Buying 18.5" WSM, couple questions.

[chimmike]

I know a lot of you have moved on from the WSM to better, pricier smokers, but I'm upgrading from a brinkmann vertical. I modded it slightly and just can't get it to maintain a constant temp other than 200*.

So, today's the day. I'm going out to buy a 18.5 WSM. I've done some reading, and I have a few questions for those experienced in it.
1) Do you guys use briquettes or lump?
Did some reading and those that use lump recommend an additional charcoal grate so that the small pieces don't get kicked out. Seems to me using lump would be more of a pain in this smoker......I have access to stubbs natural briquettes
2) Do I need to cure this puppy? Lard on the sides and a nice no-smoke heat up cycle?
3) Coffee can heat method work well for ultra-long cooks?
One of my FAVORITE cooks is a 12-14hr boston butt. I'd prefer not to add fuel.....if I can get away with it, or just add fuel every 5+ hrs instead of every hour and a half with this lousy brinkmann, haha.

Any other tips recommended? I plan on filling the water bowl with sand, but I was also considering picking up a ceramic pizza stone or cast iron circle instead of the water bowl...............

Thanks!

[beerguy]

Had my 18" WSM about 3 yrs now. I use briquets to start, and if everything is foiled, and i need more heat after 7-8 hrs, I add a handful or two of more briquets. If I dont have the meat foiled, I use lump, as its preburned. To tell you the truth, as long as theres a good coal base, glowing red when i open the side door, i dont think it matters much by that time in the cook.

[mfreeman73]

1. I use lump and have no problems with it. I've tried lump and briquettes and it works well with either.

2. I think I had to cure mine, but it's been a while so I can't remember. Probably good to do a batch of charcoal in it first time before using it for cooking.

3. Can't remember what the coffee can method is. But, I always use the minion method and it works great. I only have to add more charcoal if it's a really long cook.

I use water in mine, but I know other people will use sand or clay pots. I haven't tried that.

You'll love the WSM. It's very good on maintaining whatever temps you want. The more you use it the better you will get at keeping it at the temp you want.

[beerguy]

As far as curing, throw a butt on and cure while you learn fire control. I feel the WSM needs a few cooks before it becomes stable, but Im not gonna waste heat! im gonna cook something!
I also use sand in the water pan, works best for me.

[jmilleronaire]

I got the 18.5" WSM two weeks ago, so I have only limited experience, but this is what I have experienced so far with this thing. I love it!

1) Do you guys use briquettes or lump?

I used lump in mine because my friends and I bought a pallet of lump for the summer, and it worked OK. I think briquettes would probably make for easier control, and yes, small pieces fell through the grate, but it was okay.

2) Do I need to cure this puppy? Lard on the sides and a nice no-smoke heat up cycle?

I found many references to the idea that because this is enameled it's not necessary to cure. I think it's fine to smoke out of the box, but I think the heat control was a little better after i used it once and got some buildup on it.

3) Coffee can heat method work well for ultra-long cooks?

I used sort of the minion method, filled her up with a bag of lump and some wood chunks, then dumped a lit chimney on top, and let it warm up from there. I managed a 7-hour cook of 8 (too many!) racks of St Louis style ribs, then closed the dampers and put out the charcoal. The next day, most of the charcoal was left. I added more wood chunks and another 1/2 bag, and lit it again the same way, and ran a full 12-hour cook of two packer briskets on that the next day!

You're going to love it as much as I do. I went from a cheap brinkmann offset. The only reason I'd fire that one up anymore is if I need to do more than could possibly fit in the WSM.

[chimmike]

good to hear.
the coffee can method is a big coffee can with ends removed, fill charcoal around coffee can, dump lit chimney into coffee can, and remove coffee can. apparently takes a long, long time for the rest of the coals to light, and you can intermingle wood chunks in there too, and apparently lasts a long while. Might have to experiment with it.

