Stepping up


 

What should I upgrade to from a 14.5"?

  • 18.5" WSM

    Votes: 13 54.2%

  • 22.5" WSM

    Votes: 10 41.7%

  • OKJ Bronco

    Votes: 1 4.2%

  • Hunsaker

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Offset (Likely an Old Country Pecos)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    24
L

Lee Ingraham

TVWBB Fan
Hey all,

So, my wife and I have been talking and she's really impressed with the food that has come off the 14.5" smoker. What she hasn't been impressed with is the amount of time it takes to smoke multiple things. For example, if I wanted to smoke a pork butt and a few racks of ribs I would be looking at almost an entire weekend's worth of time dedicated to cooking, because I would have to do it in phases. So, I mentioned that a smoker with more volume would mean I could cook a greater volume of food concurrently. This really appealed to her as the last few pork butts I've cooked I've cooked up front and then divvied into 1lb portions, vacuum sealed and froze (I'm going to try doing this next weekend with ribs as well, so if anyone has any advice for that feel free to chime in), so it made for quick and delicious meals later on. She agreed to a bigger smoker and has greenlit the purchase for my birthday or Christmas. (I think she thinks I'm going to sell the 14.5" to offset the price, but I would like to keep it for travelling)

My main objective is to fit 2 pork butts on the lower grate and some rolled ribs on the top or a brisket/turkey every once in a while. So, now the question is 18" or 22"? I've also toyed with the idea of an OKJ Bronco, Hunsaker, or offset as well, with the Bronco taking the lead among non-WSM items as it's essentially a WSM with some added features that I would like (built in hanger, lid hinge, gasket, wheels, consolidated charcoal basket etc). I've added all of the non-WSM contenders to the poll, but I can't imagine they would receive too much love here. :ROFLMAO:

Any and all advice is welcome.
 
The wife likes BBQ and I supply BBQ with the smoker. I think the turning point was when I nailed down smoked wings. Not a huge time commitment and big flavor. When my niece or parents were over the amount of wings to go around was cut down so I said ya know... I could do more wings on a bigger smoker... With that the seed was planted
 
Lee,
I wish I could offer you advice from experience, but I am a WSM 14 guy myself. I could see myself getting an 18, but not the 22. I was never a Weber guy until I got my WSM and I could not see myself going away from Weber now, the quality is just so superior to the others I have used in the past. If you have a place that carries the three sizes of the WSM go look at them. The 18 is a good bit larger then the 14 and the 22 is huge. I told my wife about the three sizes and when she first saw the 18 she said so this it the largest of the three right, then I showed her the 22 and she said you will never own that... If you see them and you do not think those will work from what you want then you know you need to go with an off set or other option give even more room.
A friend of mine has a 22 and he has done 8 pork shoulders in one cook multiple times, 4 on the top and 4 on the bottom. I have seen people on this site with 18s do 2 shoulders on top and 2 shoulders on bottom pretty easily. With our 14s 1 on each rack is all that is possible. If 2 shoulders on bottom with ribs on top the an 18 would be my guess, but 2 or more shoulders and 3 racks of ribs laid flat on top you need the 22.
Congrats and good luck!
 
Wait, what?.. you divide your pulled pork into 1# portions?, for 2 people?,...:eek:

My grandma would say your not " good eaters."..LOL

Ok, Depends how much stuff you want to do at once, with just 2 people an 18 should be sufficient, most of the time.
 
I have yet to reach the limit of capacity on my 18, so no real need to go larger. 18 is pretty big and with two racks there's plenty of space.
 
Geo S said:
Wait, what?.. you divide your pulled pork into 1# portions?, for 2 people?,...:eek:

My grandma would say your not " good eaters."..LOL
Click to expand...

Heaven knows I could eat more, but I'm trying to lose some weight. I have a 11 month old to chase around and he's getting ready to walk, so I want to make sure I can keep up with him!
 
I have a 22 and an 18. If I hadn't gotten a fantastic deal on a new 22, I would have bought an 18 and been done (the 18 was another great deal). The 22 is a fuel hog. I smoked 13 pounds of pork butt on Saturday and continued the smoke on Sunday with a pork belly. Went through an entire 16 pound bag of Royal Oak Premium and half a bag of Embers. That was all from 8:50pm on Saturday until 6:30pm on Sunday. I could have done it on the 18 but I didn't want to move the 18 from the garage to the backyard.
 
As Chris indicates below, the 18 is plenty of capacity for most people. You can also easily add extra racks to the 18 when needed. For big wing cooks, I run five cooking racks at the same time.

If I felt the need for something more than that, I probably wouldn't go WSM 22. Instead, I'd look into a smoker that had racks that were square/rectangular rather than circular. And/or which had more than two rack levels.

You can lay out a LOT of briskets, ribs or wings on a smoker that has the form factor of an offset/pellet grill or a cabinet shape.

Chris' take:

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WSM Cooking Capacity - The Virtual Weber Bullet

Examples of the cooking capacity of the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker. Capacity for chicken, pork ribs, pork butt, and brisket are shown in each cooker.
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Unabashed lover of the 22 here. I had two 18s for about 3 years when the 22 was released 12 years ago. Once I got the 22, I never fired up an 18 again. I use the 22 primarily for brisket and ribs and it's wonderful not having to shoehorn in a brisket or curl up ribs in circles. The 18 brigade will say everything fits in just fine, but it doesn't, not without some compromise. The 18 brigade will say the 22 is a fuel hog. Yes, the 22 will use more fuel, but it's not that much more fuel than an 18. The 22s do have a tendency to be leaky, so remedial measures like gaskets are frequently necessary. Once you have a tight 22, the fuel difference is negligible in my opinion. I know I'm in the minority around here, but the 18 makes no sense to me. It's bigger than needed to smoke a chicken, but it's not big enough to lay out a brisket or racks of spares. If you're going to have two WSMs, and you have a 14, then get the 22. I think with a 14 22 pair you could cook anything without compromise.
 
