First Smoker- WSM 18 Arriving Tomorrow- is seasoning or burn in recommended?

[Kangabolic]

Hi Everyone,

First and foremost I want to extend an incredible thanks to this community. I made a post earlier in the week regarding the purchase of the WSM 18 or 22. Though the overwhelming majority of you did recommend the 22in over 18in simply because "No pitmaster ever wished they had a smaller cooking area" I ultimately went with the 18 as looking at its capacity capabilities it is hard for me to imagine right now needing much more space (HAHA Famous Last Words I bet!) aside from the 1 or maybe 2 times a year I would want to do a monster brisket. For ribs, I am anticipating getting a hanging rack which looks to allow me to do up to 8 racks. Truth be told also, I have a great contingency plan in that if I find I really do need the WSM 22, my youngest brother (Just him and his wife) will happily take the WSM 18 off my hands so I can upgrade to the 22.

ANYWAYS! I am seeing sporadic mixed commentary of whether you should or do not need to season or burn in a new WSM but am not finding much of a definitive answer or even technique to do so. I've stumbled into the world of Harry Soo which seems to be a step in the right direction and saw another YouTuber mention he did Harry's 3-step seasoning technique for his WSM but I have been unable to find Harry's actual video on this.

Anyways, any recommendations and or directions would be greatly appreciated!

Also- is there a specific charcoal recommendation you would give if recommending a burn-in?

Cheers,

[surfdog]

This is from Harry Soo…one of the champions of the WSM.

The fastest way to season a new WSM is to do the following:

Phase One – cover the water pan completely with aluminum foil and run a full load of lit Kingsford briquettes and let it run as hot as it can with no water in the pan (over 350 degrees) to burn off any manufacturing residue. Clean out the ash and proceed to phase two.

Phase Two – fill the charcoal basket 1/2 full of unlit briquettes. Then put in a 1/2 chimney of lit Kingsford briquettes in the middle. This will allow a slow burn for 3-5 hours at 72 degrees outside temperature. Adjust the vents to get 275 degrees on the dome thermometer. Put bacon strips, chicken parts, pork fat, or any other scrap meat you don’t plan to eat. The key is to get fatty meats to generate lots of grease. Toss in a couple of tennis-sized wood chunks to generate smoke. Repeat Phase Two at least twice before you cook meat that you want to eat.

Phase Three – When you cook meat you plan to eat, take a tip from me and don’t use any water in the pan. When I cook, I just cover the water pan with foil top and bottom. I foil it twice so I can remove the second layer after the cook and re-foil it. That way, I don’t have to clean my pan. It works just as well, AFTER YOU SEASON YOUR WSM, when you cook without water in the pan. Dry heat allows the crust to form faster on the meat (called the bark). Once the crust forms on the meat, you can introduce moisture. I just spray water with a regular spray bottle to encourage bark formation after the initial crusting (Maillard reaction) has begun. To test for properly formed bark, use your finger nail and scrape the meat surface. If the crust has formed, it will not come off when you gently scrape it with your fingernail. If the crust comes off, the bark has not set (still wet) so don’t spray until it sets. Let it cook longer and check back in 15 mins. You’ll get much better results this way. We’ve won many awards with this technique.

For the complete article, read this: https://www.slapyodaddybbq.com/2014/...-mountain-pit/

[Finster]

wait. what?
Who cooks bacon strips they don't plan to eat? seems sacrilegious to me 🤷♂️

[ecowper]

Finster as I noted in my post below, I cooked stuff I was going to eat. I just made sure it was something that I wasn't too worried about if I had a bad outcome.

[surfdog]

Kangabolic As long as it’s cool enough to handle getting rid of the ash…you’re good to go. I used all sorts of fatty “crap” inside my 22 during my “phase 2.” And like ecowper I discovered Harry after I already had mine a while, but saw numerous recommendations to season it. Don’t be afraid to gunk it up.

[ecowper]

Congrats on the new smoker!

As far as seasoning goes, you definitely need to get that thing smokey so it can run right. I found that until I had gunked up the inside of my WSM, it was hard to hold stable temps. The inside is pretty reflective when it is new and that was the main issue, I think.

What I did was just do some cooks with things that I wasn't going to worry too much about temperatures being too high or having large swings. The smoke and grease starting building up on the inside after a few of those. The first few cooks were chuck roasts and pork butts.

