How many WSM's should i use for competing?


 

fred nevill

TVWBB Member
Greetings all,

The competition bug has bit me after 2 years of judging and I would like to enter about 5 contests in my area this year. My wife is very supportive of this and is ok with me getting enough WSM,s. I currently have an 18 and ordered a 22.5 I also have a Big Steel Keg.

My thoughts are that I need the 22.5 for brisket,an 18 for pork butts, an 18 for ribs and I would use my Keg for chicken and setting sauces. If I am right I will only need one more 18 and I am good to go with cookers.

I have no grand illusions of winning or the such but just want to have fun. If I have the right cookers that sure would help the fun.

Thanks for any help
 
Some people compete with as little as 1 or 2.

My first comp I had a my 18" and 1 performer. I cooked 4 butts on the 18 overnight. Then cooked 4 racks on a rib rack up top and a dozen thighs on the bottom. No brisket

The performer got used for heating up sauce and a couple butts were foiled and finished on it.

This year we are doing all 4 meats and here is my plan:

22" - Butts for comp & vending
18" - Ribs
Performer #1 - Thighs
Performer #2 - Spare, heating things

Brisket will be cooked by another team member, probably on their smoker. If not, it will be on the 22.
 
Fred, I think that you can safely cook 2 butts and a brisket at the same time on your 22. You can do 2 racks of ribs and 12-14 thighs on the 18, since you have a 3rd cooker already, I think you have enough with those 3. I will be using an 18 WSM and a 22 Kettle with a Smoke- EZ convertion. I bring a propane camp stove for water and sauces and have a Smokey Joe if I need it, but probably won't. If my team mates join in and bring their cookers so much the better and less for me to haul.

Good luck on the trail, and most of all HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!
Mark
 
I use 2 22" WSM and 1 kettle. I do 2 butts and 1 brisket on 1 WSM. Ribs on the 2nd WSM and chicken on the kettle. This works for me great, even the 18" would work for either one. sounds like you have enough cookers already, just cant let the wife know that
icon_smile.gif
, we always need a reason to buy another cooker.
 
I think you could easily do a contest with an 18 and a 22.5. I would cook 2 butts and a brisket on the 18, cook 3 racks of ribs on the 22 and cook the chicken on whatever cooker has space (for competition, you should plan on having the big cuts finish early and sit in a cooler for a while).

I really prefer cooking ribs on the 22 -- you can easily have 3 racks or St. Louis cut spares or loin backs laying down on the 22 without any overlap, curling, etc. I've never had good luck with rib racks.

If you get worried about cooking space, look for a Big Green Egg grate extender. It's like $15, and it's a clip on grate. You can put it on the top grate of your WSM and get a third level.
 
If you get worried about cooking space, look for a Big Green Egg grate extender. It's like $15, and it's a clip on grate. You can put it on the top grate of your WSM and get a third level.

You could also use the grate extender on the mid level and then buy an extra WSM top grate and flip it upside down so the handles rest on the existing top grate and the sides rest on the handles of the existing top grate.

Boom. 4 levels.

That said I ran a comp with 3 18" WSM and it's plenty of space to cook for vending and the comp too.
 
I've been cooking on an 18 and a 22 along with a 22 OTG for chicken. I do the brisket and the butts on the 22 WSM and the ribs on the 18.

Don't think I need to expand any further.

Russ
 
I think you can do it with an 18" and 22" WSM. I generally cook a brisket on the lower grate and 2 butts on the top of the 22". These are generally done about 8-9 am. Ribs are tough to do on the 18".

You could always do most of the cook on the 22" for the butts and brisket. Then get the 18" ready and transfer those meats to it to finish early in the morning. Then re-build your 22" for ribs. Cook the ribs on the top. By the time your chicken is ready to go on, you could either put it on the lower rack below the ribs or your butts & brisket should be off and in the coolers resting, freeing up the 18".

That's a lot of coordination and moving, but it will work and you've got the equipment needed and you can leave the Steel Keg at home if need be.
 
We compete with an 18.5 and a 22 also.

I start 2 butts Friday afternoon, and they're generally ready by 9 or 10 on Saturday. Wrap them in foil after 10 or so minutes off the smoker and put them in a Carlisle holding box until shortly before turn in. Then we get the ribs going in the same cooker. Sometimes, the butts take a little longer, in which case I'll wrap them in foil, start the ribs on the bottom grate, and leave the butts to finish on the top one, so no worries of cross-contamination

We do our brisket and chicken on the 22. The nice thing about the 22 is a full packer brisket fits with ease. Not so true of the 18

We also keep a smokey joe platinum for finishing chicken and ribs
 
I use one 18", one 22", and one Kettle when competing. I put the brisket and ribs on the 22" and the butts on the 18" and use the Kettle for chicken. It works, although, I would love to have another smoker or two.

My first comp I used one 18" and one Kettle. That was a lot of fancy juggling.
 
Originally posted by Michael Freeman:
I use one 18", one 22", and one Kettle when competing. I put the brisket and ribs on the 22" and the butts on the 18" and use the Kettle for chicken. It works, although, I would love to have another smoker or two.

My first comp I used one 18" and one Kettle. That was a lot of fancy juggling.

my first comp was with an 18 and a performer.... Fun once but I will never do that again!
 
Originally posted by Erik H.:
I think you could easily do a contest with an 18 and a 22.5. I would cook 2 butts and a brisket on the 18, cook 3 racks of ribs on the 22 and cook the chicken on whatever cooker has space (for competition, you should plan on having the big cuts finish early and sit in a cooler for a while).

I really prefer cooking ribs on the 22 -- you can easily have 3 racks or St. Louis cut spares or loin backs laying down on the 22 without any overlap, curling, etc. I've never had good luck with rib racks.

If you get worried about cooking space, look for a Big Green Egg grate extender. It's like $15, and it's a clip on grate. You can put it on the top grate of your WSM and get a third level.
X2

I think you would also help yourself by having a rib rack.
 
For comps, I personally would not use a rib rack. Keep em flat, easier to spray and glaze and everything else. YMMV.

Mark
 
I bring (3) wsm with me to all contests. I typically only use (2) On the occasion that my big meats are running behind I light up the 3rd.
 
We're a 4 WSM team and have been very happy with our results. We like the freedom of having each meat in its own cooker and not having to worry about making sure that all the timings are just right so that we can switch a cooker over from one meat to another.

That is not to say that anyone who is doing it with less is wrong. Quite the contrary. The key is finding a process that your team is comfortable with and then refining that process to take full advantage of everything at your disposal.
 
I have no grand illusions of winning or the such but just want to have fun. If I have the right cookers that sure would help the fun.

My 1st comp was similar expectations. used one 18 WSM (brisket & pork butt) and 2 22 kettles (chicken and ribs).. fun we did have.. so I would say you have more than enough to have some fun.
 
We use 4 WSM's as well...We cook 2 briskets on 1 22", 6 racks of ribs on a 2nd 22", 2 butts on an 18", and a dozen chicken thighs on the last 18". I like the freedom of one bullet per meat...it allows us to use different smokewoods for our flavor profiles.
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I have to admit I did my first and only comp last summer with 1 22". Cooked the pork and butts overnight then pulled and stored in a cooler while I cooked the ribs and chicken. The larger meats got mushy sitting so am going to add another 22" to my arsenal this year. Plan to do the large meats on one and ribs/chicken on the other.
 

 

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