Indirect cooking with 22- and 26-inch grills


 
Dan Kennedy

Dan Kennedy

New member
We've had a 22-inch Weber kettle grill for many years, and it's finally time to replace it. I can't decide whether to get another one or to go up to a 26-inch. Here's where I keep getting stuck: the most frequent thing I do is fill one chimney with charcoal and then divide it between the two side baskets. I then put the baskets on either side of the grill and cook in the middle, often salmon or a whole small chicken. Am I going to be able to do the same thing in the same way with a 26-inch? Will I need to use more charcoal? Cook for longer? Or can I do exactly what I've been doing? It would be nice to have a larger grill for occasional big gatherings.
 
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.
 
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
 
I also have both but I don't recall doing a two basket indirect on the 26". When I do that configuration on the 22" I'm using the rotisserie.

I don't always have the best common sense but it would seem logical to me that you can achieve the same results on a 26" but it would not surprise me if you will need a little more fuel. You could buy another chimney for that purpose, even the mini if you wanted to but I'd probably buy another standard chimney and fill each one equally so that both loads would be ready to dump in the grill at the same time.

It would also seem that when you don't need the full space of the 26" you could move the baskets inward some.
 
They have slightly larger baskets on Amazon namely the Onlyfire basket!
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I own these and they hold way more charcoal than Webers baskets!
 
If you want a 26, you could just line the two baskets with a layer of unlit briquettes, then dump the full lit chimney in the two baskets. Good luck.
 
I am a huge fan of my 26. I like you use 1 chimney for I detect cooks. I actually don’t divide the coals but rather bank all coals on one side. With a drip pan on the opposite side. Food on it seems to cook same amount of time and coals on the 26 as my performer used to. While chicken is about an hour.

Any the space of the 26 is nice. If you like pork ribs, I can do 3 racks flat no problem. In fact, I might need to do that for din din tonight 😃
 
I might be inclined to get the bigger baskets and lay a layer of fresh coal in the bottom and fill with the hot chimney split between them, increase cook time with little extra effort. I like classic indirect set up (one basket on each side) especially for rotisserie work. Drip an in the middle, easier cleanup! There are those that like the “one side” arrangement but, the old way is what I’m used to so, I tend to stick with what I know. Yep, I’m a stick in the mud! But when the KISS method works, why make it difficult?
 
I have a Summit Kamado, but probably 80% of my cooks are indirect (or a combo of both direct, then move to indirect) and to facilitate this I dump my coals on one side (only) of the grill, and then leave about 2/3 of the grill for indirect. I have actually found having coals on both sides doesn't really change the results much at all, uses up valuable space, and uses more coals too. Just an FYI...
 
GrantT said:
I have a Summit Kamado, but probably 80% of my cooks are indirect (or a combo of both direct, then move to indirect) and to facilitate this I dump my coals on one side (only) of the grill, and then leave about 2/3 of the grill for indirect. I have actually found having coals on both sides doesn't really change the results much at all, uses up valuable space, and uses more coals too. Just an FYI...
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Same here.
 
Dan Kennedy said:
We've had a 22-inch Weber kettle grill for many years, and it's finally time to replace it. I can't decide whether to get another one or to go up to a 26-inch. Here's where I keep getting stuck: the most frequent thing I do is fill one chimney with charcoal and then divide it between the two side baskets. I then put the baskets on either side of the grill and cook in the middle, often salmon or a whole small chicken. Am I going to be able to do the same thing in the same way with a 26-inch? Will I need to use more charcoal? Cook for longer? Or can I do exactly what I've been doing? It would be nice to have a larger grill for occasional big gatherings.
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Get both!

The only downside to me of getting a 26 is that you have but 1 choice. There is no option but to get a 3 legged grill.

Maybe it uses a little more charcoal, but the extra space is worth it. I have both sizes. They are both great. The 26 is just more versatile to me because I can cook more food at once.

You can do your 2 split side basket technique just fine on a 26. I personally prefer to just fill 1 basket and get it lit hot and put food on the far side away from the basket. I find 1 ripping hot basket makes a nice oven temp for the whole
 
I 2nd Bruno’s recommendation on the Weber Performer as I have one since January, 2020! Also, many more accessories for the Weber 22”.
 

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I have a 26" and the Summit Kamado. I love them both but when it comes time to replace the 26" I will probably get another Summit Kamado because it is very fuel efficient where the 26" is a fuel hog. They both use the charcoal baskets but there are other variations of indirect heat that you can use such as just fuel on one side as opposed to both sides.
 
JohnTak said:
I have a 26" and the Summit Kamado. I love them both but when it comes time to replace the 26" I will probably get another Summit Kamado because it is very fuel efficient where the 26" is a fuel hog. They both use the charcoal baskets but there are other variations of indirect heat that you can use such as just fuel on one side as opposed to both sides.
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Great info!
 
Get the 26er and don't look back. You can do everything on the 26er that you can do on the 22. But you just can simply do a lot more of it. For instance, if you have a Vortex (or something similar, you can cook entire (Sam's/Cosco) family pack of wings in about 45 minutes. I've done 3 butts at one time using a SnS.

And all of that is before I add my Cajun Bandit rotisserie ring and a second grill grate . . .





BD
 
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