Cooking on Both Grates?

I'm new - sorry if this question has been asked a zillion times but I couldn't find it in the search, the manual, or online anywhere. I've just used the top grate so far, but if I want to use both, are there any factors to consider? Do certain meats like poultry need to always go on the bottom, etc? Just wanted to double check before trying it out sometime.

Normally I would place whatever is done first on the top-grate. You also have to consider that the one on top is going to baste/ drip on the bottom one and that might change the flavor. Obviously whatever you place under poultry shouldn't be removed till the poultry was cooked to proper safe temps.

Tim

Jason, this is the New WSM Owners forum. There is no such thing as a question being asked too many times.

As Tim says, if I were cooking ribs for 4-5 hours and pork butts for over 8 hours, I'd put the ribs on top.

A lot of people prefer to cook poultry on the bottom and anything else on top, out of concern for the chicken drippings somehow contaminating what's below. This is not an issue as long as everything is cooked properly to a food safe temp.

What's popular is cooking pork butts over brisket, so the pork fat bastes the brisket. If you click on Advanced Search, check "Post", enter the keywords "butt over brisket" in quotes, and select "Search titles only", you'll get 6 results on the subject.

Or pork butt or ribs on top and a pot of baked beans on the bottom to flavor the beans!

Have fun,
Chris

Thanks for the responses guys. The butt over brisket sounds like a great idea. We're trying to watch all our pennies these days, so if I'm loading up an entire chamber of charcoal, I just feel like I should make the most of it by utilizing all the space.

Yep, loading up the cooker makes sense. Most barbecue freezes and reheats well, so you can cook once and enjoy many times.

Happy barbecuing,
Chris