Cold Weather BBQ

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Gomer1

Senior Cook
Joined
Jul 6, 2007
Messages
187
Location
Seattle, WA
I want to do maybe 2 pulled porks this weekend on my WSM. I live in the Seattle, WA area and well it is cold at night and raining often. Even the days are not very warm lately already. So I was wondering if there are any tips for BBQ in the cold/rain. I am pretty sure it will not rain this weekend so I am not as worried about that as I am the colder weather. Rain tips would still be appreciated for the future.

Thanks a lot!
 
Unless it's constantly pouring, the rain won't hurt anything. If it's a good steady rain, make a foil tent to hang over the top vent. If it's going to rain alot put it under an umbrella, carport, etc.

As far as the cold, I never cover mine up. But some folks will use a WSM Jacket or a hot water heater blanket. Good luck
 
Thanks a lot Larry, last time I did some Q and it rained the temp seemed to drop a lot quickly, perhaps it was coincidence though, it only rained for a very short time.

I will give it a go and see what happens.
 
Gomer
Been cooking in Seattle area for a few years and the weather for this weekend should be no problem but as stated protect the cooker from the wind and you should be fine.

Jim
 
Take either the top or bottom out/off of a 55 gal barrell and sit it down over the top of the gizmo. Few bricks along the bottom edge so it can draw some air along the bottom edge. If the lid of the barrell is intact it will usually have two holes on top..one small and one larger. Make sure those are open. If the lid of the barrell comes off...just invert it the other way and drill a few half inch holes around the edge to vent it a little around the top. Put some handles on the barrell about mid way down cuz it gets hot.

bigwheel
 
It just won't work....WSM's aren't made for Qing in the cold or the
rain....ignore all previous advice and save yourself a TON of hassle
and buy a gas cooker.

If you pay the shipping I'll let you send that WSM to me and I'll be
kind enough to pay the disposal fee at the recycling center for you....
but only this once! ;) :LOL:

You'll be fine... just do what everyone says already. Protect it from
the wind with some sort of 2 sided shelter and possibly a top if it's
raining constant.......

Good luck and don't forget the food porn! :D
 
What these guys said, well, except SJ. If you can stay out of the wind, your WSM will take most anything Seattle weather can give you. One caveat, is I've cooked in snow but never a really hard rain.
 
Some kind of rain protection can be important. The flange that the lid fits into faces up, and it will collect rainwater that will run down the inside and into the charcoal/ash bowl.

One time (emphasis on one), I left my WSM out in the rain after a cook (it was only sprinkling when I took the meat off), and later when I started to move it into the garage, I discovered that the bottom was full of water up to the vent holes. Take my word for it, a slurry of Kingsford ash can be a problem to dispose of. :roll:

--John 8)
 
jminion said:
Gomer
Been cooking in Seattle area for a few years and the weather for this weekend should be no problem but as stated protect the cooker from the wind and you should be fine.

Jim

Hey Jim,

A few years :? You must count years like a dogs age, 7 = 1. ;)
 
bigwheel said:
Take either the top or bottom out/off of a 55 gal barrell and sit it down over the top of the gizmo.

bigwheel
OMG :shock: No BigWheel killed a barrel!
Get 2 and make a double barrel smoker...it will chug right along fine in the cold/rain/wind.ect.... send the weber to me if you decide to do this ;)
 
John A. said:
jminion said:
Gomer
Been cooking in Seattle area for a few years and the weather for this weekend should be no problem but as stated protect the cooker from the wind and you should be fine.

Jim

Hey Jim,

A few years :? You must count years like a dogs age, 7 = 1. ;)

At my age 7 to 1 sounds good! :LOL:
 
Flytyer said:
Gomer said:
Thanks a lot Larry, last time I did some Q and it rained the temp seemed to drop a lot quickly, perhaps it was coincidence though, it only rained for a very short time.

I will give it a go and see what happens.

That had nothing to do with the rain. If that happened in a WSM then there is another big problem worth discovering. I have shut my WSM down and gone to work only to come home and discover that the temp only fell 30-40 degrees. In my experience with a WSM the temps simply do not drop unless there is a major issue.

