Modify Your Weber Smokey Mountain With These 10 Accessories & Mods

If you possess a Weber Smokey Mountain, you already have one of the greatest smokers available.

Backyard chefs and competition teams alike have had considerable success with the stock standard Smokey Mountain.

However, if you want to get a bit more performance out of your smoker or solve any small flaws (such as the flimsy door that might leak smoke), you’ve come to the perfect spot.

We’ve compiled a list of modifications you may apply to your Smokey Mountain. We also assessed each one based on its difficulty, price, and how much the mod improves the smoking experience.

While some of these products may be regarded more like accessories than tweaks, we’ve included them to give you a complete picture of how to get the most out of your Weber Smokey Mountain.

Our 10 favorite Weber Smokey Mountain Accessories & Mods

1. Gasket to seal front door.

Difficulty: 4/10 Price: 2/10 Impact: 7/10

While the Smokey Mountain has acquired its reputation as a good smoker, many customers complain about excessive smoke pouring out the front door. But you don’t have to purchase a fresh new door to solve the leaking door issue in the Smoky Mountains.

This is a typical problem for novice WSM owners who struggle to manage the temperature. The grease build-up should eventually assist to seal your smoker better, but in the meanwhile, you may struggle to keep things under control.

We’ve even heard of 22 WSM owners whose doors were never fully sealed.

You may get a high-quality nomex gasket kit to plug any leaks in your smoker. This is one of the simplest upgrades you can undertake since the kit includes all of the necessary instructions and equipment.

The glue used is of good grade and should endure for many years before dissolving.

In this video, you can see how simple it is to install a BBQ gasket.

This is so efficient at sealing up any weak spots on your smoker that we wish it came with it.

Get the latest price on Amazon.

2. Upgraded aftermarket stainless steel door

Difficulty: 1/10 Price: 3/10 Impact: 8/10

The thin metal door that comes with the WSM is far from ideal. Because the door does not fit tightly, smoke and heat might escape. As a result of the increased oxygen flow, your smoker may get overheated.

Depending on your luck, this will effect you to varied degrees. Some units seem to be more damaged than others, most likely owing to the amount of movement during transportation.

If you don’t want to use a gasket seal kit, Cajun Bandit’s stainless steel doors are an excellent alternative. These people specialize in customizing and upgrading components for the Smokey Mountain and Weber Kettle.

Tired of seeing all your hard work practically disappear? The Cajun Bandit Premium Stainless Steel Door addresses the typical concerns of heat loss and smoke loss associated with your Weber Smokey Mountain’s original door.

In addition to addressing the problem of heat loss, we think the thick gauge stainless steel doors are a beautiful cosmetic enhancement, so if you want your Smokey Mountain to stand out, try this mod.

You may buy a variety of replacement doors for each size of WSM on their website; just make sure you choose the correct model for your year of WSM since the designs have evolved somewhat over the years.

The Cajun Bandit website has a complete selection of doors.

3. Hinge for the lid

Difficulty: 5/10 Price: 4/10 Impact: 7/10

Taking your Smokey Mountain’s lid on and off over a lengthy cook might be irritating. Particularly if you’re preparing anything that need constant spritzing or mopping.

I have a dog that wants to push his nose into the hot lid the second I set it down, and finding a secure position to put the lid is a big problem. The chaps at Unknown BBQ came up with a smart hinge to tackle this issue.

The same hinge can attach to a Smokey Mountain 18 or 22 and, with some easy installation, may make your lid open into a locked position, then quickly shut the lid with one hand when done.

The kit includes all of the necessary hardware as well as easy instructions. However, you will need a drill to complete the installation, which entails drilling 6 holes and then installing the hinge. Check out the installation tutorial below to learn how to install the WSM hinge mod.

The hinge is well-made and complements the Smokey Mountain.

Another benefit of employing a hinge is that you can feed your thermometer probe via the top intake damper. Each time the lid is placed on the ground, the probe must be gently removed.

If you want to install the hinge MOD and cure your leaking smoker, you may save money by purchasing a WSM hinge and gasket kit combined on Amazon.

Get the latest price on Amazon.

4. Upgraded dome thermometer

Difficulty: 4/10 Price: 3/10 Impact: 5/10

Built-in dome type thermometers that come with smokers have a bad reputation for a few reasons. In many circumstances, manufacturers choose to cut costs and utilize low-quality thermometers.

Another difficulty with dome thermometers is that the temperature they measure in the dome might fluctuate by 10-20 degrees Fahrenheit from the temperature of food.

T-ROY COOKS, who operates an outstanding YouTube channel with loads of helpful advice and recipes for cooking on the WSM, came up with this mod concept. He got the brilliant idea of calibrating the new River Country 5 thermometer to precisely read the temperature at the level of the meal by using his leave-in thermometer to measure the temperature at the grill grate level.

Confused? To see how it all works, watch the video below.

The River Country thermometer has a big 5-color coded dial that is considerably easier to see than the original WSM thermometer.

This is a fantastic small tweak that gives you an exact temperature reading. The easiest technique to reliably regulate temperatures over a lengthy cook is to utilize a specialized wirelessprobe thermometer system that allows you to check your temps from inside your home. However, if you only need to take reliable temperature measurements on the go, this is an excellent improvement.

Get the latest price on Amazon.

5. Extra charcoal grate to stop charcoal from falling through

Difficulty: 1/10 Price: 2/10 Impact: 4/10

This is one of the most popular modifications (it’s also in the video above). If you find yourself spending a fortune on charcoal, this upgrade is a cheap and simple solution to improve the fuel economy of your WSM.

