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[email protected][_2_] nailshooter41@aol.com[_2_] is offline
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Default Maybe a good deal on a WSM

On Apr 24, 6:27 pm, "Nunya Bidnits" > wrote:

> I'm prolly gonna get one from Mar-Beck in the next
> week or two, unless somebody can point me to a better deal. I'm tired of
> dealing with the rust and paint issues on the old NBBD.


Amazon has them now for $199, including shipping. That's where I got
mine, along with another Weber chimney starter.

The only place that carried the WSM locally was Barbecues Galore, and
they were $249, plus 8.25% sales tax. Ouch. Since the WSM had free
shipping, they tagged the chimney along on the free ride as well.

When I got the cooker and opened it up, it had a bent vent on the
top. I called the Weber folks, and they immediately sent me a whole
new top. So when I got it, I took out the rest of the cooker pieces
and started to assemble it. I sliced my hand on the scratched
porcelain finish on the edge of the bottom.

Once again, I called Weber, and asked them how the best way would be
for me to smooth this surface off. Their reply? Let us send you a
bottom. So I had that in a few days. But while I had them on the
phone, I thought to ask them for a set of legs (my cost I assumed) so
I could use the bottom for an additional grill since it wasn't beat
up, just really rough. Nope... since they were sending me the bottom
they might as well send me the legs. No charge.
How nice was that?

I have said this many times before, but I could kick my own ass for
not getting this cooker sooner. I was turned off by the fact that it
is a charcoal smoker, but I am long over that. The ease of use, the
quality of the end product, and the ease to modify it make this a 5
star winner. When you buy it, it even comes with a nice cover for it
between uses.

I didn't start using store bought charcoal until a few years ago. I
was embarrassed when I did, as to me that is a sure sign someone
didn't learn how to cook on a pit (meaning wood cooking). I got over
that after finding a good source for all wood charcoal, which is what
I made when I was making my own.

So I burn Royal Oak in mine, with preburned (really, just badly
scorched) chunks of red/white oak, pecan and mesquite. I couldn't be
happier. With the performance.

Just how economical can this cooker get? Two weekends ago I bought a
large chuck roll, and trimmed it down to about 18+ pounds. I started
up the fire like I always do (this cooker does have its preferences on
that!) with a really full basket of charcoal and seasoning wood.

For some reason, the happy spot that evening was 237 degrees (?), and
once it held it for a couple of hours with the meat in it, I hit the
rack. Got up, checked it about 7 1/2 hours later, and it had lost
about 10 degrees. I opened the hatch, and gently rearranged the many
unburnt briquettes in the basket and it went back up to 237 (beats
me...) and stayed there for another 3 hours without additional fuel.

At 12 1/2 hours, I opened the lid for the first time and stuck the
thermo in the thick part of the meat. I added about 12 - 15 more
unlit briquettes on top of the coals. The chuck finishes at about 18
hours, and was not only beautiful, but tasted wonderful.

This will break your butt comparing it to your NBBD. 18 hours of
cooking and it used about 10 lbs of RO charcoal, and about 3-4 lbs of
oak. About 3/4 pound per hour! Here's the kicker, I probably didn't
need to add anymore briquettes as the smoker didn't drop below 225 for
another 5 hours after I took out the meat. It took 2 more to get to
200. With that kind of economy you could use the best charcoal in the
world anytime you wanted!

On my old smoker I always figured about 1.25 lbs plus per hour. My
Chargriller is pretty thrifty with the modifications, but after the
first three hour charcoal load, I need to keep an eye on the fuel and
temps. I could NEVER go to bed and snooze away in comfort knowing I
didn't have to do anything else.

Gotta tell you, I don't miss those every one - two hour checks on the
pit in the middle of the night, all night, one bit.

Mods for this thing are everywhere, and I did all I could find. A
grill level thermo in the lid opposite the vent, sand in the pan
instead of water, an additional rack under the charcoal basket to
close down the bottom of the grate, metal handles on the sides, and a
painted indicator on the access door handle.

If you need any help finding the mods, 99% of them are on the
virtualweberbullet site. And of course, if you had any questions, I
would be glad to try to help if I could.

Buy it!!

Robert