smokehunter
Knows what a fatty is.
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2008
- Location
- AL
My lovely wife surprised me with a WSM 18.5 for my birthday on Friday so I decided to fire it up Saturday afternoon. I do have time on an offset but none on a bullet style. I didn't want to spend a whole lot of $$ on a briskett/ribs etc.. on my first cook so I made my first fatties and smoked some speckled trout we caught a couple of days ago. (Now I see why fatties are addictive!)
Sorry this is gonna be so lengthy but it might help the next guy on his first WSM cook and if any veterans have suggestions for me please let me know. I stayed between 210-250 all afternoon with very little adjusting of the vents. By the end I was cruising at 225 which is where I wanted to be. I will have to credit the guys on here that have given tips like leave top vent open, adjust bottom vents slightly and let it regulate etc...:eusa_clap Very impressed after the first cook. It was about 85 degrees outside with a slight breeze and here goes:
-1 Fattie was stuffed with cheddar/green apple and rubbed with Tony C. cajun. Other fattie was stuffed with cream cheese/jalapeno and rubbed with Dizzy's raging river. I'm addicted to Fatties now.
-Trout fillets rubbed with olive oil and Dizzies raging river. Others rubbed with light layer of mayo, ms dash table blend, and old bay.
-Assembled the unit in about 15 mins. Easy.
-Wiped all parts with canola. I don't think this is necessary but I figured if I was going to wipe it down anyway to clean it, why not add a little seasoning.
-I'm sure this is nothing new to some people, but I always read about the debate between briquettes vs lump. Hot vs longer lasting etc... So I went with a 50/50 ratio in my chimney starter and a 60/40 ratio of lump to briquette in the fire ring. (I didn't go into it analyzing the ratios, that's just how it worked out when I dumped the bags. Don't know if this helped but since a lot of people say the first time you use a WSM it will get real hot, and I never got over 250 it might have helped some. This will probably be my method from here on out. 8.8 lb bag of lump and a 5 lb bag of briquettes. I have lump left over and briquettes are gone.)
-I poured a layer of kingsford briquetts in a donut pattern inside fire ring. Positioned 2 chunks of green apple wood and 2 chunks of pecan so that when I poured my chimney in all 4 pieces would immediately be exposed to heat. Then poured a layer of lump on top of briquette donut. The charcoal donut was basically to the top of the fire ring. I left a medium size open hole in the center to pour my chimney in. This hole was a bit larger than a "coffee can." My chimney was 3/4's full and is not as large as the true weber brand chimneys I see at Lowes. So I would say that I did NOT fill the ring 100%. Probably more like 85-90%.
-Filled water pan with hot water and the remaining green apple left over from the fattie. I know people say this doesn't matter, but I had it so I threw it in there.
-Put lid on and all vents were wide open. Lid vent was open for the entire cook. Once I hit 200 I closed all lower vents so they were only open about 1/8 of the way. Crept up to 250 and closed all lower vents. Put 3 fatties on. After it regulated from lid being off it was sitting at about 210. It wasn't smoking much so I opened 2 lower vents 1/8th of the way and crept up to 225 and started really smoking. I fluctuated from 210-250 for the first 1.5 hrs. If i got up I would close the vents and if I was low I would open 1/8 of the way. I never really adjusted the vent that was into the breeze. I tried to leave it closed. Eventually I had it where I was cruising at 225. I think the key is barely adjusting the vents and giving it time to regulate. I learned that from you guys.
-After 2 hours of the fatties being on I threw the trout on.
-About 1.5 hrs later I took it all off.
-Just left the grill going like there was still meat on it and walked out there about 10:30 last night and she was sitting on 225 and I hadn't even looked at it since 8:00 when I took the meat off. So basically she was at 225 from 4:30 to at least 10:30 with minor vent adjustments in the beginning. I do realize that if I had 3 slabs of ribs on there, or a briskett that could change the temp but for my first cook I was EXTREMELY impressed with my new gift:icon_cool
Sorry this is gonna be so lengthy but it might help the next guy on his first WSM cook and if any veterans have suggestions for me please let me know. I stayed between 210-250 all afternoon with very little adjusting of the vents. By the end I was cruising at 225 which is where I wanted to be. I will have to credit the guys on here that have given tips like leave top vent open, adjust bottom vents slightly and let it regulate etc...:eusa_clap Very impressed after the first cook. It was about 85 degrees outside with a slight breeze and here goes:
-1 Fattie was stuffed with cheddar/green apple and rubbed with Tony C. cajun. Other fattie was stuffed with cream cheese/jalapeno and rubbed with Dizzy's raging river. I'm addicted to Fatties now.
-Trout fillets rubbed with olive oil and Dizzies raging river. Others rubbed with light layer of mayo, ms dash table blend, and old bay.
-Assembled the unit in about 15 mins. Easy.
-Wiped all parts with canola. I don't think this is necessary but I figured if I was going to wipe it down anyway to clean it, why not add a little seasoning.
-I'm sure this is nothing new to some people, but I always read about the debate between briquettes vs lump. Hot vs longer lasting etc... So I went with a 50/50 ratio in my chimney starter and a 60/40 ratio of lump to briquette in the fire ring. (I didn't go into it analyzing the ratios, that's just how it worked out when I dumped the bags. Don't know if this helped but since a lot of people say the first time you use a WSM it will get real hot, and I never got over 250 it might have helped some. This will probably be my method from here on out. 8.8 lb bag of lump and a 5 lb bag of briquettes. I have lump left over and briquettes are gone.)
-I poured a layer of kingsford briquetts in a donut pattern inside fire ring. Positioned 2 chunks of green apple wood and 2 chunks of pecan so that when I poured my chimney in all 4 pieces would immediately be exposed to heat. Then poured a layer of lump on top of briquette donut. The charcoal donut was basically to the top of the fire ring. I left a medium size open hole in the center to pour my chimney in. This hole was a bit larger than a "coffee can." My chimney was 3/4's full and is not as large as the true weber brand chimneys I see at Lowes. So I would say that I did NOT fill the ring 100%. Probably more like 85-90%.
-Filled water pan with hot water and the remaining green apple left over from the fattie. I know people say this doesn't matter, but I had it so I threw it in there.
-Put lid on and all vents were wide open. Lid vent was open for the entire cook. Once I hit 200 I closed all lower vents so they were only open about 1/8 of the way. Crept up to 250 and closed all lower vents. Put 3 fatties on. After it regulated from lid being off it was sitting at about 210. It wasn't smoking much so I opened 2 lower vents 1/8th of the way and crept up to 225 and started really smoking. I fluctuated from 210-250 for the first 1.5 hrs. If i got up I would close the vents and if I was low I would open 1/8 of the way. I never really adjusted the vent that was into the breeze. I tried to leave it closed. Eventually I had it where I was cruising at 225. I think the key is barely adjusting the vents and giving it time to regulate. I learned that from you guys.
-After 2 hours of the fatties being on I threw the trout on.
-About 1.5 hrs later I took it all off.
-Just left the grill going like there was still meat on it and walked out there about 10:30 last night and she was sitting on 225 and I hadn't even looked at it since 8:00 when I took the meat off. So basically she was at 225 from 4:30 to at least 10:30 with minor vent adjustments in the beginning. I do realize that if I had 3 slabs of ribs on there, or a briskett that could change the temp but for my first cook I was EXTREMELY impressed with my new gift:icon_cool
