Done With Gassers

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Well with the money you saved you can add some mods. I'd personally go with lavalock and a stainless door mod and a expansion ring for more cooking space.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bakerman
Well with the money you saved you can add some mods. I'd personally go with lavalock and a stainless door mod and a expansion ring for more cooking space.
Probably start with stock and move on from there. The door looks like a good idea. Maybe an additional grate, lid hinge and a dual Thermometer.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mike R.
Your gonna love that WSM, I have had one for years with a BBQ Guru controller. Sleep all night & the smoker temp doesn’t vary more than 1 or 2 degrees as long as there is fuel in it. I ran mine for 22 hours without adding any wood or charcoal, but that was in the summer in Florida.
Al
 
  • Like
Reactions: bakerman
I got a lightly used masterbuilt gasser of CL for $50, had a tough time using it although did not give it enough time. I stumbled a used once smokey Hollow electric ($30) and with advice here bought Todd's trays and a cheap pid and have been going from there.
 
Last weekend I tried to smoke 2 butts on my Smoke Mountain gasser. Had the same problem I have had over the last few cooks. The flame kept going out. After the fourth attempt (3am), I just pulled the butts and put them in the oven @200. Went to bed disgusted.

Next morning I disassembled the regulator thinking a spider had gotten into the Venturi. Nope. Re-assembled and fired it up again. After 10 minutes quit burning. Once more ( I enjoy punishment), same deal. That’s it. After fighting with this smoker for 3 years I am officially DONE with gassers.

FWIW the oven cook was delicious, just not smoked.

So I am planting my flag in the charcoal burner camp. I ordered a WSM 22 yesterday. 6-8 weeks delivery, but I should be all set by the time that arrives. I looked at the Kamodo Joe Classic, and almost pulled the trigger, but the more I looked at it, the more I realized there was not enough room. The WSM had room to spare, cost less and to my mind worked just as well. I was going to get it from WalMart, but there was something really weird going on with the website. Plus yesterday mornings price and last nights price was $200 bucks higher! My wife contacted WalMart and they said they had been fielding calls all day about problems. I think they got hacked.

So I went to BBQ Guys website and ordered one. Now I sit smokeless, waiting for my Fathers Day gift to arrive. Rest assured I will be in here asking questions and seeking advice on modifications and additional info. Temp Control units and fans etc. A whole new area for me to explore
Nice move you won't be sorry that you did it, you'll be asking yourself why it took so long to make the jump.

When you burn in the new one is the perfect time to mess around and learn what the new rig will and will not do for you.

Have fun with it.
Dan
 
Ok. Seasoned it yesterday. Held temp between 225-245 for over 3 hours. Got very familiar with the vents. Cleaned it up today and am very pleased.
Now I need some welding gloves and a remote temp control with at least 4 probes. Lid hinge is in the forecast as well.
Probably won't do anything for a week or so. I'm going to an annual golf outing next weekend. But the weekend following I will do some chicken or bbq meatloaf.
Any recommendations for the temp control? Seems most of the ones I have looked at either fail quickly or the probes don't work after a cook or two . Trying to keep the cost under $75.
All in all I got a great deal, solid cooker. Checking on line it looks like it is getting hard to buy. I was very lucky.
 
I ran mine for a long time without a temp controller, just using a thermometer and alarm. Ended up getting a Pitmaster IQ110 on Amazon for about a hundred bucks. They have their limitations though. Your experience may vary though. Biggest things I've found to get for my WSM was a good 4 probe thermometer, and an instant read.

Enjoy your new WSM, and remember, the seal gets better with age.
 
I ran mine for a long time without a temp controller, just using a thermometer and alarm. Ended up getting a Pitmaster IQ110 on Amazon for about a hundred bucks. They have their limitations though. Your experience may vary though. Biggest things I've found to get for my WSM was a good 4 probe thermometer, and an instant read.

Enjoy your new WSM, and remember, the seal gets better with age.
Yes surprisingly once it settled down the seal started to form and I had very little escaping. The door may be addressed in the future but it seemed to work okay. I had a MB gasser that leaked a lot worse around the door.
 
Couple of questions:

How often do I clean this after use? I figured the grates need a clean after each use, but the whole thing ? Once a year? I smoke about 20 times a year.
What is your favorite modification?

Like I stated earlier I am gonna get the lid hinge eventually. Staying stock until I get my bearings.
 
Congrats on the new WSM. Nice smoker. I’d get use to running it without the temp controller first. You will learn the smoker a bit more that way. Then get a decent controller. Thermoworks, BBQ Guru, Flameboss and Fireboard all make good controllers.

My advise, when ready to add one, don’t cheap out on the controller.

I really like the Fireboard 2 Drive I have. Simple and very intuitive to use. Has 6 ports (one would be your pit temp port, and the other 5 can monitor food). It comes standard with the pit temp probe and 2 meat probes. The Fireboard has a built in battery that will work a fan, so you don’t have to have an electrical outlet nearby. I have mine hooked up to a BBQ Guru fan and it works excellent.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bakerman
Congrats on the new WSM. Nice smoker. I’d get use to running it without the temp controller first. You will learn the smoker a bit more that way. Then get a decent controller. Thermoworks, BBQ Guru, Flameboss and Fireboard all make good controllers.

My advise, when ready to add one, don’t cheap out on the controller.

I really like the Fireboard 2 Drive I have. Simple and very intuitive to use. Has 6 ports (one would be your pit temp port, and the other 5 can monitor food). It comes standard with the pit temp probe and 2 meat probes. The Fireboard has a built in battery that will work a fan, so you don’t have to have an electrical outlet nearby. I have mine hooked up to a BBQ Guru fan and it works excellent.
Great ideas. Appreciate it.
 
