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    New owner

    After much deliberation, reading, research and great advice from this group, I have purchased a WSCG. I have read through most, if not all, of the posts under this topic as well as done other research, but wanted to ask if anyone has any additional advice, best practices, "wish I would have know when I first got my WSCG"-type advice and/ or resources. This is a big investment for me and I want to get the most out of it and have this grill last as long as possible. This is my first charcoal grill, I have a Weber gasser, so while not completely clueless, I could use help specifically with charcoal and this unit.

    Thanks in advance!

    #2
    2 things: Hopefully Kathryn fzxdoc will chime in with her excellent lighting tutorial, and the single best accessory to date is the Weber pizza stone insert. I'll be purchasing the Pit Viper fan to go with my Fireboard just because, but I smoked some pork belly burnt ends yesterday and Spartacus ran a steady 231 for 5 hours in kamado mode. You're going to love this sweet ride.

    Comment


    • kenrobin
      kenrobin commented
      Editing a comment
      I can endorse the Fireboard / Pit Viper fan combo.... I use it all the time with my Kamado Joe. Works great!

    • CaptainMike
      CaptainMike commented
      Editing a comment
      Thanks kenrobin I appreciate the thumbs up!

    • mjkelch
      mjkelch commented
      Editing a comment
      I unfortunately cannot endorse the Fireboard unit. As good as it functions, my unit failed just after the 1-year warranty ended. The display shows garbage temps (780F, etc) even when no probes are attached. Disappointing....had over 100 successful cooks with the FB.

    #3
    Congratulations!

    Comment


      #4
      Congrats and enjoy

      Comment


        #5
        Congrats!

        Keep it clean. I had a metal kamado for a few years and rust became an issue. The one I had was not as nice as the Weber and I am sure the coating on the Weber is better. Make sure to keep the ash cleaned out of the cooker, ash is corrosive and it will eat away at everything.

        Make sure to get a cover too. Keeping it clean and covered will pay dividends. A small shop-vac works great for cleaning them out. I use one for all my kamados.

        Comment


          #6
          Congratulations and looking forward to photos of your future cooks.

          Comment


            #7
            Congrats!

            Comment


              #8
              Congrats on the acquisition. When do you get it? Like you I've been researching this here and on every other forum I could find because Im picking up a used one hopefully this weekend. I’m so pumped.

              Comment


              • Miscad
                Miscad commented
                Editing a comment
                Just put it together last night, getting started with it today!

              #9
              Congratulations. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

              Comment


                #10
                Congrats! I'm sure that you will love the flavor of charcoal smoked food coming off of the WSCG.

                Comment


                  #11
                  Congrats big time!

                  Comment


                    #12
                    Woohoo! Another WSCG/C owner joins the ranks. You certainly won't regret your purchase, Miscad . Its so much fun to be able to enjoy both the full kettle (with/without an SnS) and the full kamado experience.

                    Since CaptainMike suggested it, I'm putting the prep and lighting technique that I use with my WSCGC in kamado mode, FWIW. Read on...


                    Kathryn's Current WSCGC Kamado Method for Smoking

                    Note: 1 scoop full = 40 coals or ½ chimney

                    1. Foil the Ash Bucket and the Diffuser Plate. Wipe the (previously cleaned) grate down with a disinfectant 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 chunk of wood. (Reminder: 1 Weber scoop holds about 40 coals, about half a chimney.)

                    3. Start the SnapJet 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 SnapJet 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.

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


                    More Notes:
                    If using KBB, 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.

                    With B&B Briquettes, there's no billowing white smoke. Just nice smoke pretty much right after shutting off the SnapJet. I use 3 scoops of B&B and one scoop of KBB, because the KBB lights more quickly. I place the KBB briquettes closer to the SnapJet side and spread the B&B briquettes around it. Ditto with Weber Briquettes.

                    Smoking in the 250-270 range: A 4-scoop-load of coals (Kingsford Original) lasts about 8-9 hours at that setting. 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 at or 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 Kingsford Original coals.

                    Have a great time with your new purchase.

                    Kathryn

                    Comment


                    • CaptainMike
                      CaptainMike commented
                      Editing a comment
                      I think good thoughts of you very time I do the kamado mode

                    #13
                    Thank you all for the advice and sentiments! I've had a few people suggest that I read the owner's manual - I have several times. It doesn't say anything about the first cook, but I've seen other people recommend a "burn off" before cooking food on it for the first time. Is that good advice? If so, what does it entail?

                    Comment


                      #14
                      A burn off is just to get any manufacturing residue out of the cooker before you actually cook. I'm sure you can find an actual method on here somewhere but in short you get the coals rocking and let it burn wide open. I generally see 45-60 mins being the concensus
                      Last edited by Andrrr; March 14, 2020, 08:21 AM.

                      Comment


                        #15
                        Along with the pizza stone that CaptainMike mentioned, I’d also suggest the griddle insert.
                        When I was researching the grill this caught my eye...
                        https://www.weber.com/US/en/blog/gri...ber-30121.html
                        So the griddle was one of the first accessories. I also have several of their grilling baskets & pans. The Weber 6678 pan has become my default grilled/smoked nachos pan.

                        And the charcoal coal rake is a must have. It really should have been included in the box...along with a grate lifter.
                        I use this, or something similar.https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

                        And +1 on suggestions Spinaker made. I have a bench brush that now lives on the bottom shelf specifically for sweeping the ash into the basket for easy removal.

                        Since it’s quite efficient and can pretty much literally be shut off, there will almost certainly be unburnt charcoal. Easy enough to reuse, but kind of a pain when needing to change the charcoal grate position. I now use a metal detector sand scoop to clear that out. All the small stuff falls into the ash below and the rest gets added to another "non-critical" kettle mode cook. I don’t like bits & pieces when smoking because the heat won’t be as consistent IMO as with full size briquettes. When clearing them out I just toss them into a Buddeez Kingsford charcoal bin.

                        I also have a "Classic Accessories" cover because I didn’t want a black one. I’ve been pleased with it and recently purchased two more for other cookers.
                        Last edited by surfdog; March 14, 2020, 09:46 AM.

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