If you want to join the WSM users, this is a store in Chicago clearing out their smokers. You can local pick up to pay no shipping.
Is is a great deal at $135, as they are normally $180.
Jamie

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... RK:MEWA:IT

LTH,

Jamie (Jamieson22) posted info about a store in Chicago advertising Weber Smoky Mountain cookers on ebay. This is the smoker that many of us use for low & slow BBQ. The price, $135, is a great deal, I've never seen Weber products discounted, much less the WSM.

You can pick up the WSMs at their Montrose Ave store, no shipping involved. I just bought one, MAG just bought one, that means there's 2 left.

If you call ask for Joe.

Thanks for the heads up Jamie.

Enjoy,
Gary

Ace Hardware
5848 W Montrose
Chicago
773-777-2606

I also spied a Weber One Touch Gold on eBay from same person for $109, called him up and he said he'd do it for $99. So YMMV but you may be able to talk down the price a little more, though $135 is already a fantastic deal.
Jamie

Jamieson22 wrote:I also spied a Weber One Touch Gold on eBay from same person for $109, called him up and he said he'd do it for $99. So YMMV but you may be able to talk down the price a little more, though $135 is already a fantastic deal.
Jamie

Jamie,

No gas grills for me, BBQ snob that I am. I may, or may not, ask for a small further discount, but probably not as $135 is a really good deal and I don't want the guy chasing me out of the store with an ax handle.

I did inquire about standard Weber 22.5-inch kettles, but they were only $10 off and I don't really need one. Actually, I don't need the WSM, I have two, but at $135 I'll store this one in the basement for a rainy day.

Thanks again for the heads up.

Enjoy,
Gary

GWiv, the Weber One Touch Gold is a 22.5" kettle. Just like the standard though it has the ash catcher contraption (rather than just the tray) and comes with the charcoal baskets and the hinged cooking grate.
Amazon has them for $129, they are on eBay for $109 so I offered him $80 cash and he said $99 is lowest he could do.
Still not too bad of a deal for someone needing a grill, though if you have been doing without one over $30 you need help
GWiv, why don't you order the Ranch Kettle
Jamie

Jamieson22 wrote:GWiv, why don't you order the Ranch Kettle
Jamie

I'm in Dallas for the next two weeks, and we have two ranch kettles with us to feed our crew. Those things are monsters.

Jamieson22 wrote:Still not too bad of a deal for someone needing a grill, though if you have been doing without one over $30 you need help

Jamie,

Yes, the 30 bucks, that was it, the 30 bucks. Actually, I tossed my 22.5 kettle a couple of years ago, after 15-years of service. I have 2-WSMs, soon to be 3, and have found they quite effectively double as grills. I make the fire on the lower cooking grate and use the top grate for grilling. That way no bending over, as you would using the Weber suggested method.

I sometimes make a fire with the charcoal ring placed on the top grate, put a grate on top of that, and grill. This gives me about 4-inches from fire to meat and is hell on wheels for steaks and chops.


Heck, sometimes I even use the chimney to cook, if I only have one steak or just a few chops.


I did buy a 18.5 Weber Kettle a few months ago. We were having a big party and I needed something to cook marinated Portobello for the vegetarians in the group. They only had the standard 18.5 kettle or the 22.5 One Touch Gold, which you mentioned. I bought the 18.5 standard kettle as I, possibly mistakenly, think the enclosed ash catcher on the One Touch Gold restricts air flow. To me a good fire is all about air flow.

Jamieson22 wrote:GWiv, why don't you order the Ranch Kettle

As for the Ranch Kettle, I'd love one, but there aren't all that many occasions where I'm grilling for 80. Anyway, I'm up to 4-smokers, 3-WSM's and a New Braunfels Bandera, 18.5 kettle, turkey fryer setup and one or two other miscellaneous items. I don't think my wife would like to see any more equipment, but I do have my eye on a Klose.

Enjoy,
Gary

Incidentally, what do you think about Hasty Bake? My father-in-law in Tulsa says they make a great product.

