pleased with the performance of the WSM 22 and glad I got it over the 18.5. I think I might make a smaller basket that I can use for smaller cooks and maybe add some casters. Thanks for looking.
Santa came in August!!!!!
I was very pleased with how easy it went together. The only accessories I have right now are the Maverick ET-733. I will probably get a few more as time goes on.
I decided not to "season" the cooker as I just couldn't bear to not cook on it right away. For the first cook I did a 5 pound pork butt, two naked fatties and two slabs of spares.
I filled the charcoal basket full with kingsford and used a mixture of apple and pecan chunks. I lit 12 coals and spread them out over the basket and let it be.
I won't bore you with putting my cooking log on here but basically I was very pleased with the temp control. I thought for my first cook I would be fighting with high temps but that really wasn't the case. I really like to stay in the 250 range give or take 20 degrees.
The cooker did great, I was able to keep it around 270 for the life of the cook (appx 8 hrs). I let it run just to see how long I could get out of a full basket of kingsford. I started around 8am and at 11pm the WSM was still at 256!!!!! I went to bed but at least I know it will go 15 hours.
Here are some pics:
charcoal set up
After adding 12 lit coals, it only took about 20-30 minutes to get up to temp
First wave of food
Fatties done
Spares ready to go on (using 3-2-1 method)
Spares ready to be wrapped
Out of the foil, I sauced one and left the other dry
The pork butt off the grill and rested for appx 2 hrs
Sorry but there are no plated pics but I can say that the pork butt was awesome. The sauced ribs were great and the dry ones were good as well but they were smaller and I should have pulled them a little earlier.
I did learn that I need to be quicker when tending to the meat. Every time I had to do something that required the lid to come off, my temps shot up. Also need to find another spot for the cooker as the afternoon sun was hitting it directly and causing the temps to go higher.
Overall, I was very pleased with the performance of the WSM 22 and glad I got it over the 18.5. I think I might make a smaller basket that I can use for smaller cooks and maybe add some casters. Thanks for looking.
