Great advice! Thank you.Welcome to the forum! You will really like your WSM, I know I love mine. Like Al said, you don't need to do the traditional seasoning process, but there is a very light coating of oil or something sometimes on the inside so definately get it fired up and let it run for an hour or two just to burn that off. I basically have three differant load methods for my WSM:
The guide that comes with your WSM talks about counting out the number of briquets and what not.... glanced at it once, and then just followed the advice from the fine folks here at SMF and have never looked back!
- High heat short time for things like meatloaf, chicken wings, ect.: I dump one unlit chimney of briquets in the ring, toss in some wood chunks, then dump one full lit chimney ontop of that. If you leave the pan dry you will run at approx. 350'ish for 4-6 hrs.
- Lower heat "shorter" smokes for things like ribs, chickens, turkey breast, fatties, ect.: I fill the ring 1/2 full of briquets with some wood chunks nestled down in them and dump 1/4-1/3 of a lit chimney in the middle in a small pile. This will burn at lower 200°-250° temps for 8-10 hrs., depending on your lower vent settings and ambient outside temp.
- Low temp long burns for things like pork butt and brisket: Fill ring 1/2 way, put on some wood chunks, fill ring rest of the way, add a few more wood chunks, then dump 1/4-1/3 of a lit chimney in a small pile in the middle. This will burn 200°-250° for 18-24 hrs. depending on vent postitions and ambient outside temp.
Al,Glad to have you with us!
Since the WSM is porcelian coated it really doesn't need to be seasoned.
Still I would spray it with Pam & fire it up, just for a practice run.
You need to learn how big a fire to start with and how to control the vents.
Start by filling the charcoal ring with unlit coals, with wood chunks mixed in.
I like to make a ring of charcoal around the edge of the ring & put 6-8 lit briquettes on one end. The fire will follow the charcoal around the ring.
Open all the vents & when the temp gets around 200 shut 2 of the bottom vents & leave one open about 50%.
As the temp approaches 225 shut the 1 vent down until the temp stabalizes.
Here is a photo of the way I load my WSM. The can in the middle has some chips in it & they smolder along with the chunks.