# Charcoal grate missing on wsm



## new2bbq (Jul 4, 2017)

quick story: picked up a 18" wsm on side of road, replaced grills

now i just noticed there is no bottom charcoal grate under the chamber, would it be safe to put the coal without the grate, would it burn thru the bottom? i will eventually order one, but wondering for doing it one time would it cause damage. Or I have an very old grill that i dont use, but its alittle bigger, which raises it almost above the bottom vents.  Thanks for answering my dumb question lol


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## noboundaries (Jul 4, 2017)

No, don't put the charcoal directly in the bowl. 

Get a tape measure and measure the diameter of the bowl just below the bottom vents, about a half inch down.  Then go to HD and get a charcoal ring that closely matches the diameter.

Is the fire ring missing too?  You can make one out of expanded metal grate, or you can order a new one.  A fire ring is really necessary to make the WSM work like it is supposed to.


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## new2bbq (Jul 4, 2017)

Noboundaries said:


> No, don't put the charcoal directly in the bowl.
> 
> Get a tape measure and measure the diameter of the bowl just below the bottom vents, about a half inch down.  Then go to HD and get a charcoal ring that closely matches the diameter.
> 
> Is the fire ring missing too?  You can make one out of expanded metal grate, or you can order a new one.  A fire ring is really necessary to make the WSM work like it is supposed to.


the fire ring is it the circle with all the holes? i have that one. idk if hd will be open today, but il check. if not would putting in a bigger grate work, its just sits higher than it supposed to. Thanks for quick reply


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## noboundaries (Jul 4, 2017)

You can definitely put a bigger grate in as a temp fix.


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## dward51 (Jul 4, 2017)

You should be able to order both the charcoal grate and the fire ring (I would get both).   Be aware that there are two designs of charcoal grate that will fit that model.  Prior to 2009 the grate had openings that let come charcoal fall through at the sides.  This was fixed by Weber in the 2009 and later models.  I still see the older style grates for sale on the web, so make sure you are getting the newer grate.  If you end up with the older grate, you can buy a charcoal grate for a 18.5" kettle and it will fit inside the fire ring. You lay this 2nd grate 90* to the rods of the WSM grate to keep all but the smallest pieces of charcoal falling down into the bowl.  Most people take stainless wire and wire the grate, 2nd grate and fire ring together as a single unit.  You can also put u-bolts through the grates to use as handles to shake the ash down in long cooks.

One other point, you may find a food grate from a smaller grill that will fit (the original 18.5" WSM charcoal grate was 15 1/4" in diameter).  Charcoal grates are usually made of a thicker metal and a different steel that is more durable to heat from the lit coals being in direct contact.  A thinner food grate may work, but it will likely burn through pretty quickly or even sag from the heat.

Even if you have to spend $30 or $40 on grates & a fire ring, a FREE WSM is a deal.


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## new2bbq (Jul 4, 2017)

Thanks for advice.  I dug up an old 14" rectangular grate that fit, just has gaps on side.  Giving that a try,  but I will order the right ones. So far it's working,  my temp has been stuck at 300 trying to get 230.  Top vents open, bottom two closed and 1 barely open.
Anyway thanks


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## dward51 (Jul 4, 2017)

How did you light it?  Sounds like you just dumped in a chimney of fully lit.    If you have the water pan, foil it and fill with water.  That serves 2 purposes. It helps add moisture to the air column and they physics of water help the smoker want to stay in that 210-220* range.  It seems to be easier to learn with water in the pan on a WSM and the once you get the fiddling with vents thing figured out, you can try without.  It works by basic physics.  Water wants to remain a liquid, and it takes a lot more energy to change water from a liquid at 212* to steam or vapor at 212*.  The vapor wants to fall back to water naturally and it tends to suck energy out of the air column and moderate the temp in that 212-220 range quite well. There is more to it, but thats the simple version.

Also when fiddling with the bottom vents (bottom only, top vent is 100% open ALWAYS), if you move a bottom vent setting wait 10-15 minutes to give the fire time to respond and settle down under the new air flow setting before evaluating if any further change is needed.  Small movements of the vent.    Otherwise if you are not patient and don't give the fire time to settle back down you will end up chasing high and low spikes like a yo-yo.  That was the hardest thing for me to learn 12 years ago when I bought my WSM.  Once I figure that out, it got a lot easier.

Oh, and if the fire ring is full of lit charcoal, you may need to choke 2 vents closed and the other one down to as little as 10-15% open to get a hot fire back down to the 230* range.  If you choke it back, just don't let it go too far as you can put the fire out (but it generally takes closing all vents including the top one to kill the fire - and it takes a while).


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## new2bbq (Jul 4, 2017)

wow thanks dward, real good information!

I did use a fully lit chimney. Is that why stayed too hot? how much charcoal in the ring, i put about two full chimney in the ring and used half a chimney to light it. I tried it without water and just covered whole pan with foil. I opened top vent fully, the bottom i started with all three half opened, Was constantly hovering at 300-305, for about an hour i was playing with bottom vents closing alittle every 10 min until i end up closing 2 and barley opening 1, after an hour it  went down alittle and stayed at like 299-300. At first I wanted to do the 3-2-1 method at 220-240, but decided to try 2-2-1 since its temp is high and couldnt wait anymore to put in the ribs. So after I put it in, it actually went down to 270 and stayed there for 2hrs, i took it out and seemed tender already, felt like was gonna fall off when i picked it up, so then i did the brown sugar,honey, etc. put in the foil then put it back in ,the temp went down to 240-250 and stayed there for the next hour then it dropped to 220, at that time i kinda started playing vents around and cracked open two of the bottom vents and after 10 min noticed it went back up to 250. So after 2hrs on grille 2hrs in foil, i checked it and it was sooo tender,i did the bend test and was about to break. so i decided to just put the sauce and put it in for 10-15 min, closed 2 vents and barely open 1 to 220. Took it out let it rest for like 30 min and wow it was actually good. so really i did a 2-2-.15min. Im guessing it was faster cause too hot. Next time Ill try with water. And should i have put less charcoal in the fire ring. Anyways, thanks for the advice. I learned alot reading and reading posts. I might do couple more ribs before I try 12hr smokes lol, This might get addicting.













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