Gary-
You are making me hungry. Now it is a race to get home to fire up the grill and cook those two tri-tip strips I have left over from the kebobs I made earlier this week.
I currently have the WSM and a Weber Genesis Silver B gas grill. Went with the gas grill as it lives on the 3rd (top) floor deck in a condo building. I feared having live fire especially since the vents allow stuff to slip through too easily on a kettle. Always the fear of fire, but the WSM is safe because the vents are higer on teh side, nothing ever can drop out really.
But it would be nice to add a 22.5" to the family and I could let that one live on my roof deck. The ash-catcher seems necessary so I don't end up with flyng embers/ash as both my decks are very windy. I have avoided using the WSM to grill like that simply due to the fire risk/etc, as it seems like it would be harder to close it up and shut it down, plus...
Oh who am I kidding I just want a new damn grill!
Jamie

ps: Why not just bring your new WSM and assemble it at my place and we can host a BBQ Cooking seminar one day

Aaron Deacon wrote:Incidentally, what do you think about Hasty Bake? My father-in-law in Tulsa says they make a great product.

Aaron,

Don't know much about Hasty Bake, except they are made in Oklahoma and Rick Bayless uses one. Savuer recently ran an article about Bayless and BBQ. If I remember correctly, I don't have the magazine in front of me, Bayless's family had a BBQ business that was quite popular in Oklahoma.

The article focused on recipes from the, now defunct, restaurant, and some of them looked quite good. Bayless made a point of saying he used a Hasty Bake, it was made in Oklahoma, and cooked good BBQ.

I think that Iron Chef BBQ, Bill/SFNM, has, among his cooker stable, a Hasty Bake. Possibly he will comment.

Enjoy,
Gary

Jamieson22 wrote:ps: Why not just bring your new WSM and assemble it at my place and we can host a BBQ Cooking seminar one day

Jamie,

This WSM is going straight to my basement. You never know when a stray meteorite is going to crash directly onto my WSMs, it pays to have a backup

Enjoy,
Gary

G Wiv wrote:Don't know much about Hasty Bake, except they are made in Oklahoma and Rick Bayless uses one. Savuer recently ran an article about Bayless and BBQ. If I remember correctly, I don't have the magazine in front of me, Bayless's family had a BBQ business that was quite popular in Oklahoma.

Yep, I read that article too. Of course, Rick Bayless also has good things to say about Burger King's chicken sandwiches, too. So you never know.

Aaron Deacon wrote:Incidentally, what do you think about Hasty Bake? My father-in-law in Tulsa says they make a great product.

G Wiv wrote:I think that Iron Chef BBQ, Bill/SFNM, has, among his cooker stable, a Hasty Bake. Possibly he will comment. .

I do indeed have a HastyBake in my stable. I use it for all my grilling, spit cooking, and direct BBQ over coals.

It's strongest feature is the ability to quickly adjust the distance between the meat and the fire. For example, when spit cooking something like a leg 'o lamb, I like the flames to just kiss the meat creating an incredibly crispy crust.

I do not think it is a good choice for indirect smoking even though it does have this feature (WSM a is much better choice). I prefer to do indirect in the offset.

It is great for grilling. It is also very good for the style of direct cooking high above the coals that is favored by pork shoulder purists and fans of Coopers BBQ brisket. I have a bunch of other likes/dislikes if you want to know more.

Bill/SFNM (where can I get some nice silk pajamas for my Iron Chef gig?)

I feel I am ready to become even more a member of the cult.

I want to buy a Weber Smokey Mountain this year. I'm looking for one on sale [of course, because various grandparents would be rotating like a rotisserie if I paid full retail for something].

I entreat the collective eyeballs of LTHforum to post if they see one on sale. The cheapest the web is offering is Wa**rt for $199 plus shipping. Don't wanna do business with them & would rather pick it up locally.

Thanks!

Giovanna

Giovanna,

To quote from the Wiviott 5-Step site, Russo Ace at 5848 W. Montrose sells them for $139, or did last year, anyway.

For anyone relatively new to the site, the 5-Step site is an easy program created by a couple of folks here for learning the basics of fire control in a Weber Smokey Mountain (WSM), which more than the specifics of any one cut of meat is the key to learning how to barbecue without screwing things up. Suppress your own ego long enough to follow the first five cooks exactly, and by the end you'll have a very strong understanding of how to operate the WSM and produce excellent meals, at which point you can cook whatever you want however you want.