I have used Kingsford blue bag, Kingsford Pro, and Cowboy Brand Briquettes in my WSM ..... all of them work fine. I set up the charcoal ring using a donut like Harry Soo does and it works really well.

[ecowper]

Kangabolic mine fits snug, but not overly tight

[Kangabolic]

Mine fits so tight it the inner stainless steel peg rests are scratching the water bowl. Is this a concern?

Also- I'm doing the 2 Phase 2 Burn-ins this afternoon. How many pounds of "scraps" should I be aiming for? My brother is a butcher so he can get me whatever I need. Is 5lbs per run good? More? Cheers.

[ecowper]

Kangabolic I think that the water bowl fitting that tight is a bit unusual, but I don't think it will cause a problem. Air still circulates around it, so you should be fine.

If I recall right, I cooked anything from a chuck roast (3 lbs) to a pork butt (6-7 lbs) for my first few "burn in" cooks. So, yeah, I'd go with 4-5 lbs worth of meat/scraps

[Steve R.]

A couple of others beat me to the Harry Soo info, but you may also want to look into the Hunsaker rib hanger. I originally bought this for my WSM 22", but kept it when I sold the WSM, and it turns out that it's great for my Oklahoma Joe's Bronco Pro.

[Sid P]

Congrats, you will love it!

[Histrix]

My WSM 18 is about 15 years old and as I recall I didn't do anything special the first time I used it. Just loaded up some fuel, started a hot fire, and grilled either some chicken or burgers - don't remember.

A site I suggest you hit just in case you weren't already aware of it is the Virtual Weber Bullet - https://www.virtualweberbullet.com

Great site for WSM users. One of the first mods you might consider is adding casters - makes moving it around the patio much easier.

[ecowper]

Speaking of modifications .... I put on a hinge for the lid, the Cajun Bandit door, and a better charcoal ring. All good stuff. I have never put casters on it.

[surfdog]

That hinge is slick. Finding a place to set that big ol’ lid can be a challenge.
I never replaced my door, but I think mine was bent just enough to provide a good seal. Definitely something to consider though. And seeing as I rarely move any of my cookers once they’re in place, I never bother with casters.

[radiodome21]

Congrats on the WSM. It’s fun to use. I love the Virtual Weber Bullet website. Great info on there. Hinge looks appealing. I bought a lid for the water pan on Amazon when I was looking at casters. Never bought the casters but love the lid. I was sick of cleaning that thing out and I was using a lot of foil on that.

[jfmorris]

Kangabolic if you have issues fitting a brisket, you'll just need to trim or maybe separate flat from point and do them on different levels (I would put the point on the lower grate closer to the fire). Also.... no reason you can't hang that using the hanging rig!

I think you made a great selection. You get more traditional smoking results if you use the cooking grates and the water bowl in place, or you can use the hanging rack you ordered to get the results the Pit Barrel Cooke guys are always bragging about when they say its a rib and chicken cooking machine.

Can't wait to see how it works out for you. Lots of folks here to help you too.

[jfmorris]

On charcoal - I've been through literally hundreds of bags of Kingsford Original - or "KBB" they call it around here (for Kingsford Blue Bag). Over the past several years I've about stopped using it in favor of B&B lump or briquettes, as they burn longer and hotter and are cheaper for me than KBB. I have no clue where you buy charcoal up in Maine. I was just in Ace Hardware to get 2 propane tanks refilled, and they wanted $15 a bag for the B&B briquettes, versus the $10 a bag I pay at Academy (a sporting goods chain).

Personally for burn in, I would go with the cheapest stuff I could find, within reason. I.e. Kingsford, Royal Oak, Cowboy, B&B, etc. But make sure it's briquettes. I think briquettes will work out better for you with the WSM.

[ecowper]

I tried running lump a couple times in the WSM .... it was a pain. The unequal sizes of the charcoal didn't help with a stable burn, for example.

[jfmorris]

ecowper agreed. I've used lump in the SNS on my Performer a few times when out of briquettes, but found I get much more consistent temperatures and burn times using briquettes. The kamado is a different animal and really wants to use lump - otherwise the extra ash from most briquettes chokes the fire during a long smoke.

[bbqLuv]

The answer to your question is yes. For more information follow the manufacturer's directions or see above.

Above all else, don't forget the PBR.