Acsending the Summit (Charcoal Grill)

[CaptainMike]

Look what Jerod brought last Friday afternoon (Jerod says "Hi"):






Some assembly required



After required assembly



Some disassembly required



Fresh from the garden



Seared a couple of NY's which came out as expected. This thing is a beautiful piece of equipment and so fun to use. Tried the first L&S yesterday with mixed results. Lit the fire according to instructions and it ran a little hot at first, which I suspected. Finally got it dialed in at 230 degrees and it stayed there for 4 hours. Did a little more research this AM that helped a lot so tomorrow's butt cook should be more consistent. Pics to follow.

[CaptainMike]

It's not a GOOR, but it'll do until I win one in a few days. Thanks again to frankmb for sharing this eBay find. Great seller/service and a super price if anyone has their eye on one. I offered $950 and he accepted immediately. Sale to my front yard was 9 days.

[EdF]

That guy on the truck looked like he knew he was Santa Claus!

[Mr. Bones]

It's not a GOOR, but it'll do until I win one in a few days.

Easily as cool, an noteworthy, Brother!
Congrats on that Great Cooker!

Some disassembly required

DOH!!!
I can so totally see me doin this to myself, laughin along with ya!

[tbob4]

That is beautiful! I really like the peppers in the photo. When Collier's hardware in Chico first got these I was down there every weekend just to lift the lid and play with it. My wife said I already had a Vision grill and did not need to spend our money on this. I'm no longer making special trips to the hardware store but I still can't go downtown without stopping in and playing with the lid and making a wish as I rub the outside of the display unit.

[HawkerXP]

"some disassembly required" LoL!

[CaptainMike]

I actually took it out of the big slider, but the RV is backed up kind of tight and I almost had to move it.

[Henrik]

Nice! Congrats on getting a fine piece of equipment! I love the fact that you did dry runs too. It really helps when getting to know a new cooker/smoker.

[au4stree]

Congrats! Nice looking grill

[CaptainMike]

Max Good yours and fzxdoc ringing endorsement was no small matter in my decision to go with the WSCG. I've watched your video review a few times and your enthusiasm makes me chuckle every time. Thanks for doing what you do.

[Max Good]

You folks make my day every day!

[lonnie mac]

You will love it. I can't count the cooks on mine to date. Fantastic beast.

[CaptainMike]

BTW, you're a crafty fellow, have you considered plumbing the gas to a large LP tank?

[lonnie mac]

Sure. Just get a little cheap adapter hose. You can find them at HD, or Lowes just about anywhere. https://www.amazon.com/GasOne-Propan.../dp/B073KV4WLJ

[New2Cue]

Thanks lonnie mac I was wondering if there was a solution rather than buy the disposable bottles!

[RonB]

Congrats on the new toy. The WSMCG is at the top of my wish list.

[CaptainMike]

Thanks Ron, it is a pretty cool rig. When you want to pull the trigger I can pass on the eBay info of where I/we got it.

[RonB]

Thanx _ I'll let you know if my wife ever changes her mind about a new cooker. She sez the 22" kettle makes great food, so why do I need another one that's 5 times the cost?

[CaptainMike]

Now you could try serving 140 degree chicken a few times.....just saying.

[JGo37]

Great Cooker! It's funny - I'm doing a first burn tomorrow, and using peppers to make American Chili Powder as the first run.

[Brewmaster]

Just went to order one and there are no more

[CaptainMike]

"Follow" the seller as he puts them on intermittently. At least once a week it seems.

[New2Cue]

CaptainMike I think you were the first to suggest the WSCGC in my thread looking for a second cooker to pair with my PBC, so I blame you!

Seriously, I’m glad I got it. It’s really nice, especially at that eBay price point. I just did my first burn this afternoon. Without much charcoal it held steady at 500 degrees for a few hours. Can’t wait until the ABC accessories come this week to start getting down to business on this thing.

[New2Cue]

Mine just came today. I got the Low Profile triple play, which is all solidly constructed. I'm new to kettle/kamado cooking, but am a little unclear of the need for the bigger charcoal basket, which is almost the size of the SnS. I assume it's if you want to include a lot of charcoal in long cooks and use it side by side with the SnS?

[New2Cue]

Sorry, ran out of room on last one.

If you are using it side by side and not setting up two zone cooking, couldn't you just do without the baskets and just add charcoal to the included grates?

I'm sure the rationale will become apparent as I get more experience. It wasn't much more to add the basket, so I just went with the triple play.

[CaptainMike]

I think using the basket would be kind of like using a Santa Maria grill, i.e. radiant/convected heat that sits lower in the grill.

[Troutman]

Great and funny story. Fabulous cooker, probably in my top 3 ever. Love your shop as well.

[CaptainMike]

Thanks Steve! It's a small shop, but we've produced some pretty cool stuff out of it.

[fzxdoc]

I was waiting for this topic to surface, CaptainMike and New2Cue to see how you liked your new WSCG/S setup.

It's great to hear that you're having fun with that new toy and that you like the results so far.

About the propane--I've used my WSCGC a lot and have yet to go through the first little bottle of propane. I use it for a short time to start the charcoal for my kamado cooks. Because I was concerned that using the SnapJet Ignition, the temperature might run away from me, I first used the Harry Soo donut method to start kamado cooks. I thought it gave me more control. I quickly found out (from a fellow Pitster here) that it was so much easier to just let the SnapJet Ignition run for exactly 5 minutes. I also use it for ABC charcoal basket cooks.