The standard charcoal grate that comes with the WSM has a significant space between each bar. This means that when your charcoal degrades, pieces fall through the gap into the ashes and perish.

You may make the gaps considerably smaller and get more usage out of your fuel by purchasing another grate and attaching it to your previous grate at a different angle.

Wiring the new grate to the old and then utilizing it as a single unit is all that is required for installation.

If you often cook with lump charcoal, you should certainly consider the additional grill grate mod.

6. Automatic temperature controller

Difficulty: 3/10 Price: 10/10 Impact: 9/10

While the WSM can cook for hours without requiring much supervision, adding a temperature controller allows you to completely set it and forget it.

These devices are connected to one of your Smokey Mountain’s intake dampers. Then you shut the other dampers so that the temperature controller is the sole source of oxygen.

Temperature controllers from several manufacturers are available, with a variety of features such as WIFI and the ability to modify your smoker’s temperature from your phone. Cook logs and temperature graphs may also be generated.

We especially like the FireBoard 2 Drive in conjunction with the Blower attachment. While it is somewhat more costly than some other versions, the setup is relatively simple.

In our guide to the best automatic temperature controllers, we look through this model and other solid alternatives in further depth.

7. Smoker Jacket for cold weather smoking

Difficulty: 1/10 Price: 6/10 Impact: 7/10

The Smoky Mountain outperforms almost every other smoker in that price range. Especially when compared to an offset, which tends to leak like a chimney at the lower end of the price spectrum.

However, if you often cook in harsh weather like as wind, rain, or snow, even the WSM might struggle.

Offer it a jacket like a gentleman. To be particular, a LavaLock Thermo Blanket. This cover is available in two sizes to accommodate either the 18 or 22 model. While this cover is more costly than a standard cover, it is silicone coated to aid prolong cooking time and preserve charcoal.

The jacket slips over the top of the smoker.

8. Water pan cover

Difficulty: 1/10 Price: 2/10 Impact: 5/10

The most unpleasant aspect about utilizing the smokey mountain has to be cleanup time. The meat fluids leak into the water pan, creating a disgusting, greasy mess that is almost hard to clean up.

This is particularly true if you’re using sand or ceramic briquettes instead of water, or if you’re not using water at all, such as when cooking hot chicken.

Let’s just say that dragging a dirty water pan into the kitchen to attempt to clean it won’t go over well with someone.

While you could cover the whole water bowl in foil, this is wasteful and time consuming (which is why I try to outsource all present wrapping in my home!). This water man cover fits neatly over the top of your current water pan and greatly simplifies cleanup.

Simply remove the lid, scrape it clean, and you’re ready to go.

Get the latest price on Amazon.

9. Caster Wheels

Difficulty: 2/10 Price: 3/10 Impact: 4/10

While you can take your WSM apart and move it around without too much problem, particularly while it’s chilly, adding some caster wheels is a no-brainer if you need to move it often.

These wheels, which come in a set of three, attach into the supports that the WSM typically rests on, transforming it into a much more mobile smoker.

Two of the zinc swivel casters are lockable, enabling you to securely position your smoker.

One advantage of employing these wheels is that they elevate the height of the unit, allowing access to the firebox and damper valves simpler. This is especially beneficial for those of us who are tall.

However, adding wheels may be risky, and Weber has advised against moving a hot cooker. Take caution while using this mod.

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10. Weber tool holder clip

Difficulty: 1/10 Price: 1/10 Impact: 3/10

This small system of nickel-plated steel hooks clamps into 18 and 22 WSMs to keep important barbeque accessories like tongs, grate cleaners, and spatulas close at hand.

Excellent for eliminating clutter and ensuring that your tools are always available when you need them. How many times have I removed the lid of my smoker only to discover that I had forgotten to remove the tongs?

Just be cautious if you use it with the top off your smoker, since the clip relies heavily on the smoker cover for stability. It’s quite simple to snap the clip and send your tools flying.

Essential accessories for WSM owners

While not technically mods, these are some of the greatest accessories that any Smoky Mountain owners should have.

• Racks for ribs You’ll rapidly run out of room if you need to cook more than a few slabs of ribs at simultaneously. Rib racks let you to conveniently stack many racks together to maximize your smoking space. This Weber rib rack contains five racks of ribs and can accommodate several rib racks at the same time.
• Starter for a Charcoal Chimney A chimney starter is the simplest, quickest, and most dependable method to get your charcoal started. Fill it with charcoal and lay it over some newspaper or a natural firestarter for 15 minutes of cooking time.
• Wireless thermometer probe Being able to evaluate your smoker temperature and keep track of your food from the comfort of your couch makes smoking so much more enjoyable. Invest on a high-quality device, such as the Thermoworks Smoke.
• Cajun rotisserie bandit While smoking and rotisserie are not often associated, we like experimenting. This is especially beneficial if you’re cooking chicken in your Smokey Mountain hot. In contrast to the Weber Rotisserie, Smokey Bandit manufactures a rotisserie that fits the 22 and 18 Kettles as well as the Smokey Mountain.

If you want to learn more, go to the virtualweberbullet, where there is a whole area dedicated to modifications, including alternative thermometer installations, methods of boosting cooking capacity, and more.

This concludes our tutorial to adjusting your Weber Smokey Mountain. While they are not required, they are a fun way to personalize and improve your smoker. There are hundreds of other permutations of these tweaks, so let us know in the comments if we left out your favorite.

Feature CC Image courtesy ofEric Savageon Flickr