Weber Smokey Mountain

[Josh]

Any experiences?

They seem to get raved about from a hot smoking point of view.

Can you cold smoke in them at all though?

Also what about your standard Weber bbq:

http://www.bedsbbq.co.uk/pd1842881554.h ... Black_AND_{EOL}&categoryId=20

Can you hot smoke in them?

Basically I want to normal bbq, hot smoke and cold smoke and wnat to minimise how many separate devices I have as I'm in a flat and only have 400 sq ft of outside space so a separate hot smoker, cold smoker and bbq might be deemed a bit excesses.

[lemonD]

Josh,
Have had a WSM for a year, mainly for hot smoking and the end product is very good. By moving the various grills it also becomes a very good kettle bbq.

It will cold smoke although I haven't got round to trying it yet. Have a look at this link it's a very good resource (includes a couple of cold smoking techniques) and some very good recipes
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/index.html

It can be tempermental when trying to maintain tempartures, especially on windy days but once you get the knack it doesn't need so much baby sitting.

[Josh]

Cheers. I shall look it over and make my decision.

The other alternative I'm looking at for the cold smoking is a couple of metal dustbins conversion.

[BBQer]

The WSM is a great BBQ - if what you mean by BBQ isn't grilling, but actually low-temp slow cooking with smoke. It can hold a steady temp without a lot of fiddling for up to 24 hours. You can grill small amounts by removing the center section and placing the grate right on the charcoal ring.

Hot smoking it can do as well. Just takes a bit less fuel to maintain temps around 140-160F.

Cold smoking is a bit more difficult. Some have used flex duct to pipe the smoke into a cardboard box. Others have tried to keep 2 to 4 briquettes burning at a time to maintain temps of 70-110F.

At any rate, as LemonD pointed out, virtualweberbullet.com is the repository of all info WSM and a lot of good general BBQ recipes as well.

(as reference - my definitions:
Cold smoking ~ 70-110F
Hot smoking ~ 140-160F
BBQing ~ 220-250F
Grilling ~ 400+F)