So, I did my first high-heat brisket last weekend. It came out well, a bit dry but not bad. A time or two I had to open the door for that extra boost. Can't wait to try that again with this prop mod!

So in order...

I removed the guts to access the door from behind. I scribed a small line for reassurance that I would not install the screws too low...



Basic tools to drill a .190 hole and install two 10-24 stainless screws and nuts...



Marking... from the bottom edge (well top edge!) of the door the measurement is .700"; from each side edge of the door it is 1.0". This seems to be a perfect location...



Stainless 1.5" long 10-24 screws and nuts purchased form Lowes... Easy to find. This thread pitch seems perfect to act as "teeth" to hold the door open at any position up to 1.5".



Center punch markings... Great idea to center punch anything that you want to drill on the WSM!



Drill to .190"... Slowly, let the bit do the job as this sheet metal is very thin. This could likely be accomplished better with my UniBit, although it is misplaced! In any case, the door material drills very nicely, with no tear-through...



Straight slot Screws installed... These match the standard WSM issue hardware. Line these slots up horizontally just like you did with the standard hardware during your assembly; Right! Gotta be another Virgo out there...



It works great!



And then some it does!



Thanks for watchin! I'll be giving this a try soon! I'll be anxious to see the temperature variations I can get from this 35 (some-odd) position adjustable door...

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Lonnie Mac,

That's very cool, Lonnie. Would you let me post those pics in the main part of the website?

Regards,
Chris

ABSOLUTELY! I owe all this to you and this site!

Lonnie,

That's great! When I purchased my WSM I had one that had a really deformed door. Weber's CS replaced it immediately and all was well. For some reason I kept the original "deformed" one. Now I know what I'll be going with that. Thanks!

Lonnie, if you can send me larger original photos, that would be great. mail at virtualweberbullet dot com. Please include "TVWB" in the subject line.

Thanks,
Chris

Task complete! Let me know if they did not reach you...

Incidentally, I was fooling around tonight with the WSM while doing up a batch of roadside on the Texas pit... Just plopped 10 coals in the wsm so certainly not a "test" or anything... Just some playtime with the new door. You open the door, and it gets hotter! Go figure!

I'll be more specific on the next high heat cook!

NICE MOD! too bad I sealed my door shut with silicone or I'd do this For me high heat=performer, low n slow=wsm.

Brandon

That's great!

Nice job.

Looks like a nice quick and easy Mod, thanks Lonnie Im gonna give this one a try on my 2 WSMs. Nice work.

Excellent idea!

Hey Lonnie,

Nice mod! Nice to see you on the BBQ side of the world too!

BFB

Most Excellent.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill Berg:
Hey Lonnie,

Nice mod! Nice to see you on the BBQ side of the world too!

BFB

Thanks my friend! I am having a very hard time dividing my brewing time with smoke time now! I knew this would happen!

Ya, great idea Lonnie, nice and simple. Picked up the hardware yesterday.
Todd

Great idea Lonnie - I'll be doing this to mine. Nice for those roadside chicken cooks too.

Worked great Lonnie!! Made the mod and put it to use yesterday with a beer can chicken. It was nice to be able to dial it back to half open, then 1/4, etc as the temps settled in where I wanted.

Todd

Well this is great news! I have yet to give mine a good go. Last two cooks were on the Texas pit.

So this is handy for initial temp rise I would suspect?

I can see getting the temps up a bit faster using the door too... My only fault in smoking so far is never allowing myself enough time for the temp rise using the minion method. Sometimes it comes right up, sometimes it takes forever it seems.

Dang. I should try mine out sometime! May do up some cornish hens this week!

Ya, in the past, I'd use whatever I could find around the garage to try and prop the door open. Sometimes it'd fail and the door would fall off and definitely no way to actually easily control how far it was open.

My cook using it went like this, dumped probably 3/4 chimney unlit into the wsm charcoal grate. Fired up a full chimney and dumped on top. When I do chicken, most times I'll wait and not assemble the cooker for another 15 minutes or so, but I was super lazy last time after doing a chuck roll and my grates were nasty, plus I had a bunch of hardened fat drippings in the clay pot base (which sits inside my stock water pan). I also normally just use the foil lined empty stock water pan when doing chicken. But, this time, I assembled the cooker right away, and left the clay pot base and both food grates inside it to clean them up and disinfect them from the heat.

Had the door propped all the way open. Hit 300 immediately measured at the lid. Took about 10-15 more minutes to hit 350, at which point I put in one 4 pound whole chicken. Hit 375 probably 10 minutes after that, I dialed back to 1/2 open on the door. Hit 400 probably 10 minutes after that, dialed back to 1/4. Hit 415 10 minutes after that, dialed back to just a tiny sliver open on the door. WSM settled and ran 410-420 for the rest of the cook, which lasted in total about 1 hour 20 minutes.

That's how my first experience with the mod went.

Todd

Todd - did you have the "normal" smaller vents closed?

Hi Ray,

No, I had all normal vents 100% open for the whole cook (sorry I didn't identify that in the earlier post).

Todd