Indirect cooking with 22- and 26-inch grills

[Thomas Errico]

I've never cooked on a 26, but perhaps a Weber Summit Kamado would not only give you larger, but much greater flexibility smoking and grilling than a 22

My uncle has a Summit Kamado. Its the one with the cart. I borrowed it for our annual block party. It is hands down the best cooker I have ever used in my life. Once you got your temp tuned in, it just holds that temp all day long. I got about 12 hours on 1 load of charcoal. At one point he offered it to me for $800 and I should have jumped on that offer. I regret it.

 

[Cliff Travis]

I have both, picked up the 26 when the glen blue thing was happening. I love it but it’s a big grill. Lid ain’t no joke.
I also picked up a performer which I had wanted for a while, I have to say it’s hands down the best grill ever. The only thing I don’t like about it is I didn’t buy it 10 years ago.

So you would take the Performer over all others? What sets it apart?.

 

[Bruno]

So you would take the Performer over all others? What sets it apart?.

Well I’d take the performer over anything else I own. I use it the most. I don’t own a WSK so it’s not for me to compare.
I sure wouldn’t mind an S6.
That being said I grill on my performer 90% of the time, just nailed some chicken tonight, I smoke 100% on my SmokeFire. So I have my needs met.

 

[DanHoo]

So you would take the Performer over all others? What sets it apart?.

Original Kettle Premium

MasterTouch 22

Base Performer

Performer Premium

Performer Deluxe

Cooking on a performer or a 22 inch kettle with a one-touch ash catcher is identical.

What sets a performer apart?
- four legs are more stable than three
- It has wheels and casters so it is easier to move
- a storage rack underneath as we all have "stuff"
- base model performer has a fold down table
- Performer Premium and Deluxe have a charcoal bin and a larger prep table.
- Performer Deluxe has gas assist starting.

I have a base-level performer with the fold up table.

If there wasn't a summit kamado, I would upgrade to a performer premium or deluxe due to the larger prep table. Maybe I would hunt down and restore an older first gen performer and drop a brand new kettle in to the cart.

I've had the WSK for about a year and since it arrived I have only cooked on the performer once, however I use the performer as a prep table every time I use the WSK.

 

[Cliff Travis]

I got the Kamado and gave my performer to my daughter. My favorite charcoal grill.

Wife says I can get a new grill and I’m torn between the WSK and Performer. Why did you go wit the WSK?

 

[Mark Foreman]

Because it can be configured for smoking or grilling. Its 24 vs. 22 inches.
It is very very efficient and holds temperatures crazy good. I got 27 hours off 1 load of coals when using it as a smoker.
I also like that the charcoal grate is a bit closer to the cooking grate so cooking for 2 is sooo easy.

I could go on. All being said, its an awesome smoker and grill.

 

[TimA]

Wife says I can get a new grill and I’m torn between the WSK and Performer. Why did you go wit the WSK?

Go with the Kamado. It’s an absolute game changer and there really truly is no way to compare it to a kettle. They cook almost nothing alike, and the kettle falls short in every single metric. Save for price.

I’ve got 15 kettles and the Summit, so I certainly love kettles. If I could only choose one, and only one, forever, it would be the Summit charcoal (previous version of todays Kamado).