Buying a new charcoal grill

[Panhead John]

Congrats on your new WSM. One thing that’ll help with temp controls is replacing the fuel door that comes on it. I’ve got a WSM and they’re a little flimsy and don’t seal well. Check out this article from Meathead. Cajun Bandit makes a replacement door for the WSM and it’s a much tighter fit. Also, after using it a few times, the sections and the lid will gunk up a little and seal much better.

https://amazingribs.com/replace-crappy-wsm-door

[Cachecropp]

Done. Used the link from Meathead’s article and purchased a new door from Cajun Bandit. Also, I’m smoking some chicken on it right now as a first meal and so far it’s been holding between 225-245. I adjusted the vents to 95% closed once the coals were ready.

[Panhead John]

Great! I think you made a good decision on the WSM. You’re gonna love it.

[ecowper]

A Hasty-Bake Legacy and a WSM 22 will give you an immense of smoking and grilling capacity for under $2K. A Hasty-Bake Legacy by itself will amaze you for about $1200. Just some thoughts on a great combo scenario.

You can search in the Hasty-Bake channel and see write ups from those of us that love ours :-)

The one thing I will say about longevity of the Hasty-Bake is this. I cook on it at least once a week, even in the winter. In the summer it could be as much as 4-5 times a week. I do long cooks (brisket, pork butt, etc) fairly often, although I’ve moved a lot of that to the WSM the last few years. I’ve had my Hasty-Bake for 11 years now. We are talking about something on the order of at least 1000 cooks, maybe more like 1500. I have not replaced anything. Not the firebox, lifting arm, grates. They are all still in good shape. I notice a bit of the powder coating was chipping just a little near the firebox door the other day, so I guess I’ll have to sand it and hit with some high heat paint.

[ecowper]

Oh, I did have to replace the rivets on the hood hinges last summer. Pop rivets, so they lasted 10 years, which seems pretty darn good.

[ecowper]

Heh, just noticed you bought the WSM 22 .... great cooker, I love mine. I replaced the door and added a lid hinge. After about 10 cooks and getting it nicely gunked up inside, I had much better temp control. Also, learning to build smaller fires and open my vents more helped immensely.

Also, there are some great threads on WSM fire management

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/charcoal-drums-barrels-and-bullet-smokers/weber-smokey-mountain/358259-wsm-charcoal-setup

Look through the WSM channel for more. :-)

[ecowper]

A few pics of different cooks on a WSM 22 to give you some idea of how much it can handle quite nicely. Also note that when you don’t have that much meat in there, the temps are harder to control. Just not enough thermal mass absorbing heat. Make sure the water pan is full, the fire is small, but hot, and the inside of the barrel is nice and gunky. You don’t want reflective metal inside.

6 racks of ribs, 3 on top and 3 on bottom


18 lb brisket after trimming :-)


2 racks of Dino beef ribs and some regular beef back ribs


Kinda small, only 3 racks of ribs


10 lbs of pork belly for bacon


22 lb turkey

[willxfmr]

The WSM is an excellent choice. I just got one late last year and it is quickly becoming my favorite. My poor pellet pooper is seriously getting lonely.

[Cachecropp]

Have had some fun with the WSM the last 2 days. I’ve not done any long cooks yet, but I’ve done a pound of bacon, a whole chicken broken into pieces with some extra thighs added and last night I did four 2” thick ribeyes at about 290 with two pecan chunks until they hit 120 deg, rested them for 15 minutes. During that time I removed the barrel and put the grate right on top of the firebox. It got so hot my Thermoworks Smoke hit "HHH" which is north of 700 deg. I seared the steaks on both sides and they were great.

[jfmorris]

Don't use those Thermoworks probes when doing direct grilling like that - they get damaged from heat about 700F. I've lost a probe or two over the years and had to replace them...

[Cachecropp]

jfmorris, that’s exactly what happened. Ruined the probe. Black foam looking stuff oozed out of it. Just ordered a replacement. 😄

[jfmorris]

Wow. I haven't seen the foam oozing out, but killed one to where it just never read right again. When doing high heat cooking, I just rely on the dome thermometer. It's "close enough", and I have an IR thermometer I can use to check the temp of things like the flat top or grillgrates.

[stevegoertz]

I've had my Primo XL Oval for about 5 years and have no issues other than a cracked firebox (my son decided to see how hot he could get it...) - Primo replace the firebox which sits in my garage cause the crack makes little difference in performance. I do tighten all bolts a couple times a year - I move it around my paver patio regularly which vibrates the nuts loose. It is without question the best grill/smoker combo I have ever used. Flawless execution.

[surfdog]

That 22” WSM is a fine choice. I gave mine away when I picked up my WSCG. I only occasionally miss it. LOL

I think the WSM smokers are genius...and pretty much recommend them to anyone that will listen.

And as much as I love my Summit grill center...it’s not nearly as portable as the WSM. But that wasn’t a major point for me.

[Micahchaney]

Did you look at the new hinge for the primo and top cap?