Conngrats on the new WSM 22.5. Dollar for dollar it is arguably one of the best smokers out there.

As already mentioned, I'd get used to running it without a controller first and learn the vent settings.

Modifications are many, but gaskets at the door and at the lid are good options, as are the lid hinge. A larger water bowl, if you are going to use water in it, is also a good addition.

As far as controllers, IMO the Fireboard 2 is tough to beat, from a features and consistency standpoint, and I have a BBQ Guru Cyber Q Wifi that I am comparing it against which is also a good unit. The Thermoworks Smoke setup is another good one, and well built. I'd rank the Fireboard 2 and the Thermoworks at the top of the heap, with the BBQ Guru third.

Below is my 22.5in WSM. It is somewhat "heavily" modified. I use an oversized Arbor Fab fire basket and minion basket in it which will allow it to burn consistently in excess of 24hrs if I need for it to do that.

Why I would want it to do that?

So that I can get up the next morning after smoking a brisket or a couple of pork shoulders and put the 6 racks of ribs in the list of pictures in this post over the same fire, without opening the fire door to adding another single piece of charcoal or wood to it or to knock off any ash.

It has an oversized water bowl in it, as I use water in my WSM. Felt gaskets are at the top section between it and the lid to get a better seal. It has two temp probe holes in it for running temp probes on either side of it. It has the Cajun Bandit stainless steel door and the WSM lid hinge.

I use the FIreboard 2 Drive controller with it, after using the aforementioned BBQ Guru controller for years, and I run two BBQ Guru fans on either side of it for more even fuel burn. I run lump charcoal, usually Jealous Devil, and wood chunks or a couple of wood splits buried beneath the lump charcoal. The pics below are from multiple cooks.

The first pic shows the basket about half full before I top it completely off

The final image, which I meant to show at the beginning of the series of pics, shows the type of burn consistency that I typically get with it. This is a little over 15hrs for this particular cook.

I have only been able to approach this type of temperature consistency in my PID controlled Rec Tec RT590 pellet grill.

I cannot even get temps this tight in my Kamado Joe. And that's with or without a controller in the Kamado Joe.

You can see what happens when I raise the temp to 250°F to finish off the cook, and to add ribs afterwards. All as simple as opening up the lid on it and putting the ribs on it as the brisket rests in the cooler while the ribs run and my guest arrive.

Same fire. Same coals. Same wood.

Congrats to the original poster on his new purchase. And I post this information up in demonstration of what kinds of results can be obtained with this great smoker.

IMG_6856.jpg


The next pics show some of the modifications done to it.

IMG_0464.jpg
IMG_7281.jpg
IMG_7281.jpg
IMG_1676 4.jpg
IMG_6858.jpg
IMG_6881.jpg
IMG_6598.jpg
IMG_6620 2.jpg
IMG_7147.jpg
Screen Shot 2021-03-13 at 1.54.46 PM.jpg
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: RCAlan
Conngrats on the new WSM 22.5. Dollar for dollar it is arguably one of the best smokers out there.

As already mentioned, I'd get used to running it without a controller first and learn the vent settings.

Modifications are many, but gaskets at the door and at the lid are good options, as are the lid hinge. A larger water bowl, if you are going to use water in it, is also a good addition.

As far as controllers, IMO the Fireboard 2 is tough to beat, from a features and consistency standpoint, and I have a BBQ Guru Cyber Q Wifi that I am comparing it against which is also a good unit. The Thermoworks Smoke setup is another good one, and well built. I'd rank the Fireboard 2 and the Thermoworks at the top of the heap, with the BBQ Guru third.

Below is my 22.5in WSM. It is somewhat "heavily" modified. I use an oversized Arbor Fab fire basket and minion basket in it which will allow it to burn consistently in excess of 24hrs if I need for it to do that.

Why I would want it to do that?

So that I can get up the next morning after smoking a brisket or a couple of pork shoulders and put the 6 racks of ribs in the list of pictures in this post over the same fire, without opening the fire door to adding another single piece of charcoal or wood to it or to knock off any ash.

It has an oversized water bowl in it, as I use water in my WSM. Felt gaskets are at the top section between it and the lid to get a better seal. It has two temp probe holes in it for running temp probes on either side of it. It has the Cajun Bandit stainless steel door and the WSM lid hinge.

I use the FIreboard 2 Drive controller with it, after using the aforementioned BBQ Guru controller for years, and I run two BBQ Guru fans on either side of it for more even fuel burn. I run lump charcoal, usually Jealous Devil, and wood chunks or a couple of wood splits buried beneath the lump charcoal. The pics below are from multiple cooks.

The first pic shows the basket about half full before I top it completely off

The final image, which I meant to show at the beginning of the series of pics, shows the type of burn consistency that I typically get with it. This is a little over 15hrs for this particular cook.

I have only been able to approach this type of temperature consistency in my PID controlled Rec Tec RT590 pellet grill.

I cannot even get temps this tight in my Kamado Joe. And that's with or without a controller in the Kamado Joe.

You can see what happens when I raise the temp to 250°F to finish off the cook, and to add ribs afterwards. All as simple as opening up the lid on it and putting the ribs on it as the brisket rests in the cooler while the ribs run and my guest arrive.

Same fire. Same coals. Same wood.

Congrats to the original poster on his new purchase. And I post this information up in demonstration of what kinds of results can be obtained with this great smoker.

View attachment 500570

The next pics show some of the modifications done to it.

View attachment 500560View attachment 500561View attachment 500561View attachment 500564View attachment 500565View attachment 500566View attachment 500567View attachment 500568View attachment 500569View attachment 500575
Awesome shots. That brisket is perfect.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SlowmotionQue
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Clicky