Need a new smoker - Considering a non Weber (looking for input)


 
K

Kevin Mahler

TVWBB Member
First, I love my WSM. I have a Weber Charcoal Grill and a Smokey Joe for camping. I love them all. But I need two smokers and my Brinkman finally bit the dust. I have a bit party coming up and need to smoke more ribs than can fit on my original 18.5" WSM. I started thinking about adding a 22" WSM to my cache of smokers.

I mainly smoke Butts, whole shoulders and ribs. On occasions I'll do a brisket but that's a rare occurrence.

But, at $400 I'm starting to think about getting an offset smoker instead. I'm interested in advice and opinions from others who have transitioned from a WSM (or other bullet) to an offset.

Things I'm curious about:
- Ease of transition
- Temperature control and stability of the offset vs. a WSM
- Flavor
- Changes in how meats smoke
- Grill room (my main complaint of the WSM)


Thanks,

Kevin
 
So far I've cooked on gassers, kettles, WSM, Brinkman, an 84" lang and helped a good bit on a New braunfel horizontal offset and a New braunfel vertical offset.

Ease of transition / temps - I find it wasy to go between styles, there is an intake and exhaust and a fire regardless of what you are cooking on. With the thin metal offsets, you are going to go through a lot of fuel and temps will fluctuate. You can not sleep 8 hours like you can on a WSM. I love my Lang, but not for butts. They go on the 22".

Flavor - I do enjoy the flavor of meats on my Lang, but I think the difference is not "better". Just different.

Changes - It's nice not having to worry about the edges of the bottom grate on a WSM, but other than that the meats smokes just the same.

Grill room - My Lang is wonderful, but it's an 84". Has a lot of room and easy to access and move things around.

If you want some more room than the 22" can offer, and you don't want to spend $4000 on a Lang, put a third rack in your 22". I have one in mine and it's great. I can fit 120# of butts (4x 10# per grate), 3-4 racks of STL spares per grate, and more chicken & ABTs than I would care to make.

Hope this helps.
 
Make you a Ugly Drum Smoker. It will be the same size as the 22 WSM, just as easy to control temps and you can build it for under $100!!!

If PMs work here Pm me and I can give you some real easy directions on making your own.
 
I have a Lang 60 Deluxe and as Josh stated it holds a lot of meat (not as much as his 84 though). I also have an 85 gallon Jumbo Big Drum Smoker which has 2 27 inch grates. As John stated Drum smokers are easy to control and you can build one relatively cheep. Due to the direct heat I find you do need to turn the meat every so often so its not as convenient as a WSM but more so then a Stick Burner. I did 4 butts Saturday night and had to turn them every 1.5 hours. I did get to sleep between turns though, something I cant do feeding sticks into my Lang. Oh yea, I think the flavor I get from cooking on my Drum cannot be beat.
 
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