New 22.5 owner (after falling in love with my 18.5)


 
Mark R (LR)

Mark R (LR)

TVWBB Super Fan
I've had an 18.5 wsm for a couple of years now and love it. I recently celebrated a birthday with a zero so decided to give myself a new 22.5 to add to the collection. It is scheduled to arrive tomorrow, and I'm starting to get excited. About the only mod I plan on doing out of the box is to add handles to the side. I'm looking forward to smoking whole briskets without shoehorning them between my 18.5 grate handles. I'm also looking forward to being able to entertain with both freshly smoked beef tenderloin AND freshly smoked salmon on the menu.

Any words of wisdom on differences to expect in getting used to the 22.5?

Thanks!
 
Other than the diameter, the biggest difference is the distance from the fire to the pan. This seems to keep water in the pan longer than in the 18, but the extra height is also why the cooker uses substantially more charcoal. The meat is simply farther from the fire. It's a great cooker, though. Refueling during long cooks is easy, and charcoal is relatively cheap.
 
Personally I think handles on the side are not worth the effort. I put handles on one my 18" WSM's in case I ever wanted to lift the entire center section off during a cook. I've never wanted to or found a need to. My top list of mods to do would be adding another charcoal grate sitting on top of the original at 90º; thermometer probe grommets; and buy yourself a Thermopen.
 
Thanks for the input. That's one of the things I love about this site - all of you guru's who are willing to coach up those of us with steeper learning curves. I have a couple of Thermapens and like them. I just about refuse to smoke without a Maverick ET-732 so ordered a second one with the 6' probes so I'll have one for the 18.5 and one for the 22. I really like having the handles on my 18.5, and it's one of the easiest, least intrusive mods. I don't really use them while cooking. It just makes it a lot easier to disassemble the sections for cleaning, moving, and loading. The probe grommets look cool and give it a very clean look, but I've never had a problem running the 6' probes under the lid, and I'm hesitant to drill through the porcelain enamel.
 
OK, I stand corrected on my out of the box mod. The new wsm arrived this evening. The spacing of the grate support holes on the 18.5 were perfect for off-the-shelf garage door handles. The spacing of the grate support holes on the 22.5 ... not so much. I'll go without handles, unless I find handles with the same spacing.
 
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