I find that the WSCGC is so responsive to vent settings that I've never had a runaway temperature situation like some ceramic kamado users say can happen.

About the Adrenaline BBQ's Charcoal basket--due to it's superior construction, it's so much nicer to use than the itty bitty ones that ship with the Summit. I think you have to try it to see how nice it is. Here's what Huskee has to say about the benefits of using the ABC charcoal basket:

I use ABC's SnS Charcoal Basket. I like it because it's not vented, more of a direct/indirect barrier is created with it compared to the Weber baskets, so more of my heat is forced upward and therefore in the natural pathway over the grate and upward and less of hot spot is created in the center for this reason.

For me, there's an extra bonus because, along with the DnG, it fits perfectly in my new 22" diameter Weber Smokey Joe kettle for a second SnS setup when I need it. Great for sears and, (with a water pan added) could do well in the smoker scenario. Some folks use it in their Smokey Joe 18 inch kettles as well, I've read here.

**********
In the FWIW category, (I've published this elsewhere on the Pit) here's the method I like to use:

My Current Kamado Setup Method for Smoking

1. Foil the Ash Bucket and the Diffuser Plate. Wipe the grate down with a Lysol wipe and then wipe down again with water. Set out two disposable aluminum pans for drip pans to be set on the diffuser plate.

2. Use 2.5 scoops for short cooks like ribs or chicken and 4 scoops for long cooks like pork butt, chuck or brisket. Four scoops will give you about 10-12 hours of decent temps (250° or more). Spread them pretty evenly on the charcoal grate. Top with 5-6 chunks of wood (4 to 6 oz each). Don't put a wood chunk directly over the igniter. 5 to 6 chunks will give you about 5 hours of beautiful blue smoke. For short cooks, use 1-2 chunks of wood.

3. Start the ignition going. Let it run for exactly 5 minutes with the lid open and bottom vent fully open.

4. After the 5 minute ignition, turn off the gas igniter. Add the diffuser plate, two aluminum drip pans and the food grate. Attach the ambient probes to the grate. Close the lid, flip down the top vent but leave the holes fully open (bottom vent still fully open) and watch the temperature climb.

5. When you're about 70 degrees from your goal temperature, close the bottom vent to the smoke setting (or just below if your WSCGC runs hot) and close the top vent to 1/2 or less, again, depending on your Weber. I like to have the lower vent just to the right of the smoke setting mark and the top vent at 1/3 to ride out the cook.

6. Before adding meat, oil the grate with a soaked paper towel to clean it off and give it some lubrication.

There's a ton of white smoke until the Weber gets around 225-250, then it settles out to white wispy/blue smoke for several hours. If the smoke is pure white (no grey), I'll put the cold meat on at 180°F grate level temp so it can get a jump on the smoke flavor. I feel (but don't know for sure) that adding that cold mass helps to keep the temperatures from running away. I've done it both ways--adding the meat early at 180°F and adding it at 225°F, and honestly, if I keep an eye on the temp, I've yet to have a runaway smoker.

Being a PBC type of person, I'm comfortable with smoking in the 270ish range (270 to 300 works well for my tastes, but that's a bit hot for some folks). A 4 scoop load of coals lasts about 8-9 hours at that setting. To get this, I set the lower vent to just above (to the right of) the smoker setting and the upper vent to 1/3 open.

For cooking below 250, I close the lower vent to just below the smoker setting (to the left of it) and set the upper vent to 1/4 open. At 250 or less, I can get about 10-12 hours of smoke out of a single 4-scoop load of coals.


Kathryn

Oh, and P.S. I didn't get much of a smoke ring on my first few kamado cooks. I know, I know--it's only window dressing, but I still want it! When I started adding more wood (5-7 chunks as opposed to 3-4 for longer cooks) I got the pretty smoke ring. Yay.

[fzxdoc]

You guys crack me up.

K.

[FireMan]

That’s why doc is her name.

[New2Cue]

Thank you for this post - very helpful!

[CaptainMike]

Awesome Kathryn fzxdoc, thank you sooooo much for this!!! The L&S instructions that Weber gives, and which I interpret, run really hot. I've been tinkering with different methods, but this will solve a lot of my problems. I figured I would figure it out eventually, but you saved me a bunch of time and charcoal. I suppose the set up would be the same when using lump? I'm still running ideas for a name and getting it narrowed down. Still, too bad "Mr. Fancypants" was already taken. Thanks again for taking the time to write this. BTW, do you know how to post a Fireboard graph? I have one that looks pretty funny and I think some folks might get a kick out of, very rookie-esque.

[fzxdoc]

Mike, I haven't used lump yet, but will be doing so. I bought a bag of B&B lump from Walmart. Been eager to give it a go. Plan on using the same method with it. It will be fun to see how it works with you.

As others have said, screenshot works well with Fireboard graphs.

K.

[au4stree]

I named my WSCGC "Willis". My 10yo son insisted we name it that. Now he asks me all the time "dad, what is Willis gonna grill us?"

[fzxdoc]

Oh that is so cute, au4stree . What a clever little guy you have.

Kathryn