18.5" vs 22.5"


 
I'm debating right now on what to buy 18.5 vs 22.5. It's just me and my wife.. No kids, and I never cook for family ever. Of course having said this. I did buy a 26.75 kettle a couple of weeks ago. lol

I went that big because my wife & I like to cook our meals for the week on Sunday, so we really needed a big grill.

I read in an older thread that Chris Allingham, mainly uses his 18.5 when he smokes instead of his 22.5 (not sure) if that's still the case.

I may cook several slabs of ribs, and maybe a butt or two, but I don't think I'll ever load it down with the amount of food many of you do.

Money's not a problem. I just don't want to buy something too big. You know kinda like buying a 26.75, or ranch kettle and only cooking 4-5 hamburgers on it. LOL

Wife said I would just be wanting the bigger smoker down the line, then I would have two smokers lol. Just want to make the right choice.

Decisions, decisions.
 
Whichever one you buy will be the right one for you. Your wife sounds like mine so I never talked to her about the different sizes. I had an ECB before my WSM so my 18.5" seems big to me.
 
Originally posted by AHurt:
I'm debating right now on what to buy 18.5 vs 22.5. It's just me and my wife.. No kids, and I never cook for family ever. Of course having said this. I did buy a 26.75 kettle a couple of weeks ago. lol

I went that big because my wife & I like to cook our meals for the week on Sunday, so we really needed a big grill.

I read in an older thread that Chris Allingham, mainly uses his 18.5 when he smokes instead of his 22.5 (not sure) if that's still the case.

I may cook several slabs of ribs, and maybe a butt or two, but I don't think I'll ever load it down with the amount of food many of you do.

Money's not a problem. I just don't want to buy something too big. You know kinda like buying a 26.75, or ranch kettle and only cooking 4-5 hamburgers on it. LOL

Wife said I would just be wanting the bigger smoker down the line, then I would have two smokers lol. Just want to make the right choice.

Decisions, decisions.
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The main reasons I'd suggest buying the magnum wsm is for catering or competition cooking if you like to use foil in the process.

However, if you like to cook several slabs of ribs at once, this is also a factor if you prefer not to use rib racks. Also, the size of the average slab of ribs is a factor, and because of the standardization in pork, nowadays, folks generally smoke larger slabs than what used to be preferred.
 
Dave, I'm still deciding on size. Like I mentioned above it's just me and my wife. So three slabs of ribs (3 pack) from Sam's, and maybe an occasional butt would be about all we would cook.

Of course like you mentioned, if you use an 18.5 you may have to use ribs racks, that or cut them. Which wouldn't be that big of an hassle.

Wife says get the 22.5, but not sure if I really need it.
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I already have a 26.75, and if I don't load it up with food for the week, and just cook 4-5 burgers, it can be kind of an overkill if you know what I mean. lol

If I were to buy an 18.5, I wouldn't be disappointed in it would I?

Maybe I just need to close my eyes and pick one.
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No, you will not be disappointed in it at all. Weber has been selling the classic size 18.5" wsm for what? 25 years or so, if I'm not mistaken? If you travel to see family or like to camp, the classic size wsm is really nice to have. You'll like the lighter weight of the unit when it comes to moving it around and cleaning as well. The big wsm oughta come already supplied with casters as far as I'm concerned. Either way though, you'll be happy.
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That's what I was telling my wife tonight. When we go camping I could always take it with us and smoke some food while we are off hiking and biking.

The 22.5 may be a little much to carry around. Even in a SUV. lol

I'm going to watch the prices (on both) over the next few days and decide. I have a $30 credit from Amazon, so I may buy from them.

Was going to sign up for the Amazon credit card, but I believe I'll just pay cash and be done with it.

I'll let you know which size I decide to buy. Thanks for the help.
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Well after going to Home Depot and looking over the 18.5 WSM really well, I decided that it wasn't that much bigger than my Brinmann's gourmet smoker.

So I figured since my wife was telling me to get the 22.5, I figured I would get that. I will never outgrow it. lol

Ordered it today and should get here in a few days. The deciding factor was that I got a new 22.5 much cheaper than a 18.5.

Thanks again for the help guys.
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Originally posted by J Reyes:
and how is the 22.5 cheaper than the 18.5?
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I paid less for a 22.5 than an 18.5 at a local store with coupon and cash. . Maybe the 22.5 wasn't selling well???

I'm sure I could've gotten a discount on the 18.5 to make it even cheaper, but I didn't really want an 18.5.
 
In the 1980's weber has a wsm that was like half as big as the 18! Then they got the 18 in, and now the mammoth one. I think the 18 is good enough for 99 percent of people. It just depends on how many people you cook for. The 18 can fit 2 whole turkeys. If you buy the biggest one for your normal every time smoker you will use more fuel and pay more up front! If you smoke 40 pounds of food every time go for the big one!
 
I like to convert my 22 into an egg and use it to grill. Occasionally, I'll do up to 6 steaks and really appreciate the upper grate size.
 
I guess deciding what size WSM to get is partially a function of what you already have. In my case I have a Performer which I use a lot for short smokes (ribs, chicken etc..) and I'm looking at a WSM mostly for easier overnight smokes rather than to handle really large amounts of food. I'm kinda leaning towards the 18.5" mostly for lower charcoal usage on typical smokes, does that make sense ?

Does anyone have experience with 18.5 and 22.5 for use in cold winter conditions ? Any idea which would work best ?
 
Originally posted by John Bridgman:
... I'm kinda leaning towards the 18.5" mostly for lower charcoal usage on typical smokes, does that make sense ?

Does anyone have experience with 18.5 and 22.5 for use in cold winter conditions ? Any idea which would work best ?
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That makes perfect sense. I've done a 27 lb. turkey and up to about 20 lb pork rib tip trimmings on my 18 1/2" WSM. I'm sure you could do truly prodigious quantities of food in a 22 1/2", but if you don't need to cook that much, it is capacity you pay for but don't use.

Theoretically the 22 1/2" would do better in the cold (surface area increases with the square of size increase while volume increases with the cube.) I've used my 18 1/2" WSM as cold as 18° F and not had difficulty making temperature. That was for warming hams so it was not a long cook.
 
I don't have any experience with an 18.5, but I'm standing next to my 22.5, which has been chugging happily along all night, and I'm really glad I've got this size. I've done 2 slabs of ribs, and it handled beautifully in that small scale run. Right now I've got 2 shoulders and 5+lbs of beans and still room for extras like ATBs. The 22.5 will scale down, but the 18.5 just can't scale up. My $.02.

If I truly need LESS capacity, I'll just do it in my kettle.

Stan
 
I was debating which one to get, then I saw them at a store.

My first thought at looking at the 22" was, this looks like what someone uses to go over Niagara Falls in. It's that big. A grown man could squeeze inside.

For a month or two I was debating the size and if you look at it, you'll know right away if the 22" is even something you should be considering.
 
Back in Jan, I was going back and forth in my mind on which one to get. I decided on the 18.5" since it is mainly just for my family of 5. I previously had an ECB that was just fine, so the 18.5" is plenty big for me.
 
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