It features the instructions of our own G Wiv, and shows the results achieved by, as it turns out, me as I went through the five steps myself. There is also an LTH-like forum attached for questions, though it isn't lively on a daily basis the way this is. As the weather starts to get nice here, this would be an excellent time to start the program, get the basics out of the way, and be ready to show off your new skills as a barbecue god by Memorial Day.

Another site worth checking out with great WSM (and general BBQ) info is the Virtual Weber Bullet site (www.virtualweberbullet.com). Many recipes, techniques, modifications, and a very active forum.

As far as price, Amazon will occassionally have a sale on outdoors equipment. It usually excludes Weber products but they've been known to make an error and include them once in a while. Definitely call Russo since I think they were even beating the online places last year.

The other alternative is the Weber warehouse sale. Sometimes they have a slightly blemished model cheaper than retail. The downside is it's out in Huntley (way west on 90) and it's held in the July/August timeframe.

Mike G wrote:Russo Ace at 5848 W. Montrose sells them for $139, or did last year, anyway.

Mike,

Did being the operational term. Spoke to Greg at Russo just a few days ago and Weber had bounced up the price dramatically, Russo's price is $189, which is less than most places. Greg also said they only got in, to start, a couple of dozen, unlike last year, due to the price increase.

Russo is still a great place to buy WSMs, good price, great service and they have contributed to a number of BBQ charity projects I've been involved with, including sending WSMs and Weber kettles to an active duty unit in Mosul last year for The Smoke Ring's Mosul BBQ Project.

Enjoy,
Gary
Wiviott WSM 5-Step

Russo Ace Hardware
5848 W Montrose
Chicago, IL
773-777-2606
Ask for Greg Fraizer
WSM 189.99
Not including Shipping.

$189 is still good value for something that does the job well and lasts forever. Certainly among the best money I've spent on any cooking tool.

jpreiser wrote:Another site worth checking out with great WSM (and general BBQ) info is the Virtual Weber Bullet site (www.virtualweberbullet.com). Many recipes, techniques, modifications, and a very active forum.

I would agree this is a good website to check out after you have taken the 5-step mentioned above. The 5-step, if you follow it to the letter, will give you an intuitive understanding of smoke BBQ. You're not relying on your thermometer for feedback but your senses of sight, feel and smell; which all BBQ pit masters have done traditionally. It is also considerably less complicated allowing you to walk away from your smoker while it works. You only return periodically to add water, move the meat around or build a new fire.

While I am engineering oriented, I could groove to the modifications, taking all the temperature readings and hover all day over my smoker. However I am now much more confident on the process and while I use their cook ideas, I don't need to follow their methods.

I have owned my WSM since 1981 and a member of VirtualWeberBullet's C-Club (WSM from first year of production). I followed Weber's instructions to the T with dismal results; which I say in pure hindsight. If anything, I knew how to create creosote, which is not desired, or kill the fire with one tip of the water pan. My WSM eventually earned its place as a doorstop on my patio. Today my WSM is in regular use, while my Weber kettle is largely sitting idle, pretty much due to Gary's 5-step.

Regards,

I second that emulsion. For me one of the big benefits of following the 5-step absolutely (which if you're ambitious you can be done with in a few weeks) is that its minimalist approach gets you in the mindset of judging when the food's done by the food, not the temperature, the clock, or anything else. If truth be told, I usually wind up taking temperature readings, especially on chicken, just to be sure, but especially for things like brisket and pulled pork, early on you just need some experience to know what the meat will be like and should be like. Not allowing yourself to follow any other signs or readings along the way pretty much focuses your attention on the meat.

Myself, I've never had any need to go elsewhere for advice, but I'm perfectly happy to accept that there's tons of good info from folks who've forgotten more than I'll ever know about BBQ on the VWB site. I still think the 5-step has the right approach, though, which is helping train your instincts about the doneness of the meat early on, and not letting them get sidetracked by other factors. That attitude of strict obedience and focus early on seems to bend some people out of shape when they visit the 5-step site, but again, it's five meals, which you can polish off within a month or so and then be on your merry way doing whatever you want.

Mike G wrote:$189 is still good value for something that does the job well and lasts forever. Certainly among the best money I've spent on any cooking tool.

Absolutely. Definitely much better to spend a bit extra $$$ and buy something you'll use and last forever than some cheap tin can that'll make your food taste like creosote and discourage you from smoking ever again. I just picked up a WSM at Russo's on Friday (although I had to go back and get a new one on Saturday--mine happened to be badly dented--just check it out before you pack it in your car. The staff there was incredibly helpful and nice.) I went through Step 1 on GWiv's site and the results spoke for themselves. The WSM combined with Gary's expertise is worth far more than a couple hundred bucks.

