Breaking In New 22.5

[jamiewenz]

I purchased a new 22.5" WSM with some Christmas cash. I've fired it up once to burn off the factory residue and season it a little. This weekend I'm planning on cooking a few racks of ribs for the Superbowl. The forecast is cold (about 20 degrees) this Sunday. Any tips on keeping it warm? I'm planning on cooking in a place that is out of the wind, but I'm not sure what to expect for temperatures in my smoker. Has anyone else tried their WSM in the cold? Will it work? Tips?

 

[dumasbro2]

You should be fine, especially with no wind. It will run hot for the first 6 to 10 smokes so keep that in mind. Of course this is Monday so you probably know that by now.:-)

 

[jamiewenz]

Thanks. The wind stayed down and I was able to keep the temp around 225 all afternoon. My ribs turned out great. Only bad part is my brother in law showed up and tossed a brisket on one of the racks with my ribs, and I think his brisket turned out to be tastier than my ribs. He was so happy with it that he is now shopping for a WSM himself. I took some leftover ribs to work Monday morning, now a co-worker is shopping for a smoker too. 

 

[noboundaries]

 
Thanks. The wind stayed down and I was able to keep the temp around 225 all afternoon. My ribs turned out great. Only bad part is my brother in law showed up and tossed a brisket on one of the racks with my ribs, and I think his brisket turned out to be tastier than my ribs. He was so happy with it that he is now shopping for a WSM himself. I took some leftover ribs to work Monday morning, now a co-worker is shopping for a smoker too.

JW, I think you're infecting your family and coworkers with the WSM virus!  You're contagious man!    

 

[knifebld]

Broke mine in this past Saturday and it went very well. Although I can see what your saying about burning hot I did have some temp issues for the first few hours.

Found the temperature gauge to be quite off the mark as it was about 40F off from the temps that my Maverick probe was reading.

Overall I am very pleased...for my next smoke though I think I am going to find a way to seal the small gaps in the front metal door.

 

[dumasbro2]

I don't think the gauge is off as much as it is the location (if your maverick was on the rack). There will also be a difference between the top rack and the bottom rack. Sealing the door is something I've been wanting to do as well but haven't yet.

 

[knifebld]

Great thanks. This leads me to another question then....where do you hook on the temperature probe on your WSM? During my last smoke I hooked it on top of the top grill....this the right spot?

 

[noboundaries]

Think about the airflow in a WSM; it is up the sides since the water pan is the heat deflector.  You'll get a different temperature reading putting the probe on the outer edge of the grill compare to the center.  You'll also get less of a temperature variance if using water in the water pan between the top and bottom grill compare to dry smoking.

I place my chamber probes about 3" in from the edge on the grill I am using.  If I'm using both grills, I put a chamber probe on each grill 3" from the outer edge.  I have one Maverick, two 6' chamber probes and two 6' food probes I have labeled next to the transmitter connection.  I have them labeled "chamber top, chamber bottom, food top, food bottom."  I can just switch out the probes on the transmitter to check temps when I need to.