# BBQ Trifecta



## wittdog (Dec 28, 2008)

Well just got done with the meat prep…brisket is trimmed and marked (Full packer)…that will go on the bottom rack Brisket will be hit with the Swine Syndicate Comp Beef Rub….
      ribs are demembraned and trimmed up Ribs will be hit with the SS Rub Out Rub…..those will do on the top rack in a rib rack and will be surrounded by chicken thighs…most will go into a smoked chicken lasagna (marinating in some EVOO with some Garlic Powder, Onion, S&P and Oregano and Thyme )later in the week but some will be consumed for dinner (Chivettas)..
     I was informed by the Mrs. that I would be cooking with water in the pan….I asked her how she knew that…she said…you don’t have any sand…good women….she has the answers for everything…
Tomorrow I take the New 22.5 WSM for it’s maiden smoke…I’m still figuring out what to name it..


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## Puff1 (Dec 28, 2008)

Well it's about time!
Looking REAL forward to the outcome!  8) 

Name it ......Puff


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## Griff (Dec 28, 2008)

We are anxiously awaiting the report. The name will come in its own time and is usually happens after alcohol consumption.


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## Nick Prochilo (Dec 28, 2008)

Puff said:
			
		

> Well it's about time!
> Looking REAL forward to the outcome!  8)
> 
> Name it ......Puff



No, that's too girlie of a name! Uhmm Dave, where's the pictures?


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## Puff1 (Dec 28, 2008)

Griff said:
			
		

> We are anxiously awaiting the report. The name will come in its own time and is usually happens after alcohol consumption.


So Puff it is!!!


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## BayouChilehead (Dec 28, 2008)

Did the Mrs. also tell you not to post pics ......we want to see pics!!


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## Cliff H. (Dec 29, 2008)

I hope the new wsm is all that I want it to be.


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## wittdog (Dec 29, 2008)

Ok I got up this morning and had a cup of coffee



rubbed up the meat…










Then set up the 22.5 WSM for its maiden voyage….That is a coffee can I use to keep the lit charcoal in the middle of the grate….look how small it is…



The bottom grate…I think I measured it to be 21in…



The water bowl is HUGE….

All loaded with Charcoal…



Chimney Shot



Full Packer Brisket….Fat side down…



Ribs….



And a Couple pieces of chicken for snacking….






Shiny




Ok couple of observations…Again everything is big about this unit..The charcoal ring..the water bowl..the grates…
I used 2 big bowls of water to fill the water bowl to an inch away from being full….

I used about 2/3 of a bag of lump between loading up the double deuce and the chimney and had 4 good size chucks of wood..with 2 extra pieces to go on top of the light charcoal..

I would forget about putting handles on this unit…you would be asking for trouble the size and wt of it loaded up it wouldn’t be a good idea to move the middle and top sections with it loaded..

One other observation for those of you with wooden decks…it was fairly windy here today…not like yesterday but fairly windy…after I dumped the charcoal and loaded it up with the meat I had the bottom 3 vents wide open per the MM because of the bigger holes a and the holes being on the side of the unit I got a pretty big size lit coal that blew out the hole….Just something to think about…

15 min after dumping the lit and assembling the unit it was up to 200* and I shut the vents down to 1/3 open…like I would for my old WSMs….

From what I can tell this is another top notch Weber product…seems like they got the packaging right…nothing was crushed…all the pieces were there…it was easy to put together…It probably took be 2 beers (20min) to put it together…

The sections were round….they don’t seem to fit as snug as my other WSMs…but they might be just be that there isn’t as much goo built up…the looser fitting sections might be a good thing as well…with that big of an area…more airflow might be desired..I still wish the door was made out of a little heavier material…but the way it stays on when you need to reload is cool…Quick update the sections are not leaking…I’ve got a normal amount of leakage from the door…and some condesation coming for underneath the therm….

Any of you local guys that want to take a road trip….I’ve got half a mind to toss a couple of logs on the firepit and have a little breaking in the WSM party….
As a special bonus we had homemade donuts for breakfast today…..as fast as the wife could fry them…the kids were hammering them…


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## 007bond-jb (Dec 29, 2008)

Mmmmm Beignet's Cool smoker Dog


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## Big Bears BBQ (Dec 29, 2008)

Pics look good and it sounds like the new WSM is going to work out ok....


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## BayouChilehead (Dec 29, 2008)

Man that sure looks good Witt!!


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## Pigs On The Wing BBQ (Dec 29, 2008)

Nice Dave. Did you see that that goofy heat shield on the bottom has a hole in it? I thought that was odd.   I'd be over, but I have to close the deli tonight. Damn.  

Pigs


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## dmtky (Dec 29, 2008)

hope it turns ouut as good as it looks like it's gonna. keep the pics coming.


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## surfinsapo (Dec 29, 2008)

man, you are a blessed man with that smoker.. I found one in New York too after you went to the store the other day... Should be here on Jan 2nd. Thanks for reminding me about the FF too.. You a good guy, no matter what JB says!!!


