just starting out

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

natl res8

Newbie
Original poster
May 2, 2015
6
10
Ithaca,NY
My 18.5 wsm should be here in a few days.I've read several post about seasoning a new unit. What is the best way to season a new unit ?Once the unit has been seasoned what rack, top or middle should be use for one rack or 2 of baby backs or st Louis cut ribs? Should h20 be used for smoking said ribs? Thanks
 
Fill her up with charcoal and some smoke wood light. I'd add a chicken or some chicken parts might as well smoke something if you're burning fuel.

For your ribs if your only doing a rack or two use the top rack.

I run a dry smoker for everything I smoke.
 
Last edited:
Would you spray down the inside with some kind of oil, like canola, and then burn some charcoal and wood?
 
The WSM does not need a traditional seasoning like other smokers because of the enamel coating. Really all you are needing to do is get it hot to burn off any packing and/or manufacturing residues before adding some food to it. Fill the basket about half full, put 5 or 6 fist sized chunks of wood around the outside, light half a chimney of charcoal, and dump it in a pile in the middle of the unlit charcoal.

Assemble the body, leave all vents 100% open, when the lid therm hits 200° close two of the bottom vents completely. It will continue to climb and probably top out between 250° and 300°. Let it burn for about two of three hours then toss on some chicken!

I personally use water all the time in mine, and since you are just learning how to use it I would start with water as well. It will help you learn how to hit and hold target temps. Once you get comfortable with your WSM then I would start deciding what thermal mass medium you want to use.
 
 
The WSM does not need a traditional seasoning like other smokers because of the enamel coating. Really all you are needing to do is get it hot to burn off any packing and/or manufacturing residues before adding some food to it. Fill the basket about half full, put 5 or 6 fist sized chunks of wood around the outside, light half a chimney of charcoal, and dump it in a pile in the middle of the unlit charcoal.

Assemble the body, leave all vents 100% open, when the lid therm hits 200° close two of the bottom vents completely. It will continue to climb and probably top out between 250° and 300°. Let it burn for about two of three hours then toss on some chicken!

I personally use water all the time in mine, and since you are just learning how to use it I would start with water as well. It will help you learn how to hit and hold target temps. Once you get comfortable with your WSM then I would start deciding what thermal mass medium you want to use.
Thanks a lot.  My 22" should be here friday or saturday and I would have sprayed it down with oil.   Glad I found this forum and group.
 
Thanks for the info,I followed you're instructions and everything turned out very well.Even my wife enjoyed the smoked chicken legs.My highest temp reached 271 degrees under the cover.I had the h20 pan about 1/2-3/4 full lined with aluminum foil,maybe I had too much h20.When people talk about dry smoking is the h20 pan left out of the smoker,or left in with no h20? Thanks again for you're help.
 
You will generally always have the pan in even if it is left empty, the pan acts as a heat deflector and without it you just have a really tall Weber kettle grill.
biggrin.gif


Once you get a fell for your smoker take a  couple of good calibrated thermometers and place one in the middle of each rack. Get your smoker running so the lid therm shows 250° then check the therms on each rack. You will find that each rack is different from both the lid therm and each other. You can then use this as a mental adjustment when looking at your lid therm in the future. Ideally you would have seperate dedicated pit therms for each rack, but if your like me I'm either to cheap or don't have the extra therms available so I just check my rack temps 2x a year and just make the mental adjustment in my head. The reason for checking every so often is that the lid therm may change on you as it gets older.

Glad to hear your wife liked the yard bird, now you will find yourself buying all kinds of meat just for an excuse to fire up the smoker.... lol. I highly suggest doing either ribs or a pork butt next, both are fairly forgiving (especially the pork butt).
 
Ok Thanks,My wsm has a grommet on the side for temperature probes,probably  have to get a maverick 733.How much h20 should be put into the water pan for a 6to8 hour smoke,and do you recommend aluminum foil to keep the pan clean? Do you keep all vents open to get up to temperature then close the 2 bottom vents?What is the proper procedure and when is the food added when the unit reachs temp or before? Thanks for your time.
 
I just got my WSM 18.5" and did my first smoke this last weekend. I read where the easiest and most forgiving was to do ribs.  I bought (4) slabs of back ribs from Costco.  I dry rubbed them with Jack Daniels dry rub and used a Weber rib rack.  The only issue I had was it was a cool windy day and getting the temp above 180 was a challenge.  Since then I learned that I probably had a bit too much coal and a bit too much cold water.  Even with that, I let the ribs go about an extra hour and they came out stellar.  At finish I coated them with Sweet Baby Rays and cooked for about 15 min on my Weber Genesis to coat the ribs good. Probably the best ribs I have ever made!  My next project will be pork shoulder, working up to brisket.  My folks love BBQ and are coming into town in a few weeks so my hope is to make them lots of great BBQ!!!!
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Hot Threads

Clicky