WSM or Kettle


 
R

Ray Cerr

New member
I am about to purchase either a WSM or Weber kettle. Is it difficult to grill on the WSM. Also I have been thinking 18" on the WSM. Most of the time it will only be myself and my wife I am cooking for. I'd like to smoke ribs, brisket and pork butts, will the 18" be large enough or should I spend the extra $100 and get the 22"?
Thanks
Ray Cerr
 
It is not difficult to grill on a WSM. For chicken I simply remove the water pan but for steak I remove the entire center section and place the cooking grate on the lower bowl to get a good sear. On the other hand, it's not hard to smoke on a kettle either. Though I have both, I'd probably get the WSM if I had to choose.
 
Let me complicate things for you. I have a Performer, (22" kettle), and the 18" WSM. The 18" WSM is the perfect size for us which is usually just my wife and I. If I'm smoking for larger groups, the 18" still handles it well. Now the hard part. I don't think the 18" is large enough for grilling, even for the two of you. Often I find that even 22" is not enough for grilling. I purchased our WSM because I didn't enjoy smoking with the Performer. On the other hand, I have a friend who does it all the time and does it very well. A 22" OTG will run you $150.00. A 22" WSM will run you $400.00. I would go with the 22" OTG and later pick up the 18" WSM for $300.00 or even the 14" WSM for $200.00. Good luck and let us know how you make out.
 
Another thought for you, why not look on Craigslist for a WSM and a Performer. I love that combination. Those and a 20 year old rehabbed Genesis 1000 and all the bases are covered and for less money. Full disclosure, I bought the WSM22 and Performer at retail before I knew I could get better deals on Craigslist. It would be worth looking. I am currently looking on Craigslist for a WSM18.

And welcome to the forum. You will find the people here very friendly and we all love to help each other. Good luck on your quest.
 
I agree with Rolf, I have an 18.5 and it's fine for what I do 99% of the time because it's just the two of us, the 1% is now I have a big whole brisket in my freezer that's not going to fit on the 18.5. I have a 22 performer and as Rolf said you can run out of room on those really fast especially if your doing indirect cooking. The performer will work as a smoker but requires more hands on than the WSM.
I would think about what you will be doing more of BBQ or Grilling and go with the one that will do what you do the most.

Almost forgot, welcome to the forum.
 
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What they said!^^^
The 18" is my workhorse and can handle cooks for 2-4 or 6 with ease and with some thought can handle much more. Grilling for 2-4 can be done using the big green egg conf, but If it was me buy the 18" for smoking and get a 22.5" OTG or performer for grilling.

Tim
 
Kettle, you can always get a WSM later if you feel that you need more room to smoke but at this time go with kettle.
 
Ray Cerr said:
I am about to purchase either a WSM or Weber kettle. Is it difficult to grill on the WSM. Also I have been thinking 18" on the WSM. Most of the time it will only be myself and my wife I am cooking for. I'd like to smoke ribs, brisket and pork butts, will the 18" be large enough or should I spend the extra $100 and get the 22"?
Thanks
Ray Cerr
Click to expand...

Sounds like you need the WSM which is designed for low and slow.
 
Dwain Pannell said:
On the other hand, it's not hard to smoke on a kettle either.
Click to expand...
I have to agree with the other dissenter on this. Low and slow is very difficult on the kettle because it's almost impossible to control air flow. The need to offset the food and the coals make it very difficult to load enough fuel to last for very long. I had some success with ribs on the kettle, but pork butt was a pain in the shoulder. I was re-loading fuel every hour and it was an effort in futility trying to keep the temps down. If you're looking to just get a little smoke on something then, yeah, you can do it in the kettle. If you're looking for a 12 hour low and slow cook, it will be a lot of effort and frustration.

If I had to pick just one, I'd go for the kettle. I think it's more versatile and I know it gets more use than the WSM. Not that I'd willingly give up my WSM now that I have it.

If the 22" WSM is an option, I'd say get the 18" and use the extra $100 to buy the low end kettle. You can cook enough pork butt on an 18" to feed a ton of people. Actually, I'm pretty sure you could feed literally a couple tons of people with an 18".
 
I agree with Jay.

I am fairly new to the WSM and although I have had a Kettle for many years I only started to understand how to use it properly in the last couple.

I use the Kettle a lot. I use the WSM occasionally. I have the 22" and it is huge. On reflection the 18" would have been more sensible for the amounts I have cooked. The day may come when I want to smoke 5 or 6 butts together but that rarity is not worth investing in if you only want to regularly cook for two.

So I would start with the Kettle which is very versatile, or if you can afford both go 18" WSM and 22" Kettle. You won't be disappointed!
 
Welcome to the forum Ray.

I would start with the 22 kettle wich is much more versatile.
in the last years you were only 2 most of the times, but with the kettle things will change. So think larger !!
 
Thanks for all the things to think about. I do have a Char-Broil gas grill so mostly the Weber would be for smoking. I'm thinking I agree with all of you who said the 18" would be large enough to 2 people. At the most right now I can see smoking a brisket flat, maybe 2 ranks of ribs and 1 pork butt at a time.
I have been looking at Craigslist and can pick up a 22" weber kettle at a very good price so I might go with the 18" WSM and 22" kettle combo for now.
I appreciate all the responses and know if I have any questions I can depend on well thought out responses.
 
I somehow deleted my reply. I was going to suggest the 26 kettle. Its easier to smoke on vs the 22 in my experience, but not as easy vs the WSM. The 26 kettle has a huge cooking area and you can fit a bigger snake when using the snake method. However, it's a lot easier to find used 22 kettles and WSMs. You won't be disappointed with any Weber! You can always add more later.
 
I own both a 22.5 WSM and two 22.5 one touch silvers. I have not found any style of barbecue I cannot cook on the 22.5 inch kettle grill, once you learn heat control. It also uses a heck of a lot less charcoal. That being said, I love my 22.5 WSM for times when I don't have time to monitor the heat every 15 minutes or so. I also get more of a smoked taste from my WSM. Bottom line, you can do whatever cook you want on a kettle with practice but it sure is nice to have the big fella in the backyard for smoking too.
 
Sorry, just to add, if you want to successfully cook low and slow on a kettle you will need a good temp gauge, such as a Maverick. This will teach you how to manage the heat. So this too is an added expense.
 
Just my deflated 2 cents worth.

The WSM is the choice if you want to bbq/smoke bigger pieces of meat. While it can be used as a grill by removing the center barrel section, the grate is awfully close to the coals - great if you want a super intense hot sear. But if you want to grill with a 'safe zone' with no coals on one side with the super hot coals on the other, then it is a question of how much space you need for grilling.

If you grill for big numbers, then maybe the WSM is not the choice and the Kettle is the better one.
 
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