Most I've cooked on my 26.75

[PatrickSpringer]

http://s998.photobucket.com/user/patrickspringer/media/IMG_8364921087838_zpsad8b741c.jpeg.html?filters[user]=140071728&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=0

[PatrickSpringer]

http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af103/patrickspringer/IMG_8364921087838_zpsad8b741c.jpeg

[PatrickSpringer]

Two Boston Butts, two chickens, bacon wrapped pork tenderloin and two chunks of Kroger bologna, i had to cut in half for clearance.

[HankB]

First post link just said "Sorry, an unexpected error occurred.." For the second, I surrounded the link with IMG tags. That would look like:

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There's a post that describes how to post images that Brian (zavod44) posted at http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/trading-post/how-to-post-pictures-here-at-the-wkc/

But back to the image. A grill filled to the brim with food resonates with me. Go big or go home! That all looks very good and must have resulted in some pretty happy and well fed people.

[PatrickSpringer]

Yeah, I'm a newby and figured it out the second time. The food was great as it always is coming off the Weber. I finally figured it out and love it. Now to figure out the wsm :/

[HankB]

Now to figure out the wsm :/

That's easy!
Get a bag of briquettes, some chunks of hickory and/or maple (or other convenient wood) and some pork butts. On a 22 I'd do 4 butts or 2 on an 18 just to avoid crowding. (These are the ~8 lb butts found at Sam's)

I start about half a mini chimney of coals and when they're started I set the chimney on the bead of briquettes where it lights the briquettes under it as it gets going. Once the briquettes in the chimney are lit, dump them on the briquettes and assemble the rest of the smoker. On mine I leave the top vent wide open always when cooking and control with the bottom vent. On my 22, one bottom vent open and it cruises at about 250°F. A new cooker that does not seal as well will tend to run hot and you may find it holds over 200° with all vents closed. (Not to worry, the butts can take the heat! ) Give the cooker a little time to settle and load it up. Then keep an eye on it. Last time I cooked butts I did not open the cooker until it was about 8 hours in and I needed to add some more charcoal. More detail at http://smpoke-on.blogspot.com/2013/05/four-boston-butts.html.



And of course you'll want a fatty or some brats or Polish sausage to smoke while you've got the cooker fired up.

Until you get the hang of it, water in the pan helps to moderate temperature. Once you're comfortable with temp control on your cooker, you can conserve charcoal by lining the water pan with foil and leaving the water out. A new cooker will tend to run hot until you build up a layer of smoke/grease residue inside that helps to seal the sections. I added high temp silicone on the bottom joint to help seal:

[PatrickSpringer]

How much longer will the charcoal last without water? I've always used water in my kettles, does it do anything other than help with the temp?

[MrHoss]

How much longer will the charcoal last without water? I've always used water in my kettles, does it do anything other than help with the temp?

Some say it puts moisture into the food, others say it helps meat not loose so much moisture in the cooking process as the air around the meat has moisture from the water pan.  I find using water from the start of a cook prevents good bark formation so I will add it via the pan, spray or not at all.  Today I do a butt and no water in the pan nor spray.  I will use a brown paper bag though.  Adding a sheet after about 5 hours and then wrap at about 7 hours.  I remove the glue strips and would use untreated butchers paper but cannot locate it at the present time.

[HankB]

How much longer will the charcoal last without water? I've always used water in my kettles, does it do anything other than help with the temp?

That depend on how much water you usually boil away. If you finish with nearly the same amount of water, you aren't using much charcoal to boil it off.

As far as moisture to the meat, Cooks Country (TV show) did a test with pork chops and cooked one dry and one submerged and there was no difference in the water retention (by weight) between the two. I can't see where a little steam would make any difference.

[PatrickSpringer]

Cool, thanks for the info. I think I'll try with no water to see for myself.