Hello and Happy Tuesday!!
I just wanted to tell you all that I've been moving the blog HERE

I will continue to post in my personnal blog HERE

So head on over to The Official Taste of Awesome, click the blog tab and subscribe! I'll be posting regularly.
See you there!
Danny

My Mini WSM (Weber Smoky Mountain)

I no longer post here

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click here for this Mini Smoker article

I have recently seen videos and blogs about these AWESOME little cookers called Mini WSM's and decided immediately that I had to have one.
Here are my 2 favorite blogs on the subject.
Man Cave Meals
BBQ Bros
Here are a few of these little cookers!!

 











NICE HUH!!!!

What is a WSM you may ask? It's a Weber Smoky Mountain.
You might have heard people referring to them as "Weber Bullets".
You can see how they work in the cut out view. It's pretty simple, charcoal basket on the bottom, then a water pan, then 2 cooking racks.
They come in 2 sizes 18-1/2" and 22-1/2" and are extremely efficient.

I have 2 smokers. my first is a Brinkmann Smoke n Pit from WalMart. Yes!! Those are flames!!!

I use it as a grill because it doesn't work well as a smoker. Hard to hold temps, rotating your food...Great grill though!

My pride and joy is my Backwoods Competitor. It was my smoker at the restaurant.

Backwoods Smokers makes water smokers. I believe they are, dollar for dollar, the BEST smokers you can buy.

 The fire pit is in the bottom door and is totally separated from the cooking chamber. The smoke and heat travel up the insulated sides and into the cooking chamber from the top. Then down, through the food and out the exhaust port in the bottom back. Pretty ingenious!!

But I have abused my smoker and it might be on its last leg.

I really don't do BIG cooks anymore either so the Mini is a perfect fit!

Here's the list of things you'll need

1. Weber Smoky Joe. I have the silver and I think it will work fine.

Most people recommend the Gold. The difference is the vents. 

The Silver vents are on the bottom and can get clogged. I'll show you a fix for this. The Gold vents are up on the sides of the lower bowl. No chance of getting clogged with ash but some say the location puts them above the level of the fire and doesn't allow the right airflow. Remember, it's made to be a grill not a smoker.

2. Either a Vasconia 32qt Steamer with lid or an IMUSA 32qt Tamale Steamer w/lid

By most accounts, the Vasconia is the perfect fit consistently so I went with that.

3. Hardware. Don't skimp! Get the stainless steel

1/4″x 3/4″ long stainless steel bolts (3)
1/4″, stainless steel lock washers (6)
1/4″, stainless steel nuts (5)
1/4″, stainless steel lock nut (5)
1/4″x 3″ long bolts (1) doesn't have to be stainless, it will be the handle on the lid.
1/4″x 5″-6″ carriage bolt. It doesn't have to be stainless, it will be a handle on the base.

Now that you have everything together, Let's get started.

In the picture below, the tape has a mark 4-1/2" from the top. That will be the level of the cooking rack.
The circumference of the pot is 46" so drill a 1/4" hole every 15-1/3" around the pot.
We only want 3 bolts for the rack to sit on because the rack will never wobble.

 Once the holes are drilled, install the bolts. The pic below is correct. The rack will rest on the head-end of the bolt inside the pot.
                                      

   Like this.                                                                                                         

   Locking nut on the outside.

    Here's the rack in place.

Next, I drilled some holes in the bottom of the pot to let the heat and smoke in.
Some prefer to cut the bottom out of the pot leaving 1-2" for stability.
I prefer the holes because it allows the heat and smoke in while keeping the bottom of the pot connected.
Either way is fine.
I drilled larger holes around the outside to draw the heat to the outside rather than up the middle.

 This is the steamer insert that came with the pot I used it as a guide to mark the locations of the holes in the bottom. I thought about cutting the bottom out of the pot and setting this inside on the ridge where the lower rack sits and using this as the diffuser. Might try it on the second one.

Next I added some handles to the vents on both the lid and the kettle on the Smoky Joe. No big deal, just some carriage bolts. You will have to take some pliers and bend the little tab up on the bottom but be careful not to "pull up" on the tab or you'll bend the vent plate causing it to not seal.

I replaced the nut on the far right in the pic above with a locknut.

Well It's ready for a cook!!!

Check back in the next day or two for the 1st cook on the new smoker!! 

2 Slabs of Ribs!!!