I'm hoping to get to dinner #3 (baby back ribs) or #4 (spare ribs), by this weekend.

Mike G wrote:$189 is still good value for something that does the job well and lasts forever. Certainly among the best money I've spent on any cooking tool.

$189 is an outstanding price considering that so many are selling at or close to the (new as of 2006) MSRP of $249. That extra $60 one saves buys a fair amount of charcoal and meat.

Binko wrote:Definitely much better to spend a bit extra $$$ and buy something you'll use and last forever than some cheap tin can that'll make your food taste like creosote and discourage you from smoking ever again.

A few months ago, I was in a sporting store where they were selling Brinkmans for less than $50. I thought about it and thought about it before opening my mouth, then did a what the heck. I suggested to the consumer he may want to reconsider his purchase to get a WSM. I told hime of the problems people were having with fire control, ect. When I told him how much one cost, then he decided to stick with the Brinkman's because he just wanted to play with it. I promised to give him a great website to really learn how to use his WSM. What he may buy as a play thing could become an active player. Mind you, while I am saying this he is giving the two-headed stare like where did this lady come from?

I guess my persuasive skills are pretty rusty as he soldiered on with his plan to buy the Brinkman.

Regards,

I notice from the prior posts that one or more of you have used your WSM on wood decks. Well, now I have had to move mine to a wood deck and I purchased one of the round concrete pads from Home Depot, but I'm still a little concerned. Should I be concerned or is the concrete pad going to be sufficient? And any other advice would be welcome.

BR wrote:I notice from the prior posts that one or more of you have used your WSM on wood decks. Well, now I have had to move mine to a wood deck and I purchased one of the round concrete pads from Home Depot, but I'm still a little concerned. Should I be concerned or is the concrete pad going to be sufficient? And any other advice would be welcome.

The little concrete pad will not be sufficient. Where are you going to put your chimney after your dump the coals into the WSM? What happens if a stray coal misses the WSM and falls on the deck? (this will happen, believe me) Even a couple of seconds of a coal on the wood will leave a nasty mark. Do what I did and get a "blast shield" made.

Actually, since my original post, I've built a new wood deck and a separate brick-paved area for the smoker, so no more blast shield is required.

The current MSRP for the Smokey Mountain is $249.

Waring Grills/Industrial Tools is now selling them for $199. I just picked one up. They have a pretty large selection of other Weber products also.

Waring Grills & Waring Industrial Tool
4524 N. Lincoln Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625
phone 773.728.1100

BR wrote:I notice from the prior posts that one or more of you have used your WSM on wood decks. Well, now I have had to move mine to a wood deck and I purchased one of the round concrete pads from Home Depot, but I'm still a little concerned. Should I be concerned or is the concrete pad going to be sufficient? And any other advice would be welcome.

I use a rectangular concrete pad for my WSM, and it as works great. Not sure of exact size but it can basically hold 2 WSM on it. This leaves extra room to put my chimney when it is hot (I don't light it on the pad, only place there once empty), put the lid when it is greasy, etc.

As my roof deck went up in flames 3 years or so ago due to a stray 4th of July firework at 5am, I tend to be a bit more cautious about decks + fire. That being said, I feel fine using the pad I am using.

Jamie

I took my "first step" on my new WSM. The chicken was outstanding. I don't believe I knew what BBQ was until I got this smoker. Thanks GWiv for the outstanding 5 step method!

I am ready to embark on my smoking jouney. GWiv's directions are bookmarked and the only thing missing is an actual smoker. Any local suggestions where I can get the WSM for less than internet options. $219 at one site (oddly, called Drugstore.com) and $239 on Amazon. Both offer free shipping.

Thanks for any advice or assistance you can provide.

Jyoti

jygach wrote:I am ready to embark on my smoking jouney. GWiv's directions are bookmarked and the only thing missing is an actual smoker. Any local suggestions where I can get the WSM for less than internet options. $219 at one site (oddly, called Drugstore.com) and $239 on Amazon. Both offer free shipping.

Thanks for any advice or assistance you can provide.

Jyoti

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