How Steady is a WSM 22”

[ecowper]

This morning I put 15 lbs of Kingsford Pro in the fire ring with two chunks of hickory. I added 25 lit briquettes using Soo’s Donut. Set the vents to 1/3 open all the way around. I have made absolutely no adjustments to the vents or fire. This is what my FireBoard chart looks like over the last 5.5 hours

[Richard Chrz]

I have no data like that in printable graphs. I have ran my 22 wsm for 17 hours at 237degrees with no refueling, or fan .

[ecowper]

The WSM is a beast. The FireBoard let’s me prove it’s a beast :-)

[Richard Chrz]

I should add Weber charcoal. 7 coals to start, 5 decent chunks of hardwood, minion method, from a center fire start over one chunk.

[au4stree]

Just procured one for myself, about the only mod I’m interested in doing is an extra charcoal grate. Do y’all happen to know which one is recommended? Aside from the OEM grate for the 22”?

[ecowper]

au4stree I made 3 mods to my WSM 22
1. better door - the door that WSM sells with it is shite. Get the Cajun Bandit door. It looks much better and seals up much better.

2. High air flow charcoal ring and grate - again Cajun Bandit is the go to on this one

3. Lid hinge - I think it makes a huge difference to the ease of use on the WSM. Also available from Cajun Bandit.

If you buy all three from them, they have some sort of upgrade bundle.

[ecowper]

Honestly not a problem I’ve seen on the WSM ... but what I would do is just get a second Weber grate and put it in there at right angles to the original one.

[au4stree]

ecowper, looking at the Cajun Bandit stuff, did you apply a gasket anywhere or just let the seasoning build up do the job?

[ecowper]

au4stree I didn’t do any gaskets, just let it gunked up from cooking. The first few cooks were troublesome for temp control. The barrel was leaky at the various joints and the inside was really reflective. Plus learning to build a small fire, not a big one.

[ecowper]

au4stree you won’t regret the WSM 22 ..... best smoker for the price you can get. You will be amazed at the amount of food you can get on there and cook.

[jitsntricks]

Nice. I currently own a WSM 18 and a PBC, both purchased from craigslist. BOTH of these smokers are FANTASTIC. I use the PBC for ribs and chicken/turkey, and the WSM for pork butt, loin, tri tip and the rare brisket. I love both of these smokers. I'm considering getting a WSM 22, but want to see what the PBC XL is going to be about...... TOUGH CHOICES

Also, when you said your vents were 1/3 open, does that include the exhaust?

[ecowper]

yes, all bottom vents and the exhaust vent

[Steve R.]

My goal this spring is to get to know my WSM 22" better. I saw right from the beginning, when I was just seasoning it up, the temperature was surprisingly steady for several hours. With the lack of social gatherings over the past year, I just haven't had a reason to use it as much as I would like.

I still would like to use my PartyQ as insurance for long cooks, but I'm not sold on the method of installing the adapter on one small vent hole. I'm thinking it would be better to just drill a hole like I have done for all of my Weber kettles.

[ecowper]

I've used a fan + FireBoard Drive a few times. Installing on a bottom vent means that the charcoal on just that side of the charcoal ring burns much faster. I really don't think it made things better or more stable.

[TripleB]

For long cooks, I only use an ATC. I installed the adapter on one of the vent holes and went 7 hours (and got a good nights sleep). I set it for 250d and when I got up it was 250d.
So I don't really agree with ecowper on an ATC not making things better or more stable. Just my 2 cents.

[Histrix]

A WSM will pretty easily keep a fairly stable temp when the weather is nice.
On days when the weather might be alternating calm, gusty, rainy, snowy they can become a bit more problematic on their own.

[ecowper]

I’ll have to share some of my fireboard charts from cold and blustery weather. I haven’t really noticed that it makes much difference. My biggest issue is actually when the noon sun hits it directly

[Troutman]

Let me add that I just cooked on my WSM yesterday with the same Fireboard and fuel setup, only thing I added was fan control. The fans are not that expensive to add to the setup and here is the result. I cooked a Picanha for a little over an hour to get the internal to about 120* then up the temp to try and get a better bark set. Final pull at 125* with carry over at 132*ish. The WSM is a smoking machine for sure, check the results of this temperature gradient !!