Grotz -- as an 18 owner, I somewhat agree with you.

Two briskets fit, but just barely. Up to four butts are fine.

The place where the 18 form factor falls down is ribs. Unless you hang them, curl them, rack them or cut them.

For ribs, the WSM 22 form factor is much better. But I'd say the form factor of a square/rectangular smoker is even better than the 22.

Would also agree that the 22 makes more sense if the 14 stays. I think the 18 works well for a one arrow quiver.
 
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Butts are fine in the 18. I just don't cook them often, perhaps every couple of years. I'm not aware of quality rectangular smokers (are you talking offsets?) in the price range of the 22, $439 new, $250-300 used around SoCal.
 
As I listed in the poll options I would probably be shooting for a Old Country Pecos or Wrangler if it were an offset smoker. Definitely budget class, but fully welded.
 
J Grotz said:
Unabashed lover of the 22 here. I had two 18s for about 3 years when the 22 was released 12 years ago. Once I got the 22, I never fired up an 18 again. I use the 22 primarily for brisket and ribs and it's wonderful not having to shoehorn in a brisket or curl up ribs in circles. The 18 brigade will say everything fits in just fine, but it doesn't, not without some compromise. The 18 brigade will say the 22 is a fuel hog. Yes, the 22 will use more fuel, but it's not that much more fuel than an 18. The 22s do have a tendency to be leaky, so remedial measures like gaskets are frequently necessary. Once you have a tight 22, the fuel difference is negligible in my opinion. I know I'm in the minority around here, but the 18 makes no sense to me. It's bigger than needed to smoke a chicken, but it's not big enough to lay out a brisket or racks of spares. If you're going to have two WSMs, and you have a 14, then get the 22. I think with a 14 22 pair you could cook anything without compromise.
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J,
I think this is a really good argument! As a owner of a 14 you made me think about if I was to have a two smoker system what two would be best to maximize versatility. For me though I have told my wife that if I found a really well priced 18 I am going to get it and then use it and the 14 and decide which one I am going to keep ad which one I am going to sell, but the more and more I cook on the 14 the more I think this little guys does me perfect, I think the upgrade for me would be from the 22 in kettle to the 26 in kettle as I fill that guy up all the time, but seem to be OK with the 14 for my smokes.
 
What about using the 14 as a dedicated smoker for fish and seafood and an 18 for everything else?

I heard you shouldn’t do fish or seafood in your main WSM smoker as it can leave a long lasting odor/residue that can affect future cooks. Is this true?
 
Lee Ingraham said:
As I listed in the poll options I would probably be shooting for a Old Country Pecos or Wrangler if it were an offset smoker. Definitely budget class, but fully welded.
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I had no idea that offsets were available for less than a WSM22. That's why I was wondering what JimC was saying with retangular smokers. I wanted an offset 15-20 years ago. I decided against it because I didn't have the space for the pit or the woodpile, and I didn't think I would use it enough to justify it. IIRC, there is a section in Aaron Franklin's book where he writes about his first offset and the alterations he made to it to get it to cook consistently. That might be worth a look. It takes a lot of practice to learn offsets. If an offset fits into your life, go for it and please post pics of your cooks in the photo gallery.
 
Grotz -- how about this:

An 18 and a 22 combined cost $658 new. 286 square inches + 726 = 1,012 combined cooking area.

For $800 you could get, say, a Backwoods Chubby 3400 cabinet smoker that runs on charcoal.

20x22 square, so pretty close to the footprint of a 22. But much shorter (31" vs. 48"). Same height as the 14 actually -- fits on a table top. Four square racks that add up to 1,023 square inches.

Or an inexpensive offset.

But nothing will beat the value of my $80 second hand WSM 18.
 
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Great insight in this thread. I am too new to the WSM to weigh in against all you long time users. I have yet to smoke on two racks. That said, the last cook I did was a rack of ribs that just barely fit on the 18. Have to look into rolling and hanging. Any compelling reason not to cut a rack in two?

My thoughts at this point are more focused on adding a kettle. My head spins when I look at all the models. Thankfully there are only three WSMs. I could see adding a 14 for quick cooks. I could also see adding a 22 if I opted for a 22 kettle, just to be able to interchange grates.
 
I voted for the WSM 22.5. It has the capacity you're looking for and you already know how to operate a WSM. Offsets are the quintessential smoker and if you want to deal with the learning curve and willing to make the mods then it gives you easy access to the food you're cooking. I modified a Chargriller Smokin Pro a lot and used charcoal but I enjoyed cooking on it. The Old Country is definitely better than the Chargriller. Good luck choosing.
 
MichaelM said:
Great insight in this thread. I am too new to the WSM to weigh in against all you long time users. I have yet to smoke on two racks. That said, the last cook I did was a rack of ribs that just barely fit on the 18. Have to look into rolling and hanging. Any compelling reason not to cut a rack in two?

My thoughts at this point are more focused on adding a kettle. My head spins when I look at all the models. Thankfully there are only three WSMs. I could see adding a 14 for quick cooks. I could also see adding a 22 if I opted for a 22 kettle, just to be able to interchange grates.
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A Weber Rib Rack really increases rib capacity on the 18.5 and the 14.5.
 
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