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## Tannehill Kid (Dec 29, 2008)

Man that thing is huge. Can load lots of stuff on there.


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## wittdog (Dec 29, 2008)

Chicken is done…it’s a little dark..which is my fault…. I had to much wood going on at the beginning of  the cook…..it still tastes good just a little dark…


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## surfinsapo (Dec 29, 2008)

Yum. You're making me hungry


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## Griff (Dec 29, 2008)

I saw parts of the game yesterday. I can understand why you waited for less wind. It looks real good Dave.


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## wittdog (Dec 29, 2008)

The Chicken passed the kids test…they both ate 2 pieces…all I heard when I walked into the dinning room was Yum Yum…and some lips smacking…I had to reload the water pan…take a look at how the door stays attached…



The Mrs got these for Xmass…collapsible bowls…Santa figured they would be good for comps and camping…






And because I know its coming..here is the link to the bowls..
http://www.legourmetchef.com/Temp_Produ ... Strainers&

Mikey liked the chicken



About 3 hours in…flipped the ribs around in the rib rack…










Once the ribs are done I'm going to add more chicken for smoked chicken lagasana later in the week...stay tuned


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## Captain Morgan (Dec 29, 2008)

excellent report...keep em coming.


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## Pigs On The Wing BBQ (Dec 29, 2008)

Cool Dave. Thanks for the link. Got to get some of those.
Looks like the new big butt WSM has a home. Any name yet?
Bet it's thinking I'm going to get a work out here at this house!  

Pigs


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## Cliff H. (Dec 29, 2008)

It looks like you are breaking the wsm in real good.


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## wittdog (Dec 29, 2008)

About 5 hrs in it was time to check the ribs….



Once the smoke clears









Almost there



So far so good…once I got the temp dialed in it’s stayed where it should have….I was surprised that the water need to be replaced after 3 hours…but it seems to have leveled off now.. 

Its nice that after the ribs shrink up that you can get 3 racks on the grate….


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## Bruce B (Dec 29, 2008)

Those are looking good Dave, I was just that...3 racks of ribs on the top grate and still some room. wow


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## Unity (Dec 29, 2008)

How long do you suppose it will be before these steroid WSMs look normal?   

--John


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## wittdog (Dec 29, 2008)

Around 6 hrs  Ribs are done






Chicken is on for smoked Chicken Lag asana later in the week….(That’s a family pac minus 6 pieces)




So far so good….I’ve got no complaints…I didn’t check the factory therm for accuracy but going by the cook times so far it seems to be pretty close…or as close as I need it to be…..It been holding a steady temp…has recovered well from when I’ve had the lid off…after the chicken is done I’ll bring the brisket up to the top grate and stick a therm in it and make some decisions as to foil or not…

About the only thing I would like is handles on the bottom rack


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## Captain Morgan (Dec 29, 2008)

so your ability to control the temps is pretty close to the
little WSM?


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## wittdog (Dec 29, 2008)

Yeah so far Cappy controlling the temps have been as easy as the smaller WSM….the vents need to be open a little more than the smaller one…but once I got it locked in it was holding steady…
The big one seems to burn a lot more fuel than the smaller one…but with the bigger area and more massive cuts of meat..I would say its to be expected…Its still more efficient that my small offset..


I decided to add some more charcoal now..while there was still day light …there was a fair amount left in the smoker but no where near enough to finish the brisket….We also took a few pics from the door of the brisket….I used the door as a chute to dump the charcoal into the cooker…it worked pretty well..


















This thing is a rock..reload...wait 15-20 min and its right back were it was set for


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## wittdog (Dec 29, 2008)

Second batch of chicken is done….



And the brisket has moved up to the top shelve….Brisket flat is 155*



To foil or not to foil….


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## wittdog (Dec 29, 2008)

Dinner is served...Ribs, Corn bread, Okra and Hilltop beans.






Ribs came out good..everyone hammered them


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## Kloset BBQR (Dec 29, 2008)

Everything looks great, Dave!  Nice job!


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## wittdog (Dec 29, 2008)

I decided to foil the flat..the point I cut into burnt ends…2 half pans just about fit on the lower grate…had to squish one to make it fit…


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## bbqfans (Dec 29, 2008)

*wittdog*

Wish I were there,I like BBQ-LOL


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## wittdog (Dec 29, 2008)

Brisket is done and taste tested…



















Everything came out good and I was happy with the way the new WSM preformed.


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## Tannehill Kid (Dec 29, 2008)

Witt everything looks great.  Got me a itch for a 22.5.


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## surfinsapo (Dec 30, 2008)

That brisket looks perfect!!!


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## BayouChilehead (Dec 30, 2008)

Hey Witt, in the photos of your reload, are you putting the lump on top of lit coals??


