Weber Smoker

[Ruffdaddy]

Anyone here have a weber smoker (WSM)? I just picked one up and plan to start trying different recipes. First up is a brisket...but I'm curious about other options.

Anyone have any tips or recipes?

Can I get a good bark by running the smoker without a water pan?

[jammeejamm]

mr. google needs help with google?

google harder bro.

[mstng86]

Don’t expect your first smoke to be amazing. It takes time to learn how to adjust the smoker and keep a good fire. I would suggest smoking a ham, ribs, or chicken since they are short times.

Of course you could just go balls to the walls and smoke for 20 hours

[lowthreeohz]

I have a wsm and love it. replace water with sand in the pan and you wont have to do maintenance on long cooks.

[lowthreeohz]

also I usually end up with 2 or 3 of the bottom vents open about 1/3, top always wide open, to keep it floating at 230ish

[Stephen]

I’ve been wanting one of those for a while now.. I love my Weber charcoal grill.. cheap and cooks fantastic!

[Baron Von Crowder]

I have a wsm and love it. replace water with sand in the pan and you wont have to do maintenance on long cooks.

yep, they work really well with sand in the water pan. Wrap it with foil.

Brisket: 3 parts pepper, 1 part salt, cook at as close to 250 as you can, wrap at 165 with some apple juice in the pan and squeeze butter on top, cook to internal temp of 205, let it rest on the counter for an hour or so.

[ceyko]

I don't have one, but in a smoking group this company just started...

https://smokestaxxpans.com/

...may want to look into them....waiting for some for a traditional stick smoker.

[Ruffdaddy]

Man this thing is awesome! I haven't tried the sand in the water pan yet but it's pretty damn easy to control the temp. I just did a "dry run" without any meat to get a feel for it and it's pretty damn hard to overheat.

I will certainly try the butter on top BVC suggested, as I've always wondered if Franklin uses it on his brisket. However I typically prefer a 1:1 pepper to salt mix.

I also normally smoke brisket at 275 which I was able to hold for several hours without adjusting much at all.

When yall let it rest, do you keep it wrapped? Or do you just set it on the counter. I've always kept it wrapped but that takes forever to drop to 150.

I'll probably swing by costco next weekend for a prime brisket and jump straight in.

Do yall use wood chips or the big chunks? And how often do you add more to the coals?

[ceyko]

There are 1001 right answers to some questions. When I let mine rest, I just do an hour or so in a cooler - wrapped in foil. Exception is if I wrapped it in butcher paper during the smoke - I just leave it in that when it rests.

Sometimes I don't let it rest.

If you're on FB, there are some smoking groups and you can learn quite a bit. However, be prepared for some retards too.

[lowthreeohz]

I just got a book by Franklin as a bday present and I dont recall him mentioning butter in his recipe. I'll snag a pic of the page later on. also I seem to recall him saying he cooks at 260 or 275 which I thought was high.

[Ruffdaddy]

There are 1001 right answers to some questions. When I let mine rest, I just do an hour or so in a cooler - wrapped in foil. Exception is if I wrapped it in butcher paper during the smoke - I just leave it in that when it rests.

Sometimes I don't let it rest.

If you're on FB, there are some smoking groups and you can learn quite a bit. However, be prepared for some retards too.

The idiot's on those groups are the exact reason I dont normally rely on them. At least here I know who the idiots are already and I still get a few different perspectives to try.

I'll give the butcher paper in the open method a try! Coolers take so long to drop down to the serving temp range.

I just got a book by Franklin as a bday present and I dont recall him mentioning butter in his recipe. I'll snag a pic of the page later on. also I seem to recall him saying he cooks at 260 or 275 which I thought was high.

I have that book as well and that's actually one of the reasons I cook a little higher. I've talked to his pit master Benji as well and he mentions they may even go a little higher than that at the store. They mention around 285 can be expected. The book is geared more towards home cooks I believe, and its served me well. I was curious about the butter simply because of the way his meat tastes and because he mentions it in the instructions of reheating his whole briskets. I always wondered if he wraps with butter when he keeps his briskets in the warming chambers.

[mstng86]

Well idea you do use butter, throw some kerrygold butter on it. The best butter I have ever had

[bcoop]

Trigg does butter on his ribs iirc. I've never used butter on brisket, don't think it's necessary. Agree with Kerrygold comment as well. If you're not using it, give it a try.

If you're going to wrap, use peach butcher paper not foil.

Salt and Pepper alone is great. But there are some good rubs out there. I have a unique brisket rub I make, but I haven't made it in a while. I'm currently working my way through the Meat Church rub offering (fantastic imo), as well as some from Caribeque.

Pork butts would be more forgiving than brisket (and cheaper) for a trial run or two while you learn to control it.

[BradM]

Well idea you do use butter, throw some kerrygold butter on it. The best butter I have ever had

I couldn't tell a difference Kerry Gold and Land o'lakes.