[Harbormaster]

I have a few questions for those experienced in it.
1) Do you guys use briquettes or lump?
Yes. Both work fine in my estimation, and I have had no control issues based on the type of charcoal used. If you do use lump, make a point of "stacking" it in ther charcoal ring as tight as you can. I have started to really like the natural briquettes (Rancher, RO Chef's Select) and recommend them.
2) Do I need to cure this puppy? Lard on the sides and a nice no-smoke heat up cycle? No. The first couple of burns might be a little on the warm side, but seasoning the pit is not necessary.
3) Coffee can heat method work well for ultra-long cooks?The coffee can method is a variation of the Minion Method. I do not use it. I load the ring with lump or briquettes mixed with a couple chunks of smoke wood, and arrange it so the charcoal makes a 'bowl' in the ring with the middle low getting higher to the edges and dump my lit coals in the bowl.

[timzcardz]

1) yes

2) no

3) minion method

[chambersuac]

I recently got one, too. I "seasoned" it by cooking a batch of MOINK balls on it. Cook time is great, but I have not used it for a long cook, yet. I just know that it burned seven hours or so on one load before I closed her down. I use lump, but she can handle briquettes if that's your thing. You're making a good purchase. Congrats. HarborMastor has a cool mod that I plan to do this weekend. Shoot him a PM, if ya want.

[swamprb]

Briqs for me
I never seasoned any of mine-just cooked a couple butts on them and they were good to go after that.
All my 18's have 2 charcoal grates in #pattern in case I want to use lump (just too lazy)
Never have done the coffee can (have one and I might as well recycle it) I just fill the ring and hit the briqs with my weed burner, like Jim Minion said he does it.
If you are going to use Stubb's for a 12-14 hour burn, I would fill the ring and add a chimney of briqs and keep the temps @ 225*

[chimmike]

cool, thanks everyone

[gsmith140]

What would be the advantage of using sand in the water bowl over liquid? I'm pretty new and haven't heard of this method...

[chimmike]

sand doesn't need to be continually replenished like water.

I'm actually thinking of getting a ceramic pot base for it instead of the water pan.

[gsmith140]

And it keeps the humidity up as much as water?

[chimmike]

nope, it's more of a temp consistency thing from what I understand.

[Sledneck]

I know a lot of you have moved on from the WSM to better, pricier smokers, but I'm upgrading from a brinkmann vertical. I modded it slightly and just can't get it to maintain a constant temp other than 200*.

So, today's the day. I'm going out to buy a 18.5 WSM. I've done some reading, and I have a few questions for those experienced in it.
1) Do you guys use briquettes or lump?
Did some reading and those that use lump recommend an additional charcoal grate so that the small pieces don't get kicked out. Seems to me using lump would be more of a pain in this smoker......I have access to stubbs natural briquettes
2) Do I need to cure this puppy? Lard on the sides and a nice no-smoke heat up cycle?
3) Coffee can heat method work well for ultra-long cooks?
One of my FAVORITE cooks is a 12-14hr boston butt. I'd prefer not to add fuel.....if I can get away with it, or just add fuel every 5+ hrs instead of every hour and a half with this lousy brinkmann, haha.

Any other tips recommended? I plan on filling the water bowl with sand, but I was also considering picking up a ceramic pizza stone or cast iron circle instead of the water bowl...............

Thanks!You lost me at "moved on from the WSM to better, pricier smokers" I have cooked on just about every type of cooker and will stick with WSM and consider it the best.

I use lump only, i have a stoker on mine and with a full ring and just a few lit coals on top of that can get 15-18 hour burn easy. I use a clay pot base wrapped in foil just to help retain some heat. Not sure if it saves fuel but in my head it does:-D.

[Stoke&Smoke]

What would be the advantage of using sand in the water bowl over liquid? I'm pretty new and haven't heard of this method...

I use a clay pot, wrapped in foil, laid into a brinkman water pan (also foil lined) and wrap a layer of foil over the top of it. Acts like sand or the water pan, and when you're done, WAY easier to clean up, just remove the top foil and you're done! This, as opposed to scraping off the layer of gunk that builds up when using water. I think the saucer is also better because it cools down faster than sand would. Making packing it up after a comp faster.

I found that for the first half dozen or so cooks, our new ones have run a little hot. You really don't need to break one in, but temp control will be easier after a few cooks.

I pretty much use lump exclusively now, as I think the binders and junk in briquttes can add an off taste. But that's strictly a personal opinion.