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## wittdog (Dec 30, 2008)

I reached in with welding gloves on and pushed the lit over to the other side and then add the unlit


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## wittdog (Dec 30, 2008)

As for the burn time before you need to reload….I was using lump which tends to burn quicker then the recommended briquets..I would think an average burn time would be 8-12 hours before a reload…this was only my first cook on it I would want a couple more under my belt before I could predict the burn time. It was somewhat cold and windy yesterday which will effect fuel consumption. It seemed like I needed to add a lot of water to the pan over the cook….I use sand in my smaller WSM so it might just be that it seemed like I had to use a lot o water. 
     I ended up using close to a full bag of lump including the chimney for about a 12 hour cook…there was a fair amount of lump left in the cooker but IMO not enough to finish the cook if I had not foiled. A couple of things could have contributed to this consumption…I had spread the lit charcoal around the unlit more than on the smaller WSM..I think using water as a heat sink might have contributed as well. I’d like to try sand or even some foil balls or a piedmont type of heat sink.  All in all I’m happy with the way the WSM cooked and the added fuel use isn’t really a concern for me using it was pretty easy…
     I only had one temp spike and that was like the perfect storm…lid was off to move brisket from bottom to top rack, the water pan was low and I had reload the charcoal and a bunch of it had caught…I just shut everything down…reaching in with some welding gloves pushed the charcoal to one side and after the temp came down…reset the vents and it was locked in again.
T     he bigger WSM is like any other pit it has its advantages and disadvantages..the bigger cooking surface is real nice especially for ribs and whole briskets but it needs a little more tending to then the smaller WSM. I own two of the smaller WSMs and unless I need the extra space in a bad way I think I would do an overnight butt cook on them instead of the bigger one….now if I was going to be doing yard work all day and wanted ribs..rather than tend my offset which is what I typically cook ribs in I would probably use the Bigger WSM.  For comp cook the new WSM will be nice at comps the added space would make it real easy to compete with one.

One other thing I know they tell you not to use lump..I did anyway but one thing I noticed is I would not use this on a wooden deck…because of the placement of the lower 3 dampers and the bigger holes when it got windy I noticed that some pretty big coals were blowing out the holes..

Again all these observations are after just one cook so take them for what they are. I was very pleased with the performance of the new WSM. It was just as easy to use as the old one and the food came out great
Oh yeah….the Burnt ends were worth the wait….


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## john pen (Dec 30, 2008)

Sounds like a successfull test run...you might as well just give me your little tiny useless WSM.. Ill come up and pick it up !


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## Puff1 (Dec 30, 2008)

Great report Dave. Thanks!


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## Bruce B (Dec 30, 2008)

The coal issue coming out of the vents, might be solved by placing another charcoal grate on top the original and making a waffle pattern so chunks can't get through. I have that set up on both of my "little" WSM's. _I know how Puff feels now._


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## ScottyDaQ (Dec 30, 2008)

Looks great Dave


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## wittdog (Dec 30, 2008)

Bruce B said:
			
		

> The coal issue coming out of the vents, might be solved by placing another charcoal grate on top the original and making a waffle pattern so chunks can't get through. I have that set up on both of my "little" WSM's. _I know how Puff feels now._


That probably wouldn't work the charcoal grate sits halfway between the vents...these weren't little sparks they were coals about the size of a pinky nail


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## Pigs On The Wing BBQ (Dec 30, 2008)

Have your pals at work make you a round charcoal basket like they did for BUFORD.    

Pigs


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## wittdog (Dec 30, 2008)

It only happened when the winds were gusting 20mph...not that big of a deal just something to think about if you use your wsm on a wooden deck


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## ScottyDaQ (Dec 30, 2008)

Just needs a bigger aluminum oil drip pan that's all.


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## wittdog (Dec 30, 2008)

The ash wasn't coming out the bottom it was coming out the side of the bowl..


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## ScottyDaQ (Dec 30, 2008)

yeah...so BIGGER DRIP PAN


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## woodman3222 (Dec 30, 2008)

Great job. Just wondering how many pounds of lump do you go threw. Was it a 20 pound bag.

Good looking eats and great info.


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## wittdog (Dec 31, 2008)

It was close to a 20lb bag


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## woodman3222 (Dec 31, 2008)

So you used about a 20 pound bag. Was that on a 12 hour cook? I was wondering how much the wsm uses verses your horizontal smoker you have. Or do you uses mostly wood in your horizontal.


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## Cliff H. (Dec 31, 2008)

The 22" wsm should use about as much fuel as a uds.....Shouldn't it ?  

One 20 lb bag of lump will burn 11-14 hours at 300 in a drum.


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## wittdog (Dec 31, 2008)

Sounds about right Cliff


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## woodman3222 (Jan 1, 2009)

Cliff H. said:
			
		

> The 22" wsm should use about as much fuel as a uds.....Shouldn't it ?
> 
> One 20 lb bag of lump will burn 11-14 hours at 300 in a drum.



I was wondering what you mean by a uds


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## BayouChilehead (Jan 1, 2009)

woodman3222 said:
			
		

> Cliff H. said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Ugly Drum Smoker, made out of a 55 gallon metal drum!!


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