I'm sorry for such a late response folks. I've been job hunting this past week and there aren't a lot of employers out there looking for a regular joe who doesn't have a college degree. I'm keeping my fingers crossed as always though. Anyway, I was finally able to get my first smoke in on the 22.5" yesterday. I kept everything as simple as I could this first time out.
Pork butt - Injected with a mix of apple juice and maple syrup, slathered with mustard and coated with a simple homemade rub.
Chicken - Butterflied and removed keel bone, put cold nuggets of butter under the skin, slathered with mayonnaise and sprinkled lightly with the same rub. I haven't brined a bird since I started doing this.
I started the cook using 15 pounds of regular Kingsford and the minion method with six fist sized chunks of cherry. I foiled the bottom of the water pan and then filled it with hot tap water. I left the bottom cooking grate out for this small cook and loaded the meat. BTW, the 22.5" can hold an unbelievably crazy amount of meat! I started with all three bottom vents opened 100% and the
WSM immediately shot to 200 on the lid thermometer so I closed all the bottom vents to about 80%. It settled in at 225-250 for 3 hours before I needed to adjust the vents again. I kept making small adjustments every couple of hours throughout the 12 hour cook.
Overall, everything came out great and the
WSM performed like a tank. I pulled the chicken at the 4 hour mark and wrapped the butt with foil around 8 hours. I really enjoyed the taste from the cherry wood, but it's an extremely light smoke so I'll probably go with something a little heavier like oak or hickory next time. The chicken was super juicy and the pork was the best I've done so far. I pulled the pork and mixed the juices back in that I saved from the foil. I kept sampling it and couldn't find a dry piece anywhere. It reminded me of the pulled pork that Smokey Bones used to serve before the chain changed their image to an upscale bar & grill.
I'd like to point out that I didn't get much of a smoke ring on either meats even though I put them both on cold. That doesn't really bother me though. It just means I need more practice which sounds like fun to me. Also, I've got to mention again how well built the 22.5" is. After the first 15-20 minutes of the cook, the only place you could see smoke escaping was from the vent in the lid. Not even so much as a single puff came from anywhere else on the cooker. I'm not kidding either, this thing is that well built. As for the place I bought it from (Now Appliance), I don't think they keep a lot of stock in at one time.
You can e-mail them and I'm pretty sure they will either hold or order a 22.5" for you. Like I mentioned before, it's a fairly slummy area and I recommend paying with cash over a credit/debit card like I did just to be on the safe side. Also, they seem to change their prices around quite a bit. When I was there picking up the
WSM, they had a new Weber Performer in blue for $279 which is a crazy good deal (they usually sell for $329 around here). It killed me not to grab that as well but times are tough so my hands were tied. Sorry for such a long post and lack of Q-View folks. Please don't hold it against me.
