Couldn't resist. Had to fire it up, cold weather and wind be damned.

Had a spatchcocked bird sitting in a ziploc with some Mojo for 24 hours.
Pulled it from the fridge at 5pm, and set a chimney full of lump a burnin'.
Put another half chimney or so in the charcoal ring. Half hour later, dump
the burning lump and assemble the WSM.

Got the smoker chugging along at appox 300F at the dome. Threw a three
wiffle-ball sized chunks of hickory on the coals and let 'er rip. After
about 15 minutes, I was leary of the quantity of smoke venting out the top.
Nice white smoke, smelled good, just lots of it. Opened the door, pulled
the biggest chunk off with the tongs and let the rest burn.

After about an hour and a half of the smoker going steady I slipped the rest
of the probe through the top vent and started taking readings on the bird.
Read to the kid, check the smoker, repeat. Put the kid to bed, checked the
bird. Temp's leveled out in the bird and the lid isn't nearly hot enough.
Take a peek, most of the lump is burned out. Curse this heat sapping
wind!(Yeah, I know, get a K...) Fired up another chimney of lump and tossed
it in the pot. Probably got 2 and a half hours or so out of the chimney and
a half from the start up.

Kept a too vigilant eye on the bird temp, got it up another ten degrees
(150F, appox) before the cold and wind had eaten most of the second batch of
fuel. Pulled the bird off the grill and threw it in a 425 oven to finish
off the last 10 degrees.

Let the bird rest for about 15 (as long as SWMBO and I could hold out with
the incredible aromas overtaking the house. Took that first bite and
man...that was worth the cost of the smoker, right there. It's all gravy
from here on out.

Specifics:

Fuel: Wally-World Lump, 2.5 chimeys worth.
Smoke: Wally-World Hickory Chunks (same brand as the lump) They had a more
cost effective bag of chunk, but it looked heavily barked, so I went with
the store brand. Decent stuff, about $5 for 9 liters(?) of wood.
Goodies: Mojo marinated spatchcocked chicken 5-6 pounds
Location: Upper grill
Temp target: 300F
Actual temp: 320 - ?
Total cook time (w/ oven): 4 hours
Outside temp: 40 - 30, w/ wind

Jason

If you're going to cook at that high a temp. aren't you better off using the
plain old 22" Weber with indirect heat?

Jason Tinling wrote:

Couldn't resist. Had to fire it up, cold weather and wind be damned.

Had a spatchcocked bird sitting in a ziploc with some Mojo for 24 hours.
Pulled it from the fridge at 5pm, and set a chimney full of lump a burnin'.
Put another half chimney or so in the charcoal ring. Half hour later, dump
the burning lump and assemble the WSM.

Got the smoker chugging along at appox 300F at the dome. Threw a three
wiffle-ball sized chunks of hickory on the coals and let 'er rip. After
about 15 minutes, I was leary of the quantity of smoke venting out the top.
Nice white smoke, smelled good, just lots of it. Opened the door, pulled
the biggest chunk off with the tongs and let the rest burn.

After about an hour and a half of the smoker going steady I slipped the rest
of the probe through the top vent and started taking readings on the bird.
Read to the kid, check the smoker, repeat. Put the kid to bed, checked the
bird. Temp's leveled out in the bird and the lid isn't nearly hot enough.
Take a peek, most of the lump is burned out. Curse this heat sapping
wind!(Yeah, I know, get a K...) Fired up another chimney of lump and tossed
it in the pot. Probably got 2 and a half hours or so out of the chimney and
a half from the start up.

Kept a too vigilant eye on the bird temp, got it up another ten degrees
(150F, appox) before the cold and wind had eaten most of the second batch of
fuel. Pulled the bird off the grill and threw it in a 425 oven to finish
off the last 10 degrees.

Let the bird rest for about 15 (as long as SWMBO and I could hold out with
the incredible aromas overtaking the house. Took that first bite and
man...that was worth the cost of the smoker, right there. It's all gravy
from here on out.

Specifics:

Fuel: Wally-World Lump, 2.5 chimeys worth.
Smoke: Wally-World Hickory Chunks (same brand as the lump) They had a more
cost effective bag of chunk, but it looked heavily barked, so I went with
the store brand. Decent stuff, about $5 for 9 liters(?) of wood.
Goodies: Mojo marinated spatchcocked chicken 5-6 pounds
Location: Upper grill
Temp target: 300F
Actual temp: 320 - ?
Total cook time (w/ oven): 4 hours
Outside temp: 40 - 30, w/ wind

Jason

Jason Tinling wrote:
Couldn't resist. Had to fire it up, cold weather and wind be damned.
snip

Kept a too vigilant eye on the bird temp, got it up another ten degrees
(150F, appox) before the cold and wind had eaten most of the second batch of
fuel. Pulled the bird off the grill and threw it in a 425 oven to finish
off the last 10 degrees.

Let the bird rest for about 15 (as long as SWMBO and I could hold out with
the incredible aromas overtaking the house. Took that first bite and
man...that was worth the cost of the smoker, right there. It's all gravy
from here on out.

Congratulations on your first cook! Just the start of many perfect
meals to come.

