BBQ: Beginner’s Guide to the Weber Smokey Mountain Smoker

My brother in law is passionate about smoking meat and everything he makes tastes amazing, which spurred my interest in BBQ. I also follow a lot of BBQers on Instagram like grillin_with_dad, heygrillhey, darksideofthegrill. Sidebar, I am obsessed with Mel from DarkSide of the Grill and have hair envy (he has a wicked mullet). Motivated by family and inspiring Pitmasters, I decided it was time to start my own smoking adventure. My gut was to drop $3,000 on a bad-ass smoker but my better half, aka my smokin’ wife, “encouraged” me to try a cheaper option ‘til I prove I stick with it. Spoiler alert, I’m hooked!

This post covers lessons learned getting setup with my new smoker. If you don’t need details, jump to quick tips. Future posts will cover smoking recipes.

I Bought a Smoker & Accessories to Get Started…

Smoker: I chose the 22″ Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker/Smoker after reading Bulldog BBQ’s Best Smokers for Beginners. Weber wasn’t #1 overall, but was top choice for charcoal smokers. I chose a charcoal smoker over electric/pellet after bingeing Chef’s Table BBQ on Netflix. The pit bosses featured on Chef’s Table BBQ are elite BBQers that inspired me to go for an old-school/traditional approach to smoking, at least for now. While I’m a beginner, I have the following perceptions of pellet smokers based on friend & family experience:

1. Traeger – Decent, affordable option for pellet smoker beginners. But I’ve heard stories of Traegers running hot due to malfunctioning controllers. So Traeger was OUT for me.
2. Recteq – My brother-in-law has a great Recteq, but the one I wanted was $2,800. My wife gave it “The Heisman” faster than you can say “up in smoke.”
3. Yoder – Coworkers into BBQ swear by Yoder. The Yoder YS 1500 is my dream smoker, but at $4,000 you’d have to smoke something other than meat to think it’s realistic for a beginner.
4. Big Green Egg – The XXL is $2,000, plus you need to buy or build a table. The Big Green Egg is a great option, I was just seeking something a less expensive. Maybe someday if I stick with it.

Accessories – You don’t need all these, but they helped A LOT. Found many of these on Smoked BBQ Source’s Complete guide to Weber Smokey Mountain Mods.

1. Automatic Temperature controller – Unless you want to watch your smoker constantly, you need one of these.  My decision was informed by the Best BBQ Automatic Temperature Controllers. I chose Flame Boss 400.
2. Meat Thermometer – Monitors meat temperature to cook to desired doneness. The Flame Boss 400 came with a thermometer. Other thermometer options can be found here; Best Smoker Thermometers for Mastering Temperature Control.
3. Charcoal Briquettes or Lump Charcoal – I used Kingsford Original Briquettes and Jealous Devil Lump Charcoal.
4. Wood Chips – Buy chips that work best for the meat you’re smoking. Here’s a quick flavor chart to help choose the best wood based on meat. I used Kingsford BBQ Hickory Wood Chunks for my first Pork Butt.
5. Grill Gloves – Protect your hands when adding coals/wood and making adjustments to thermometers, grates and air vents. I bought the the Grill Heat Aid BBQ Heat Resistant Gloves.
6. Lighter Cubes – Ditch lighter fluid, use these Weber Lighter Cubes to quickly start your coals without contaminating food with lighter fluid.
7. Chimney Starter – Lights coals faster and evenly, only takes about 15 min for grill-ready. Weber Rapid Fire Chimney Starter.
8. Water Pan Cover – Makes cleaning easier by preventing fatty build up from meat drippings from falling into water pan. This Water Pan Cover is compatible with the WSM Smoker.
9. Meat Shredders – Shred your pork like Wolverine using these meat shredders, way easier than a measly fork. Bear Paw Meat Handlers.

First BBQ Smoke Setup Session: What I Learned

1. “Test smokes” help the learning process – Learned how long coals burn and how to adjust temperature using air vents and adding water to the water pan. Test smokes also burn off any residue from manufacturing process.
2. How to install the temperature controller – The Flame Boss 400 works great for the money but the instructions are weak. Here’s where I learned how how to install the Flame Boss 400 on WSM thanks to TXS Heat on YouTube.
3. How to use the Flame Boss App – Learned to adjust temperature from app and how to deal with app flaws.
   1. Pro – Temperature remains relatively constant as long as you have enough coals. So the auto controller does its job.
   2. Con – App Flaws: My wifi signal is weak where my smoker is located, so I needed to use a direct connection between the app and smoker unit. The unit would lose signal occasionally, especially if I left the house. My fix was to use my tablet with app as my controller rather than my phone. Long term I will install a better wifi system near the smoker so I can connect with a cloud connection and control the unit from anywhere on my phone.
4. The difference between briquettes & lump charcoal – Basically briquettes have additives and burn longer, lump is pure wood and burns hotter. Learned that here, Lump Charcoal vs Briquettes – What the Experts Say. I mistakenly bought the lump charcoal online thinking it was wood chunks, bonehead move in hindsight, but at least it gave me practice with different coal types. Didn’t realize much of a difference at the time of this post as I’ve only smoked one pork butt using combination of briquettes and lump charcoal.
5. To plan ahead & allow plenty of time – Research smoking times & temperatures, and be available to add coal as needed. My first pork butt took 11 hours smoking at 250°. There were times the temperature dipped when I was away that added cooking time. Start early to be ready for dinner and have a backup option. We ordered pizza the night of my first smoking session since the food wasn’t ready in time for dinner.
6. Wood’s impact on flavor – I used hickory because it’s a good recommended all around smoking wood. But I planned to make carnitas with the pork butt. The meat was very smoky, and delicious, but in hindsight I would have used cherry, pecan or apple to have a sweeter, less smokey flavor. 

Tips: Go Full Dad Mode for BBQ Smoking Beginner’s Success

1. Reality Check – What type of person are you when it comes to grilling? Are you into tinkering or set-and-forget? For low touch/effort, may as well try a cost-effective pellet option. But, if you’re a doer that likes to test and learn, charcoal smokers are an affordable entry into BBQ Smoking. Check your wallet too, I’ve spent $800+ so far, not including meat.
2. Invest in an auto controller – I don’t have time to watch the smoker every 15 minutes like the manual suggests, get a controller with thermometer.
3. Start with Pork Butt/Shoulder – Great beginner’s meat because it’s hard to screw up. I made mistakes like not monitoring the temperature and it still turned out great.
4. Plan for Success – I’m a terrible planner, but have come to appreciate the benefits of a well-executed plan. Smoking takes time, but if you learn general cooking timelines, you can save yourself headaches by setting expectations with your family for how long cooking requires. It’s also often best to cook ahead of time and reheat, in case the timeline takes longer than expected. You’d hate to host a BBQ and leave guests waiting and hungry.

This was my first foray into smoking, and I’m totally hooked. Can’t wait to try different meats and wood and will share tips and lessons learned along the way. Would love to read your comments on what you learned in your smoking adventures or how to make this better.

Thanks,

Britt

About Post Author

Britt

Hey I’m Britt. I run Full Dad Mode to help people like you make the most of life.
I share helpful DIY how to’s and recipes designed to make busy lives easier.
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