New Smokey Mountain Owner

[Papaws Smoke House]

Hello friends! I am a new Weber Smokey Mountain owner. I have been cooking on a 22 Weber Kettle for years and would not be without it. I picked up a used 22.5 last Friday from FB Marketplace. The body is in great shape but the grates were rusted out. I have new stainless steel grates and a lid hinge on the way. I hope to add casters soon as well. Any advice on mods that are your "can't live without" mods for this cooker. I went big for my first but feel like an 18 may need to be added to the smoke house down the road. Any advice from the veterans will be appreciated. 

[bamakettles]

Hello and welcome to the fun from Huntsville, AL!  You'll have a lot of fun with a WSM.  They're very versatile and can handle hanging ribs, multiple level cooking and various methods.  I also got mine used over 6 years ago for very cheap and spent a lot on upgrades.  I'll add the link below for my upgrade thread from that timeframe.  Some youtube channels to check out that helped me are T-ROY COOKS and Phil N Florence (rest in peace).  These guys can take you from the basics to more advanced cooks without making things complex.

Good luck and have fun with it!

Cheers

https://weberkettleclub.com/forums/index.php?topic=44550.msg441785#msg441785

[Papaws Smoke House]

Thanks for the response. I checked out your rig, beautiful job! I like the idea of changing all the nuts and bolts to SS. I have a few questions for you or anyone on the forum who may know. 1. Where can one find a stainless stell water pan for the 22.5" WSM? 2. Does anyone know if Weber or an after market group sells the rack system that goes in the smoker to hold the water pan and grates? I really want the OME racks; I have seen the upgraded ones from Hunsaker and I do not want more than 2 cooking grates.

[bamakettles]

This is the bowl I ordered 6 years ago and still have it.  I've tired it with water, empty and settled on filling it with play sand covered with foil to use as a heatsink.  I've actually settled on the Hunsaker charcoal basket with vortex lid / diffuser which works well and rarely use a water bowl anymore.  Another worthy investment is an Arborfab charcoal basket with minion center basket.  Holds tons of charcoal for those really long cooks.

https://a.co/d/006UVNqn

Also my grate straps are stock except for the middle tier I installed using Phil N Florence video for instructions.

[Babekyu]

I have an 18" WSM and I've added a lid hinge, casters and vent handles.  My next mod will be a lid gasket.

https://weberkettleclub.com/forums/index.php?topic=52188.0

[Big Dawg]

I had the Cajun Bandit door for mine.  It's really sturdy and sealed up a whole better the Weber door.  They also sell "no drill" casters.

I put some handles on the barrel, just to make it easier to get on and off.  I also put some locks around where the barrel meets the base so that I could roll it around, even when cooking on it, without fear of it coming apart.

Lastly, I added a BBQ Guru DigiQ for brisket cooks.