14.5 true love


 
Jeff Padell

Jeff Padell

TVWBB Pro
The wife was making shake and bake so I pulled 5 legs off the pile and fired up the 14.5, ran them with pecan for a hour at 300, they came out great!

This is why I love the 14.5, with just a little coal, RO lump, you can do just enough for 2! I am finding I am using the 14.5 to the 22.5 about 10 or 15 to 1.

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Rich, I agree

I built a mini first and other than the quality of the metal, the domed top and bottom, the door in the middle section, the 3 vents on the bottom, it is a 14.5

I actually also love my mini.

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Just think how many more 14.5's Weber could have sold if they had reacted much sooner to the homebuilt "mini" trend.
 
It boggles the mind! The main thing about the homebuilt mini (in my mind) is that the legs are spindly, I am going to work on sturdier legs with strap steel. Also it may be me but I have noticed the pot is sensitive to positioning, it can rock from side to side.

Has anyone found how long the aluminum pot will last in actual use?
 
Bob H. said:
Just think how many more 14.5's Weber could have sold if they had reacted much sooner to the homebuilt "mini" trend.
Click to expand...

Oh, I don't know. A lot of guys have made them because it's cheap and there's not a whole lot to it...same reason I've made the UDS smokers I've made. Who doesn't love a great do it yourself project like building a smoker?!

As to why Weber has been hesitant to reintroduce them to the market, I suspect there's more than a few folks at Weber that are of the opinion that the public would rather have a larger wsm. For instance, I'm sure the 14.5" wsm is great for a pork butt, but I could do that on my kettle....great for a couple slabs of ribs, but again, I can do that on my kettles. Brisket doesn't really fit, but will fit fine on my kettles. Chicken works great on the 14.5", but a wsm, no matter the size, is never going to be the chicken cooker that the Weber kettle is. Not knocking 'em, just coming from a different perspective. But didn't I see somewhere where they sold a mini version many years ago? You'd think they would've kept on selling them...
 
I have never really used my kettle, I got it at the same time I got my Silver B. I keep saying I am going to try stuff on the kettle.

Dave, you seem to use the kettle alot, on my OTG 22.5, with the coal holders (I forget their actual name) one on each side, how long a burn can you get and is it tougher to maintain temps or easier or the same as the WSM's? Sunday I did turkey legs on the 14.5 and put a 2/3 load of lit on the ring of unlit and it stayed 250 without moving for the 5 hours I watched it. After shutting it down I still had half the coals left.
 
Jeff, don't misunderstand me. I'm a BIG wsm fan, no matter the size, and have been tempted by the 14 now that they even sell em at our Walmart. And to be honest with ya, while I've smoked many a slab of ribs on weber kettles, I've NEVER even tried a butt or brisket on one. I started out with a stickburner, then made drum smokers (UDS), then bit the bullet a few years back. Plenty of folks do....but then again, I'm with ya, sounds to me like the 14 is nearly the set it and forget it smoker as the 18 and 22. I don't see why you'd smoke a butt or brisket on a kettle if you got a bullet, but folks do.

As to the kettles, the way I've smoked ribs is putting a pile of lump to one side and lighting the top, adjusting the vents as needed. Some folks have a hard time with it, but then again, some folks have a hard time with the wsm. I think the lid fit is huge if you're trying to keep low temps, but I'm not trying to get you to smoke ribs or other BBQ cuts on your kettle. I was just coming from what a lot of Weber folks might say. One word though: chicken. Did you see Dwain's spatchcocked chicken in the photo gallery? Was it Sunday? Dude, there's something almost magic about how even the weber kettle cooks with coals to one side, meat to the other. Then you just crisp the chicken over the coals. A weber kettle is winner winner chicken dinner!
 
But yes, I LOVE low and slow wings. That's really the only chicken I'd just as soon smoke on the wsm as a kettle. Some folks say they have to have crispy skin too, but we like em low and slow, too. Everything else chicken though, I prefer hot and fast on the kettle. I'll even use two kettles for four spatchcocked fryers rather than put them on a wsm.
 
That is what I was getting at, chicken. What I find I do with either my 22.5 or my 14.5 is to do the chicken on it and then finish it on the Silver B, same with ribs.

I do want to try the OTG 22.5 for chicken, have never done it on it and as you say being able to finish it on the other side of it makes it easier.

I just enjoy the cooking, I had been tempted by propane smokers but managed to put it out of my mind (for now)
 
Jeff Padell said:
That is what I was getting at, chicken. What I find I do with either my 22.5 or my 14.5 is to do the chicken on it and then finish it on the Silver B, same with ribs.

I do want to try the OTG 22.5 for chicken, have never done it on it and as you say being able to finish it on the other side of it makes it easier.

I just enjoy the cooking, I had been tempted by propane smokers but managed to put it out of my mind (for now)
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Too funny, Jeff. I beat ya to the punch. PM already sent. :)
 
Dave your mailbox is full

here is what I tried to send

Thank you very much, checking it out. My favorite things to grill or smoke are chicken and turkey - I do like ribs (pork and beef) and pulled pork but poultry is cheap and so am I!
 
Jeff Padell said:
Dave your mailbox is full

here is what I tried to send

Thank you very much, checking it out. My favorite things to grill or smoke are chicken and turkey - I do like ribs (pork and beef) and pulled pork but poultry is cheap and so am I!
Click to expand...

Oops. I need to delete a bunch. Anyhow, I don't want to hijack your thread, but I figure it's your thread and you probably would like to check this out:
http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/08/the-food-lab-how-to-grill-a-whole-chicken.html?ref=grilling
 
I am still busy reading the first article you sent me. Just clicked on the one above it is that same as in the PM.

Yes the WSM is great for slow cooking chicken which is what I often do as the skin is fattening and I am trying to lose weight, but the skin tastes the best!

I really am enjoying that article.

BACK TO THE 14.5's

I am using my 14.5 for Smoke day, first going to see if I can fit 2 racks of ribs in a rack on the bottom shelf, I am not sure there is the height, so probably will done 1 rack of ribs on the bottom grate and then either chicken thighs or 2 turkey thighs and some kielbasa on the top rack.
 
Jeff Padell said:
...I am using my 14.5 for Smoke day, first going to see if I can fit 2 racks of ribs in a rack on the bottom shelf, I am not sure there is the height, so probably will done 1 rack of ribs on the bottom grate and then either chicken thighs or 2 turkey thighs and some kielbasa on the top rack.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a plan. I absolutely love kielbasa and sausage, in general. I thought I read where someone had smoked half slabs of st. louies on the bottom grate in either a Brinkman or Weber four slot. Maybe not though. Maybe they were just saying that the racks fit. Smoked turkey drums and wings are always cool ideas, too.
 
The racks do fit on the bottom, right now I am going out to do a steak on the Silver B and will put the rack on the lower grate on the 14.5 and see how much room there is above it, the St. Louis cut would be the best for that.
 
The Weber Kettle is the most versatile cooker that I own. Green Egg, WSM, SJ, GA are all fine, but if I could keep just
one it would be the kettle.
 
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