Has that happened to you often?

I agree and disagree on both points. The rain will minimally cool the cooker down for the simple reason, "the cooker is not hot enough @ 250* to maintain temps with a steady rain without opening the vents a bit to get the cooker hotter to compensate for the rain". Unless the rain is coming down in buckets it will not effect the fire other than adding moisture in the cooker, since there is room underneath the grate for the water to accumulate. You will have to adjust your vents thus burn more fuel if it gets too much water in it.

With your cooker only dropping 30-40* in 8+ hours with all the vents shut down you have a small leak somewhere in the cooker. Most likely the door or where the mid section meets the bottom. You can reform both areas easily by hand or bunch up foil in the leaking areas.
 
Larry Wolfe said:
[quote="Mike Hedrick":3g26nf59]If the lovely Global Warming continues I may not be able to enter but if we get some Ice and Snow I'm in.

I chipped all this ice off and cooked on them bad boys last year.
http://www.mikehedrick.com/forum/uploads/20070214_083751_wintercookers.jpg

Don't you hate that Mike?? We're always on the snow/freezing rain line! All we get is ice the majority of the time! Just let it snow![/quote:3g26nf59]

Y'all, it's time to move...far away.
 
Helen_Paradise said:
[quote="Larry Wolfe":35rt8kfs][quote="Mike Hedrick":35rt8kfs]If the lovely Global Warming continues I may not be able to enter but if we get some Ice and Snow I'm in.

I chipped all this ice off and cooked on them bad boys last year.
http://www.mikehedrick.com/forum/uploads/20070214_083751_wintercookers.jpg

Don't you hate that Mike?? We're always on the snow/freezing rain line! All we get is ice the majority of the time! Just let it snow![/quote:35rt8kfs]

Y'all, it's time to move...far away.[/quote:35rt8kfs]

Now you're asking Mike and I both to move in with you? Three's a crowd! :LOL:
 
Flytyer said:
Larry Wolfe said:
Flytyer said:
Gomer said:
Thanks a lot Larry, last time I did some Q and it rained the temp seemed to drop a lot quickly, perhaps it was coincidence though, it only rained for a very short time.

I will give it a go and see what happens.

That had nothing to do with the rain. If that happened in a WSM then there is another big problem worth discovering. I have shut my WSM down and gone to work only to come home and discover that the temp only fell 30-40 degrees. In my experience with a WSM the temps simply do not drop unless there is a major issue.

Has that happened to you often?

I agree and disagree on both points. The rain will minimally cool the cooker down for the simple reason, "the cooker is not hot enough @ 250* to maintain temps with a steady rain without opening the vents a bit to get the cooker hotter to compensate for the rain". Unless the rain is coming down in buckets it will not effect the fire other than adding moisture in the cooker, since there is room underneath the grate for the water to accumulate. You will have to adjust your vents thus burn more fuel if it gets too much water in it.

With your cooker only dropping 30-40* in 8+ hours with all the vents shut down you have a small leak somewhere in the cooker. Most likely the door or where the mid section meets the bottom. You can reform both areas easily by hand or bunch up foil in the leaking areas.

Sorry, didn't make my point clearly. I was saying that after an all night cook - thus most of the charcoal has been burnt - I will shut the vents down and head to work expecting the temps to fall to a safe level for storage. When I come home my WSM can - at times - be at pert near the same temp as when I left for work. My point: temps do not fall willy nilly in a WSM. After reading my OP I see where what I said could confuse my point.

Oh! :LOL:
 
Thanks guys, it was just the once that the temp dropped, though I definitely should work on shaping my door to fit tighter, thanks for that tip! I will try out some of your solutions for the rain as well (it rains a ton here and it is keeping me from bbqing as much as I would like!).

thanks again!
 
Try the barrell deal. Aggie injuneer tole me how to do it. He been cooking on the same ECB for 30 years. The cooker stays in the barrell when you aint using of course. Outta sight and fully protected from the elements.

bigwheel
 
Back
Top Bottom