dgaddis1
11-04-2017, 09:28 PM
I cooked for 50+ people today on an 18" WSM. I LOVE this little cooker! Okay, here's my story, with some good info for folks considering getting one - bottom line, do it!
I'm part of the local MTB club, and we hosted a 50 mile dirt road race today and we fed all the racers and volunteers afterwards. We had 50 riders, plus a bunch of volunteers, and a few racers had their spouses with them. The start/finish is at a little boat ramp/park about 20 miles from home.
Cooker details:
18" WSM with the following mods (that are maybe relevant):
-Hinge
-Knobs for lifting center section
-14.25" pizza pan in place of the water bowl (more info below)
-DIY expanded metal charcoal ring that's twice the height of the stock piece.
Cook time:
10:30pm - fire it up. Loaded with lump charcoal, cherry chunks throughout. Filled ring most of the way, dumped half a chimney starter's worth of lit coals in, and the added more un-lit on top of those. Set the top vent about 1/2 open. Adjusted just one bottom vent about 1/4 open or so, other two bottom vents were closed.
11:30pm - put the meat on. Smoker temp was at 200*F and climbing slowly, my previous experience told me it should settle in around 225*F. So, I went home, which was 20 miles away.
Just to be sure everyone understands :: the WSM was left completely unattended next to a river at a little park all night. I've never done this before, and was pretty confident I could pull it off...but a little nervous. I had no idea what it was doing all night.
6:30am - I arrive at the start area to check on the smoker and start setting up the start/finish line. Much to my delight, she was sitting at 230*F! :clap2: Throughout the morning the temp moved up and down in the 220-240*F range. Didn't touch the vents, just let it do its thing.
12:30pm - Started pulling meat off - at this point it had been running for 14hrs since we first put fire in it. At this point I cranked the heat up to around 350*F to finish off the butts and then cooked a few chicken halves.
3ish - took it apart to go dump the remaining coals so it could cool down and we could load it up to take back home. There was still a decent amount of coals left.
So, again, cook time summary - 14hrs in the 220-240 range, 2.5hrs in the 300+ range, and still had another couple hours worth of coals left. BUT, my charcoal ring allows for double the fuel load compared to the stock part.
There was shockingly little ash considering how much charcoal we had burned. LUMP FOR THE WIN.
Use vent settings to control the temp, and not a water bowl, plus lump, plus double tall charcoal ring = this little lady will smoke along long enough to cook damn near anything.
For the record, we smoked 4 butts with a total weight of 30lbs. They were organic/hormone free butts from Rocking Chair Ranch - and they were awesome!! Different taste for sure, but not in a bad way, and they were super fresh. I got a TON of compliments on the que, and many 'that's the best BBQ I've ever had'. Rubbed them with Butt Rub, no brine, no injection, etc. Keep. It. Simple.
Lessons learned, aka things that weren't perfect:
The pizza pan I used to replace the water bowl - First time trying it, and it wasn't quite bit enough to sit on the brackets. So, I just sat it right on top of the coals. I don't use the bowl because it's so deep, my DIY charcoal ring is twice the height of the stock ring so I can get more fuel in it, but you can't use that extra tall ring and the bowl - they both try and occupy the same space. I need a slightly larger pizza dish....
I know the upper rack runs a little hotter than the lower rack, so in an effort to have the butts on top finish first, I put the two smaller ones on top, and the larger ones down below. Of course, the bottom ones finished faster, their IT was consistently running about 15*F ahead of the two on the top rack. So, that was a pain to deal with, but, it's doable.
When we were done and pulled the top/center off the bottom to let it burn out we ended up with a small grease fire for a few minutes. I just let it burn off. 30lbs of butts does create some drippings haha.
I usually smoke pork butts to around 195*F, but these all got pulled off around 180-185*F. Mostly because it was just time to get them off, racers were coming into the finish and I didn't want a big hungry angry mob on my hands. However, they did all probe really easily and the bones pulled out clean with ease, so, they were done. I guess these all-natural pigs cook a bit different.
So, all in all, fantastic day. Biggest cook I've ever done, first time ever setting it up and truly walking completely away for 7hrs with no idea what it's doing.
Sadly, I didn't get a single pic of the food. I was also running the timing for the race, and racers started finishing right as I started pulling the butts out of the smoker, so I was pulling them, swapping racks around, getting the chicken on there, etc and just too busy to stop and take a pic.
I did get a few pics before it got crazy though. The pup isn't mine, but shes a sweetie.