Too bad that the wind drew so much heat and fuel away from the cook.
Could you have made a windbreak?
--
Aloha,

Nathan Lau
San Jose, CA

#include std.disclaimer

"Nathan Lau" wrote in message
. com...

Congratulations on your first cook! Just the start of many perfect
meals to come.

Too bad that the wind drew so much heat and fuel away from the cook.
Could you have made a windbreak?
--
Aloha,

Nathan Lau
San Jose, CA

#include std.disclaimer

Nathan,

The back yard is pretty much a wind tunnel, especially with row homes. We
took down the fence between the houses last summer (it was falling apart and
we prefered to have the neighbors over to visit), or that would have done
reasonable service. I think next cook I'll use the gas grill as a wind
break on the gustiest side (gotta put it to use somehwow :-) )

Jason

I wrote ...
Specifics:

Fuel: Wally-World Lump, 2.5 chimeys worth.
Smoke: Wally-World Hickory Chunks (same brand as the lump) They had a
more
cost effective bag of chunk, but it looked heavily barked, so I went with
the store brand. Decent stuff, about $5 for 9 liters(?) of wood.
Goodies: Mojo marinated spatchcocked chicken 5-6 pounds
Location: Upper grill
Temp target: 300F
Actual temp: 320 - ?
Total cook time (w/ oven): 4 hours
Outside temp: 40 - 30, w/ wind



Yeah, yeah, replying to my own post. Omitted details.

Water pan: Empty and foiled


On another note, when I got the WSM from Amazon, one of the three bottom
vent covers got pretty badly tweaked in transit. The rivet wasn't tight,
which allowed the vent cover to move and be moved, etc. I tightened up the
rivet, but the cover isn't providing anything in the way of a good
interference fit. I called Weber when I opened it and they sent a new vent
cover post haste. Being not excessively handy, I'd hate to screw up my new
toy by drilling out the old vent cover to install the new. Am I going to be
handicapping my fire control ability by leaving the wobbly vent cover on?

Jason

Jason Tinling wrote:
I wrote ...
Specifics:

Fuel: Wally-World Lump, 2.5 chimeys worth.
Smoke: Wally-World Hickory Chunks (same brand as the lump) They had
a more cost effective bag of chunk, but it looked heavily barked, so
I went with the store brand. Decent stuff, about $5 for 9 liters(?)
of wood. Goodies: Mojo marinated spatchcocked chicken 5-6 pounds
Location: Upper grill
Temp target: 300F
Actual temp: 320 - ?
Total cook time (w/ oven): 4 hours
Outside temp: 40 - 30, w/ wind



Yeah, yeah, replying to my own post. Omitted details.

Water pan: Empty and foiled


On another note, when I got the WSM from Amazon, one of the three
bottom vent covers got pretty badly tweaked in transit. The rivet
wasn't tight, which allowed the vent cover to move and be moved, etc.
I tightened up the rivet, but the cover isn't providing anything in
the way of a good interference fit. I called Weber when I opened it
and they sent a new vent cover post haste. Being not excessively
handy, I'd hate to screw up my new toy by drilling out the old vent
cover to install the new. Am I going to be handicapping my fire
control ability by leaving the wobbly vent cover on?

Jason


Hi Jason.....first winter using my WSM in NH. My coldest cook was 6 degrees
with a light/ moderate wind. I fill the fire ring close to the top with
lump, and add a chimney of lit lump to that. With new dry lump, I had no
problem getting the temp at the grill to 275-290. I did put a piece of
plywood on the backside to minimize the wind.
As far as the vent....I think that you should still have control by
adjusting the other two vents...in warmer weather, I keep one in the back
shut, and moniter the two on the front side. BUT, why not have it fixed? I
shut all the vents when I'm done, to save the lump in the cooker. I'd find a
friend that is not tool challenged if it was me........

"Jason Tinling" wrote in message ...

On another note, when I got the WSM from Amazon, one of the three bottom
vent covers got pretty badly tweaked in transit. The rivet wasn't tight,
which allowed the vent cover to move and be moved, etc. I tightened up the
rivet, but the cover isn't providing anything in the way of a good
interference fit. I called Weber when I opened it and they sent a new vent
cover post haste. Being not excessively handy, I'd hate to screw up my new
toy by drilling out the old vent cover to install the new. Am I going to be
handicapping my fire control ability by leaving the wobbly vent cover on?

If the vent leaks a lot or has a tendency to
move by itself, then you might find it annoying.
Can you bend the wobbly vent cover back into shape?
Unless it's totally trashed, it should be possible
to gently bend it.

-- Yip

"Yip Yap" wrote in message
om...


If the vent leaks a lot or has a tendency to
move by itself, then you might find it annoying.
Can you bend the wobbly vent cover back into shape?
Unless it's totally trashed, it should be possible
to gently bend it.

-- Yip

Yip,

It was/is pretty much a flat disk. No interference to cover the vent holes
completely. It will hold position provided it's not bumped, kicked, etc. I
tried to pressure fit it by hand, and also tried to peen the edges enough to
bend it in and seal at least the outside edge, but it's stil a wobbly mess.

I think I'm gonna bite the bullet (pun intended) and cut the rivet out.
Hopefully the screw provided by Weber fits the predrilled hole.

Thanks,
Jason