Greetings,
Many thanks in advance to all on this amazing forum, as I have been reading and following along for some months now but decided to go ahead and join. Although I have used a Weber 22.5 Performer for many years, I rarely used it for grilling as family seemed to like the in-direct method for meats and poultry over straight grilled items. It became frustrating over time, though, for longer cooks usually required adding more coals, and if the item was too large, parts would be directly over the hot coals and burn.
So I started researching information about smokers online, and it became clear pretty quickly that this was the premier forum for everything related to smoking. In short order I went down to one of our big box stores and purchased a WSM 18.5", and I haven't looked back! Although we've only had it for about a month or so, we've smoked five times (after thoroughly seasoning the unit), and we're having a great time. Because of the larger space available with the second shelf, we're able to cook extra and take it over to extended family to give them some dinners which has certainly been a plus as well.
I'll post on the WSM sub-forum in the future, but wished to introduce myself in the general 'Roll Call' as suggested by Administrators. Once again, many thanks to all those contributing, for I have already learned (and used) a number of the 'Pearls of Wisdom' folks have shared here, which literally has saved months (if not years) of trial and error.
Happy Holidays everyone!
Bruce
Many thanks in advance to all on this amazing forum, as I have been reading and following along for some months now but decided to go ahead and join. Although I have used a Weber 22.5 Performer for many years, I rarely used it for grilling as family seemed to like the in-direct method for meats and poultry over straight grilled items. It became frustrating over time, though, for longer cooks usually required adding more coals, and if the item was too large, parts would be directly over the hot coals and burn.
So I started researching information about smokers online, and it became clear pretty quickly that this was the premier forum for everything related to smoking. In short order I went down to one of our big box stores and purchased a WSM 18.5", and I haven't looked back! Although we've only had it for about a month or so, we've smoked five times (after thoroughly seasoning the unit), and we're having a great time. Because of the larger space available with the second shelf, we're able to cook extra and take it over to extended family to give them some dinners which has certainly been a plus as well.
I'll post on the WSM sub-forum in the future, but wished to introduce myself in the general 'Roll Call' as suggested by Administrators. Once again, many thanks to all those contributing, for I have already learned (and used) a number of the 'Pearls of Wisdom' folks have shared here, which literally has saved months (if not years) of trial and error.
Happy Holidays everyone!
Bruce