It's set up, loaded with meat, and then we all went home and left it unattended, hoping the temp wouldn't spike, and no redneck would steal it.
https://i.imgur.com/eTKkUzzh.jpg
Next morning. Puffing along.
https://i.imgur.com/ksdsoFhh.jpg
Ms Luca.
https://i.imgur.com/jIf7EWXh.jpg
Beautiful day for a bike race.
https://i.imgur.com/1Zh2W6Lh.jpg
I'm part of the local MTB club, and we hosted a 50 mile dirt road race today and we fed all the racers and volunteers afterwards. We had 50 riders, plus a bunch of volunteers, and a few racers had their spouses with them. The start/finish is at a little boat ramp/park about 20 miles from home.
Cooker details:
18" WSM with the following mods (that are maybe relevant):
-Hinge
-Knobs for lifting center section
-14.25" pizza pan in place of the water bowl (more info below)
-DIY expanded metal charcoal ring that's twice the height of the stock piece.
Cook time:
10:30pm - fire it up. Loaded with lump charcoal, cherry chunks throughout. Filled ring most of the way, dumped half a chimney starter's worth of lit coals in, and the added more un-lit on top of those. Set the top vent about 1/2 open. Adjusted just one bottom vent about 1/4 open or so, other two bottom vents were closed.
11:30pm - put the meat on. Smoker temp was at 200*F and climbing slowly, my previous experience told me it should settle in around 225*F. So, I went home, which was 20 miles away.
Just to be sure everyone understands :: the WSM was left completely unattended next to a river at a little park all night. I've never done this before, and was pretty confident I could pull it off...but a little nervous. I had no idea what it was doing all night.
6:30am - I arrive at the start area to check on the smoker and start setting up the start/finish line. Much to my delight, she was sitting at 230*F! :clap2: Throughout the morning the temp moved up and down in the 220-240*F range. Didn't touch the vents, just let it do its thing.
12:30pm - Started pulling meat off - at this point it had been running for 14hrs since we first put fire in it. At this point I cranked the heat up to around 350*F to finish off the butts and then cooked a few chicken halves.
3ish - took it apart to go dump the remaining coals so it could cool down and we could load it up to take back home. There was still a decent amount of coals left.
So, again, cook time summary - 14hrs in the 220-240 range, 2.5hrs in the 300+ range, and still had another couple hours worth of coals left. BUT, my charcoal ring allows for double the fuel load compared to the stock part.
There was shockingly little ash considering how much charcoal we had burned. LUMP FOR THE WIN.
Use vent settings to control the temp, and not a water bowl, plus lump, plus double tall charcoal ring = this little lady will smoke along long enough to cook damn near anything.
For the record, we smoked 4 butts with a total weight of 30lbs. They were organic/hormone free butts from Rocking Chair Ranch - and they were awesome!! Different taste for sure, but not in a bad way, and they were super fresh. I got a TON of compliments on the que, and many 'that's the best BBQ I've ever had'. Rubbed them with Butt Rub, no brine, no injection, etc. Keep. It. Simple.
Lessons learned, aka things that weren't perfect:
The pizza pan I used to replace the water bowl - First time trying it, and it wasn't quite bit enough to sit on the brackets. So, I just sat it right on top of the coals. I don't use the bowl because it's so deep, my DIY charcoal ring is twice the height of the stock ring so I can get more fuel in it, but you can't use that extra tall ring and the bowl - they both try and occupy the same space. I need a slightly larger pizza dish....
I know the upper rack runs a little hotter than the lower rack, so in an effort to have the butts on top finish first, I put the two smaller ones on top, and the larger ones down below. Of course, the bottom ones finished faster, their IT was consistently running about 15*F ahead of the two on the top rack. So, that was a pain to deal with, but, it's doable.
When we were done and pulled the top/center off the bottom to let it burn out we ended up with a small grease fire for a few minutes. I just let it burn off. 30lbs of butts does create some drippings haha.
I usually smoke pork butts to around 195*F, but these all got pulled off around 180-185*F. Mostly because it was just time to get them off, racers were coming into the finish and I didn't want a big hungry angry mob on my hands. However, they did all probe really easily and the bones pulled out clean with ease, so, they were done. I guess these all-natural pigs cook a bit different.
So, all in all, fantastic day. Biggest cook I've ever done, first time ever setting it up and truly walking completely away for 7hrs with no idea what it's doing.
Sadly, I didn't get a single pic of the food. I was also running the timing for the race, and racers started finishing right as I started pulling the butts out of the smoker, so I was pulling them, swapping racks around, getting the chicken on there, etc and just too busy to stop and take a pic.
I did get a few pics before it got crazy though. The pup isn't mine, but shes a sweetie.
It's set up, loaded with meat, and then we all went home and left it unattended, hoping the temp wouldn't spike, and no redneck would steal it.
https://i.imgur.com/eTKkUzzh.jpg
Next morning. Puffing along.
https://i.imgur.com/ksdsoFhh.jpg
Ms Luca.
https://i.imgur.com/jIf7EWXh.jpg
Beautiful day for a bike race.
https://i.imgur.com/1Zh2W6Lh.jpg