WSM vs SNS

[klflowers]

So yesterday morning I got up and put a turkey on the 18 WSM and a couple hours later put a ham on the 22” kettle with sns. I have only used the sns a couple of times as I just got it in August. Imagine my surprise when the sns outperformed the wsm!

I had trouble getting the wsm up to temp - it ended up running at around 290 for the entire cook. I only put a small amount of water in the water pan and lit a full pan of kingsford using the minion method like I always do. Used a couple chunks of cherry. It wasn’t that cold out, in the mid 50s. This was the first time I have had this problem with the wsm.

The sns easily stayed at 225 - 230 for the couple of hours the ham was on it. As an experiment, after I took the ham off, I adjusted the vents on the kettle and got it up to 325 pretty easily. It stayed at 325 for awhile until I shut it down.

This was a surprise bordering on sacrilege. I have had a wsm for years. It is my baby. How can this be? Will I ever be the same?

By the way, the food turned out well, though the turkey skin was not very crisp. I used MHs ultimate turkey recipe with the Simon and Garfunkel rub, and I used Chris Lilly’s glaze on the ham. No pics - I had a house full of hungry people waiting when it was done.

[lonnie mac]

Glad it turned out well! As for the WSM, it is not designed to run high, although with the door propped open a bit it will. The Kettle is not designed to run low, although it can easily do so. With all my toys, I still have my ole 18". It does what it does extremely well.

[Hulagn1971]

I have a WSM 22" and can easily get it up to 325 but there are a couple tricks. One, you have to start it with a lot more live coals. I use Harry Soo's donut method and use a decent sized coffee can with both ends cut open to make the "hole". I then dump the coals in the hole and use long tongs or a long pipe wrench to pull the can out. Two, I do not use any water in the pan at all. It is going to hit 290 max like you experienced using even a little water in the pan. Try this on your next cook, you will be surprised how easy it is.

[djl]

Glad to hear it turned out! I did exactly the same thing. With one major difference. The ham was on my WSM and Turkey was in the kettle with the SNS. I was able to get crispy skin even with it being the coldest Thanksgiving ever in these parts.

[klflowers]

I was surprised - i have done lots of turkeys on the wsm and while it is tough to get it to 325, i have done it before. We filled the freezer with turkeys while they were on sale so i'll get to play with it over the next few months.

[JeffJ]

I have both and really like both. The WSM seems to take longer to get started - the fire is kind of wild at the beginning - taking over 40 minutes before it's wisping out blue smoke. But dang, once that thing settles in it really settles in.

[Black99vette]

I remember seeing, can't find it now, someone added an extra vent to the top of their WSM to increase air flow. This should help to hit higher temps. I suppose one could add an extra vent to the bottom as well or open the door. I have a cheap water smoker and I added a Weber vent to the top and it really helped - wish I would have done it years before I did.

[HawkerXP]

Take one of the rebars out! Oh, wait. Not talking about PBC.

[klflowers]

HawkerXP stop. appealing. to. mcs.

[BriggsBBQ]

I take out the water pan completely when I do turkey or chicken. I use the Harry Soo donut method and it works great. Also I have noticed that I get more temp out of adding Mesquite chunks. Also sometimes I let the lid hang over some to increase airflow. My goal is to have an open fire vs smoldering (white smoky). Also note open fire with Mesquite is not as harsh as smoldering.

The only issue I have with a SNS is that for low the top of the kettle is way hotter than the bottom at the grate so if you have ribs in a rack the top parts need to be flipped 1/2 way in the cook or the tops will be burnt before the lower part of the rib is done. For smaller cooks it works great since you can smoke and grill.

[klflowers]

BriggsBBQ, the first thing I made on the sns was a boneless leg of lamb at 225. It worked great. Haven't tried ribs on it yet. When you say the top of the kettle is hotter, do you mean the part of the grate that is closest to the sns is way hotter?

[BriggsBBQ]

The closer you are to the fire the bigger the temp change is from top to bottom of the kettle.

[klflowers]

OK. Reading is required. I missed the "in a rack" part. Duh!!!

[BriggsBBQ]

No worries I do that all the time.

[TBoneJack]

So yesterday morning I got up and put a turkey on the 18 WSM and a couple hours later put a ham on the 22” kettle with sns. I have only used the sns a couple of times as I just got it in August. Imagine my surprise when the sns outperformed the wsm!

I had trouble getting the wsm up to temp - it ended up running at around 290 for the entire cook. I only put a small amount of water in the water pan and lit a full pan of kingsford using the minion method like I always do. Used a couple chunks of cherry. It wasn’t that cold out, in the mid 50s. This was the first time I have had this problem with the wsm.

The sns easily stayed at 225 - 230 for the couple of hours the ham was on it. As an experiment, after I took the ham off, I adjusted the vents on the kettle and got it up to 325 pretty easily. It stayed at 325 for awhile until I shut it down.

This was a surprise bordering on sacrilege. I have had a wsm for years. It is my baby. How can this be? Will I ever be the same?

By the way, the food turned out well, though the turkey skin was not very crisp. I used MHs ultimate turkey recipe with the Simon and Garfunkel rub, and I used Chris Lilly’s glaze on the ham. No pics - I had a house full of hungry people waiting when it was done.

I have an 18" WSM, a 22" WSM, and a Kettle-SnS (I also have a PBC and a homemade UDS).

The Kettle-SnS has almost made my 18" WSM obsolete. However, my 22" WSM will hold 225 for hours at a time without needing any vent adjustments. I've never seen anything like it. It's a dream.

But I love all my other cookers too.

[JeffJ]

klflowers Run it like a PBC and you'll nail 325. For chicken lay down a single layer of unlit coals in the charcoal ring and then cover it with a layer of lit coals. Make sure all of the vents are wide open. Put the birds on the top rack and remove the bowl. The WSM absolutely rocks out birds when properly configured.

[klflowers]

JeffJ, I will try that method. I will post results, thanks.

[JeffJ]

klflowers I need to offer a big caveat - I have the 14.5 WSM. If that is what you are cooking with I swear by my results. If you are using one of it's bigger brethren...