I'm from Texas and I prefer cooking on the Kettle in the suburbs. So much more efficient. The thick steel of an offset with suck all the heat out of your briquettes. Get ready for a large charcoal bill. Now if you live out in the woods well then you could burn sticks. You see a lot of those guys shoveling coals from a separate fire in the offset (watch Franklin). I like to set up an extra kettle start some briquettes and close the vents when they get ashed over. Don't care if the go out. I add those coals to my cooking kettle as needed. The thin top of a kettle recovers back to the temp it was at before fairly quickly. not so with the thick steel of an offset. One of the Weber char baskets holds enough to cook around 250 on my 22 in my neck of the woods. Of course more efficiency is always good. I'm sure the Summit cooks good especially in the cold. I like that the Kettle gives more room to cook meat off to the side..
In suburbia, I see charcoal having some advantages. Heck, that's why I got my Smokey Joe in the first place. All I needed was an asphalt motel parking lot, a bag of briquettes and, the meat of choice and I was set with my ice chest and some beer on a sunny afternoon when I was off work. In terms of cost, when I can get 32# of Kingsford for under $10 on sale, the charcoal cost isn't significant compared to loading up a big cooker with briskets, butts, etc.
Of course, 'free' splits for an offset is even cheaper! I live in East Texas so, smoker wood is easy to come by even if I don't cut it myself. When I go to North Dallas, it isn't hard for me to throw what I need in the back of the pickup either. Having a place to keep an offset and the recurring fire maintenance though is an issue. Sometimes I want to socialize somewhere other than the firebox or sleep through the night! Plus, how often do I need ~8 to ~20 butts or several briskets anyway?
Kamados are very versatile but, being ceramic are easy to break if you move them a lot. Theft of a Weber kettle not stored in a garage is a concern as well so, something like the Weber Summit seems like it might be good all round solution for me. Small and light enough to be reasonable to move. Large enough to cook reasonable amounts of food without being so difficult to move. Large enough to keep random people from tossing it in the trunk of a car and driving off (though keeping a kettle hot helps in this regard too).
A 600 pound cabinet smoker isn't practical. My Smokey Joe is too small unless it is just me. My Kamado is too fragile. My Lodge Sportsman Grill doesn't smoke. All of these get hot enough to hurt little fingers (toddlers) who get out of sight. Maybe the Summit is overkill but, the double layer nature should keep external kettle temperatures down and be more fuel efficient while being light enough to be practical to move and/or load by myself if needed. The main drawback is the price at $1600, even $1000 is still a big bill but close enough to a Ceramic Kamado to be a reasonable alternative.
I guess I could always go with a Backwoods Cubby or Humphreys Weekender and keep the Smokey Joe in reserve.
If I wasn't worried about portability, it would be a whole lot easier on me.
Topic: SUMMIT CHARCOAL GRILL and SMOKER (Read 3379 times)