Advice on WSM

[MartyG]

We had all three sizes going for the 4th, so it was easy to compare. Each has their own niche, but the 18.5 is the one I would carry out of a burning building. If and when CB delivers the stacker for that model (and I will be getting one for sure) it will do just about everything the big one will do. (Unless of course you had a stacker for that one too!)

[AJ328]

Anyone have any input on the hanging accessories that weber sells?

[DirectDrive]

We had all three sizes going for the 4th, so it was easy to compare. Each has their own niche, but the 18.5 is the one I would carry out of a burning building. If and when CB delivers the stacker for that model (and I will be getting one for sure) it will do just about everything the big one will do. (Unless of course you had a stacker for that one too!)

I'm sure the 14 and 22 are nice machines, but the 18 is the prototype of the species.

[pbe gummi bear]

I have all three sizes and I use the 22" WSM the most. My smoker usage is a little different though. For smokes under 3 hours with a small amount of food I will use a 22.5" kettle set up for low heat indirect. For larger cuts like ribs, brisket, whole tenderloin, pork belly, fish or for longer cooks I will use a 22" WSM. I smoke only about every 2 weeks on average so I don't really care that the large 22.5" WSM uses more charcoal than a kettle or 18.5" WSM. You can fit a lot of meat on either WSM but the 22.5" is just so much more comfortable to use. Since I don't smoke that often, having that extra space to focus on the fire and meat is more valuable to me than trying to save a few dollars on charcoal, fiddling with the meat to get it to fit (shape and quantity), or saving the $100 for the smaller size. ymmv.

The one thing that hasn't shown up in this thread yet that I find surprising is the Cajun Bandit Stacker. It seems like that would give you the best of both worlds. It has a large surface area to lay long cuts of meat, sufficient spacing from the fire, and a good price to boot. It also shouldn't be a charcoal hog.The guys here have really shown that you can use a standard kettle to control temps for a long period of time so I wouldn't have any reservations there either.

[pbe gummi bear]

We had all three sizes going for the 4th, so it was easy to compare. Each has their own niche, but the 18.5 is the one I would carry out of a burning building. If and when CB delivers the stacker for that model (and I will be getting one for sure) it will do just about everything the big one will do. (Unless of course you had a stacker for that one too!)

I'm sure the 14 and 22 are nice machines, but the 18 is the prototype of the species.

The 18.5" and the 14.5" were both introduced in 1981 so technically the 22.5" is the newest spawn.  The 14.5" was discontinued in 1983 and reintroduced in 2013.

[mike.stavlund]

AJ, I have a 18 WSM, and picked up a hanging rack for Father's Day.  It's a great accessory-- I really love it-- but it's not as useful as I had hoped.  My thinking was that it would allow me to hang bigger pieces of meat than I could lay across the grates, but that was an optical illusion.  The 18" dimension across the grate is longer than the distance between the top of the rack and the water pan.  So while it does make it easier to hang racks of ribs, the racks need to be shortened a bit to fit.  The ability to hang whole fish inside is unmatched, though.  And hanging a whole chicken or a turkey breast inside yields a really beautiful and juicy product.

(For the record, I can fit 8 racks of ribs on my smoker if they are 'rolled' (curled into a 'C' with an overbite, and held together with 2 or 3 bamboo skewers).  This is a pretty efficient method, but doesn't yield the prettiest product on the plate.  So I'll prolly continue to use the hanging rack for ribs. I got the rack and the extra pack of hanging hooks, so I recently hung 6 racks, plus the remaining cutoff ends, and had room to spare. )

To your larger question, I definitely prefer the 18, since one of my favorite things to make is a single loaf of smoked meatloaf, and I would hate to fire up a huge 22 to do it.  It also comfortably cooks 2 shoulders, which is a heck of a lot of meat to feed a crowd.  But if I came across a 22 WSM and had the room to store it, I'd love to have it for briskets and bigger cooks.

...and as others have mentioned, don't overlook the smoking potential of your kettles.  That's still my go-to for shorter smokes like fish, chicken wings, turkeys, and vegetables.  If you're cooking for a big crowd, you can do a lot of smoking on one or more of your kettles. 

[swamprb]

I recently sold my three 18" WSM's to a couple of BBQ teams. They served me well, but I hadn't used them since getting a Backwoods. I like the extra grate space of the 22" bullets and it never bothers me to fire one up for short cooks since I'll use smaller diameter charcoal rings or my Pellet Pro/Cajun Bandit Pellet conversion.

[DirectDrive]

To your larger question, I definitely prefer the 18, since one of my favorite things to make is a single loaf of smoked meatloaf, and I would hate to fire up a huge 22 to do it.  It also comfortably cooks 2 shoulders, which is a heck of a lot of meat to feed a crowd.

^^^ For those in the "18 Camp" that's exhibit A

[Fo Sizzle My Nizzle]

I recently sold my three 18" WSM's to a couple of BBQ teams. They served me well, but I hadn't used them since getting a Backwoods. I like the extra grate space of the 22" bullets and it never bothers me to fire one up for short cooks since I'll use smaller diameter charcoal rings or my Pellet Pro/Cajun Bandit Pellet conversion.

Swamp!  What kind of BWS did you get?