Time for an upgrade

[mayesman]

Good afternoon everyone.  I have had my 18.5" WSM for about two years now and have really enjoyed its simplicity, and just getting good smoked foods on a descent budget.  But the itch is there and I feel very soon I want to upgrade to a larger unit.  I'm debating upgrading to the larger 22" WSM, or if funds allow I have really debated the ABS All-Star or a smaller Backwoods.  Questions for folks who own the larger WSM, with the slight gain in space how much more room do you really gain with the 22"??  I would assume you can go full slabs instead of cutting down slightly on the 18.5".  This could be a possible lifer purchase so I want to make the right call, even if that means saving up to go with say the Backwoods, or the All-Star which seems to have more internal cooking area than say the Chubby G2.  Appreciate any feedback.

Thanks

Clint Mayes

 

[noboundaries]

Hey Clint,

I have the 22.5" WSM.  Love it.  I can easily lay two full, untrimmed racks of spare ribs (5.5 to 6 lbs each) on each grate. 

In the past I've used a rib rack with St Louis style pre-cut racks and could get four racks per grate.  Later I figured out a creative way to get 7 per grate by putting 4 in the rack then laying three flat across the top of those, but I haven't actually tried smoking them that way. 

The pic below shows two racks of St. Louis cut spares on the top grate.  As you can see, there's lots of room for more, especially if you were using a rib rack. 

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• noboundaries
• Jan 11, 2017

 

[tropics]

Like Ray said the 22.5" would hold more.If you have the room get it keep the 18.5" and you can cook using high heat or low and slow.Also a Rotisserie would be a great add to the 22.5"

Richie