Size Matters: single guy, apartment, Indirect kettle choices

Too Many Kettles, need help choosing:

Is an 18" kettle too small for indirect cooking of things like a chicken?

I'm a single guy and live in an apartment with a nice deck but limited space. I cook for myself and a maximum total of four.

For the past two years I have really been enjoying a Weber Q 200 gasser. It is, however, sometimes too small. Besides, I've wanted to try out a kettle.

By nutty circumstance, I now find myself with three kettles: a brand new smokey joe, an 18" silver, and a wood handled 22" that needs a few parts and care. Yikes! Gotta choose and let some go! Either that or use the kettles for end tables or something!

I use the Q gasser a lot because it is very quick and convenient. I don't know which of the three kettle(s) to keep. I do fish, chicken, pizza, vegetables, corn, etc, but don't figure to be doing any beef / pork. I'd like to do some low / slow / indirect in the kettle.

The 22 is a monster size next to the 18 - especially for a single guy in an apartment. I will still have the Weber Q gasser and the extra space on that grill will be in addition to whatever space I get on the kettle. But when doing indirect, will the smaller size of the 18 be much of a handicap? Is it worth the extra space for the 22?

Thanks for reading this long post, and hopefully for your thoughts...

Harry

No "beef / pork"?

IMO, if you do just 1 cook for 4, you'll need the 18" but wish you had the 22".

But, since you have all 3, why not experiment? Try a fav fish or chicken recipe on each. (Start with the 18")

Your main issue will be setting up for indirect that will give you enough burn time to complete the cook. Setting up for indirect will eat up 1/3 of the available space.

Search through this section for doing indirect cooks.

Here are some that'll give you a good idea...

A longer burn process for kettles

Can Kettle do smoking for now?

My .02 cents:

you did not even mention the 26.75" kettle.
GET IT!

TODAY!!!
you'll NEVER regret it.

You can do a lot on an 18 - it's big enough to do a rack of lamb, as an example, with a direct and indirect setup (coals banked to one side, drip pan on the other). But a whole chicken? I'd want the 22 - it works very nicely with the chicken in the center and coals on either side.

The smokey joe is great if you're cooking for one because they're so fuel efficient - most weekends I pick up a piece of salmon and cook it indirect on the smokey joe. Maybe put one smallish chunk of almond wood in there under the coals. Works great, the only trick is to make sure the coals are totally hot before putting them in.

I had a similar dilemma when I bought my kettle grill. I couldn't decide between the 18 and 22. Most of the time I'm cooking for two, and I also have space issues.

In the end I went with the 18. It has worked out very well for me, but whenever I have a larger group of people over I wish I had the 22.

Cooking for four is certainly doable on the 18. I've successfully cooked for larger groups. Depending on what your cooking it can take some extra planning/ingenuity to get it done with the smaller cooking space though.

As far as indirect cooking, I have made whole chicken and ribs (two racks, baby backs, I don't think you could get anymore than that in) with good results. I've got pics if anyone's interested. You would, of course, have more versatility with the 22, but the 18 can do a lot. I've gotten 4+ hours of steady temperature without adding charcoal using the minion method (you could probably get more than that, but I haven't had a need to yet).

If space wasn't an issue I would rather have the 22, but since space is an important factor for me right now I'm happy with the 18 and have gotten a lot out of it.

We have an older, basic 18-inch unit that we use occasionally (currently on-loan to a friend).

If you want to cook indirect with an 18-inch, you would be better-off to bank the coals to one side only. If you try splitting it into two piles (one on either side), you get:
-too small of an indirect area in the middle
-too small thermal mass (hard to keep the two small piles lit)

IMHO, the bigger kettles breathe better when trying to maintain a lower / indirect fire.

For most "normal" cooking, the 18 is fine. If you want to do a lot of indirect, you're probably going to wich you sacrificed the space and got one of the bigger kettles.

When Weber finally comes to their senses, and comes-out with a 26-inch version of "The Performer", my gasser will be demoted to my secondary grill.

You sir need the 22.5 Kettle and the Smokey Joe! There will be no regrets!

You can roast a pretty big hunk of meat on a small grate. Vegetables take up a lot of space, though, even for 2 people. Ditto for cooking fish indirect. You can make do with an 18 inch grill but you'll probably covet more space.

I've really not ran into feeding up to 6-8 people using a 22' for grilling

For indirect, I've done 10lb briksets, a couple big butts, and up to 5 racks of ribs (using the kebob stick method)

Thank you everyone for your thoughts - I decided to try out the 22!