My first cook on my new WSM

All in all I think my first cook went very well, it definitely is a different beast than cooking on my offsets. i started at about 9:15pm last night with a chimney full of Wicked Good briquets (thanks Randy!!) then filled the basket full Wicked Good lump and hickory chunks. Once the briquets were ready I poured them in the basket then assembled the smoker pieces and added water to the pan...Once it got up to around 300 I put the meat in...I had 1 butt and 1 chuckie on the bottom rack and the same on the top rack. I got her to settled in at about 225 (reading at grate level), ever once in a while it would go up to 235, but mostly in the 220's...I let it cook for 5 hours (not touching it), then I swapped the meat on the racks, added more water and a few more chunks of hickory. My butts reached 200 at the 9hr mark (which I thought was pretty fast, usually on my offsets I cook them for at least 12hrs)...I pulled them and held for about 2 hours...When I opened them up, oh my were they juicy and falling off the bone, very easy to pull and VERY good. The chuckies I pulled off at the 6 hour mark (they were just 3lbs a piece), rested for 2 hours then pulled (very tender and very good)...

I used mustard slather and hen and hawg dust (thanks Jay) on the butts...On one chuckie just did S&P&G and the other I used homebbq.com beef rub...I thought the S&P&G was the best tasting...

The whole time I measured cooker temp in the middle of the top grate and the whole time it stayed within the range above, I didn't get a chance to install the external thermo yet, so i don't know what it was at dome level. i still can't explain the meat getting done faster than normal, but it didn't seem to affect it at all.

The only trouble I had, which I know it will just take time to get the rhythm right, was managing my probe cables within the two grates...i had one probe in the chuckie on the bottom grate and the other probe in the butt on the top grate...So when I went to swap the meat from the grates, it took some time to move all the cables out of the way and maneuver the meat around between the grates. But like I said I think it will get easier each time I do it...

Anyway this book is long enough...I am glad I purchased it and hope to have many more great cooks.

Jeff....Pic's to come...

I purchased the GURU eyelets so I ran them through the smoker barrel, but I ran them through the grates, which was a btch when I had to move the grates. Next time I'll try and run them between the edge of the grates and the barrel.

CrackerJack from KC said:

Hope I get mine next week. Might have to do something special for the superbowl. Did you get the guru eyelets locally, or did you mail order them? and, What is it you liked about that charcoal over Kingford, just curious?

Click to expand...

I purchased the eyelet's off the Guru site...They were only 7.50, but shipping kills ya...

I've heard lots of good things about Wicked Good, so I talked to Randy (our local dealer) and bought a couple bags. It starts up fast, burns long, real long and not much ash...I've just heard of all the fillers with Kingsford and wanted to try some 100% natural lump...Definitely is a difference...

bigabyte said:

You're going to love that WSM more and more each time you use it.:wink:

Click to expand...

Yep.

That's great CrackerJack..Enjoy, let me know how your first cook goes...J