Help Me Decide - Pellet Smoker or Weber Chimney

[thehellyousay]

I have done a lot of low and slow cooking with a Smokinator on my standard 27" Weber Silver or whatever they call it now.  I have done brisket, pulled pork, turkey, chicken, etc.  It's a time consuming task because the coals need to be poked and wood added periodically to keep the smoke going and the temps consistent.  The results have been good, but I think I'd like to move up.

This weekend Ace has got a Pit Boss 440 Deluxe on sale for $299 which reviewers claim is as good or better than a Traeger which Costco was selling those for $599 last time I was in.  I was all ready to pull the trigger, then I was prowling around on Amazon and came across the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker for the exact same price for the 22" model.    

I know that the pellets are "set and forget", but I've read these Webers, made specifically for smoking, are similar in that capability.  I guess primarily because they hold a lot more coals and with the water pan, similar to the Smokinator, you can moderate temperatures.  I need to do a bit more reading - glad I found this website though to research and ask questions.  The special at Ace ends in just a few days so I need to decide now.

What I want is good outcomes.  I can spend the time necessary to make it right, but it's always nice to have easy cleanup.  And I think to have good product, I need something with consistent temperatures and reliable ways to measure them. 

Thanks in advance,

Steve

 

[joe black]

Steve, I used to have a WSM 22 and it was a very good cooker. The temps held really good and the porcelin finish was easy to keep clean. As far as performance was concerned, it was very user friendly and easy to get good product done. The charcoal and wood chunks give really good cooks and flavor. It's a really tight unit and will easily snuff the remaining charcoal when you're done. Good luck, Joe

 

[dirtsailor2003]

If you are used to food smoked on a charcoal BBQ, you wont be happy with the results from a pellet smoker. I have the 18" WSM, and (4) mini-wsm's. They are as set and forget as a charcoal smoker can be. If you couple it with a BBQ Guru or pitmasterIQ you would be set and forget.

I won a Traeger and used it twice before I sold. There's next to no smoke flavor and the pit temp swings were 30°-40° from the set temp.

All of my WSM's are rock solid even in crappy conditions.

 

[mowin]

I switched to a pellet smoker for the same reason as you did. While I agree somewhat with dirt. Pellet smokers don't put out as much smokey flavor as a stick burner. However you can get great smoke flavors from a pellet grill. The lower the set temp the more smoke flavor you will get. I also use a amnts to get even more smoke.

For the first month or so, I wasn't impressed. I'm now quite satisfied with the smoke flavor my GMG puts out.

Good luck in your decision.

 

[dirtsailor2003]

One more thing to consider is that pellet smokers require power to run them. So if you're like me and your smoker travels with you you'll need a power supply to run the thing. Having lived in an area that was prone to power outages, some that lasted a week or more at a time our BBQ's and smokers became our only way to cook meals. Just throwing that out there. I don't like being tied to a chord!

 

[b-one]

I recommend the WSM as well! I haven't seen a 22" for $299 that's usually the 18.5 so if you can go 22 at the price it would be great. I suggest trying to see the 22 and 18 in store if you can put stuff on the grates and see if you really need the space of the 22,it will go thru more charcoal but stock up when it's on sale and it won't really matter. I have the 18 and only rarely think it would be nice to have the 22 but someday maybe I will.

 

[thehellyousay]

Thanks for all the quick replies.  I think I will pass on the Pit Boss at Ace and order the Weber Smokey Mountain.  I really like the way that Weber stands behind their products - I've been very happy with the Weber Genesis gas grill and been using Weber kettles forever.  Based on what I'm reading, the 22" should be just right, plenty big enough to do a full sized brisket packer on it.  And I like that there's nothing mechanical to break down on it because it's going to be exposed to the weather quite a bit since I don't always put my toys away.  

 

[thehellyousay]

I recommend the WSM as well! I haven't seen a 22" for $299 that's usually the 18.5 so if you can go 22 at the price it would be great. I suggest trying to see the 22 and 18 in store if you can put stuff on the grates and see if you really need the space of the 22,it will go thru more charcoal but stock up when it's on sale and it won't really matter. I have the 18 and only rarely think it would be nice to have the 22 but someday maybe I will.

Ok, I went back to look at Amazon and it is the 18" for $299.  Glad to hear that this is plenty big enough, I see now the smalest one is 14".

 

[bdskelly]

If you want to light a fire rather than plug it into an electrical outlet.... The Weber is your best choice. World class customer service. 

b

 

[dirtsailor2003]

So I have the 18" and it's plenty big. I did a cook last summer for a crew of people. I had a whole pork loin (10 pounds) cut in half and two Spatchcocked chickens (8 pounders) put one chicken and one half of loin in each grate. Fed 30 people with sides.

The 14" is what I referred to as the Mini-WSM in my first post. The Mini-WSM is a homemade 14". Webber didn't have a small one, but people figured out that you could take a Weber Smokey Joe BBQ add a 32qt. Tamale pot and create a WSM smoker. So they finally made the 14". The mini-WSM is my go to smoker as it's portable, and for our family of 4 we don't need to cook for an army. I take the Mini's camping, canoe camping and when we tailgate for sporting events.

The 18" was a Craigslist find for dirt cheap, and even though I didn't need it I snuck it home! On average I use it every other month. The mini-WSM I use weekly.

 

[thehellyousay]

Well, I'm starting to feel like a real dope.  I bought the Weber Silver and the Smokinator to have cheap smoker, but a good charcoal grill.  I think everybody agrees that gas is great, but  charcoal has it's place still, especially for steaks and salmon and even burgers.  I went and found the owner's manual for the WSM, which is freely available at the Weber site, and I see that this smoker can also be used as a barbecue.  So, while it may not match the Weber kettles, it would suffice for the few times I have the luxury to barbecue with coals instead of gas.   Now I'm seeing that this is quite a versatile unit and with a little thought one could probably figure out how to do vegetables and all sorts of things with it.  We've done a lot of veggies on the gas grill lately and they are so good that way coated in olive oil and what not.

And thanks "dirtsailor" for the reminder about Craigslist!  There was an 18" on sale down in Tacoma and the first guy flaked, so I got it.  Drove 100 miles round trip, through a blinding rainstorm, and snarled traffic, but I now have the WSM.  Took me awhile to get organized, but finally fired it up and put on a spatchcocked chicken and, without paying much attention to detail, a very nice end result.  Did not play with trying to stabilize it at all and went without water to get the temps up (people were hungry), but it definitely had a nice smokey flavor and everyone said it tasted good.

 

[dirtsailor2003]

Congrats! You'll love that WSM. I'm a dry smoker and don't use water in the water pan. I wrap it in foil for easy clean up and use it as a drip pan.