I start mine by filling up the charcoal ring in layers, spreading the coals evenly and as close together as possible, adding in my wood chips evenly along the way, and piling it all up until the ring is full. I usually light just a single area in the top dead center with a MAAP torch (you could do about the same just putting 3-4 lit briquttes on the top center) and then close it up with all vents wide open. It won't take long for it to start comoing up to temp. When I get to about 180, I all but shut down the bottom vents, usually, this will coast me to between 225 and 250. You should be able to get 10-12 hours easy with practice, but, when competing, I usually top off the charcoal basket before going to bed, just as insurance.

[Sledneck]

And it keeps the humidity up as much as water?
The water vs sand vs clay point is all the same. Its a heat sink. Using water does not have anything to do with humidity and has no bearing on the outcome of your finished product. You will get the same results with any of them

[Saiko]

Sand has a couple of advantages:
It acts as a heat sink, in that changes in temperature in the chamber won't be as extreme due to this large mass of a stable temp.

It's BIGGEST advantage though is in ease of cleanup, it's a no brainer. I wrap the bottom of the waterpan in heavy duty foil, then fill the waterpan with sand. Put a layer of heavy duty foil on top of the sand and wrap it around the edges. Now before you smoke, add another layer of heavy duty foil on top of the layer covering the sand. When when you done smoking, simply throw away the top layer of foil and you're done. Takes 2 seconds to clean up, compared to cleaning out a waterpan full of grease and drippings.
I've found that if I don't add that second layer of foil, then drippings will somehow find a way under the first layer and get into the sand. The pic below kind of gives you an idea of what I'm talking about:
http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p236/mredman62/BBQ2/IMG_0005.jpg

[Smokin' D]

3 years with a WSM and it's a great cooker. Started out using water as those are the instructions. Kind of a pain as you need to refill the pan on long cooks and if you don't put in boiling water, the cooker will lose temp as it tries to heat up the water you just added. When you are done cooking, just what do you do with a couple gallons of hot greasy water? I now put a base to a big plant pot in the water pan, foil them and cook away. No messy water and a very easy cleanup to boot, simply take the foil off the pan and into the trash it goes.
IMHO temp control is just as easy as with water and the lack of added humidity in the cooker is a non issue, as the steam will only soften any bark formation and does not add any moisture to the meat in the process of cooking.

[chimmike]

I start mine by filling up the charcoal ring in layers, spreading the coals evenly and as close together as possible, adding in my wood chips evenly along the way, and piling it all up until the ring is full. I usually light just a single area in the top dead center with a MAAP torch (you could do about the same just putting 3-4 lit briquttes on the top center) and then close it up with all vents wide open. It won't take long for it to start comoing up to temp. When I get to about 180, I all but shut down the bottom vents, usually, this will coast me to between 225 and 250. You should be able to get 10-12 hours easy with practice, but, when competing, I usually top off the charcoal basket before going to bed, just as insurance.


Good to know because I usually start a butt around 11pm and hit the hay. with the brinkmann I've been using, if I don't wake up at least every 2.5-3hrs, temp drops below 200, usually to 150 or less. Not fun trying to restart that. The longer I can leave it and not fool with it, the better. It's usually when I start fooling with things that they go wrong, haha.

[CBQ]

Lump is fine, and you don't need the extra grate. I find that adding an extra grate will also keep ASH from falling through, and that causes more trouble than having a few pieces of lump fall through.

Wicked Good also makes a briquette out of lump that uses natural binder and nothing else. It burns about 200 degrees hotter than most lumps do, so if you are trying a fast cook or anything like that it's worth a look.

If you wrap your smoker in a water heater blanket you will get a longer, more stable cook out of it. It can make a big difference in the performance of a small uninsulated smoker.

[gsmith140]

Using water does not have anything to do with humidity and has no bearing on the outcome of your finished product.

I guess I'm surprised to hear that. I had just assumed that the water helped keep the cooker air moist- and therefore the meat as well. Now my question is the opposite: what's the point of using water at all then? And couldn't another liquid (apple juice, etc) help add flavor?

Sorry man, didn't mean to hijack your thread, was just curious about the sand idea.

[chimmike]

lots of people use apple juice.....in a squirt bottle to spray when they either turn the meat or check the temp.