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Looking for a charcoal smoker - MCS

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    #16
    I think a big question for BigD is how much he needs to smoke at once, if he gets into smoking meat.

    A 22" kettle + SnS can hold 2 butts, maybe 3 chickens split or spatchcocked, and 2 racks of ribs flat in the indirect zone. I use a rib rack and a hover grill to increase those capacities, and have done 5 or 6 racks of ribs at once, but it was tight, and I had to rotate things halfway through the cook. That said, the kettle+SNS is VERY fuel efficient, and easy to refuel for really long cooks, since the SNS is to the side of the kettle and you can rake the coals and easily add more.

    The WSM has a side door, so refueling is easy as well. The WSM capacity is outlined well here:

    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.



    The PBC we all know can handle 8+ racks of ribs (hanging), 4 split chickens (hanging), 1 or 2 small turkeys, probably 2 butts, and I guess 1 or 2 briskets. Refueling is similar to on other drum smokers - you have to pull everything out and load more fuel from the top. That said, the hotter and more moist environment of the PBC cooks most meats faster than on other smokers, so often, no refueling is needed.

    Only BigD can decide what his needs are. Capacity? Flexibility? Duel use as a charcoal grill?

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      #17
      I have a two Weber kettles, the 22 and the 26 (not counting the two smaller Joe's) and the WSM 22. If you want a dedicated smoker I'd go with the WSM 22. Lots of real estate to cook on and a pretty easy study. I also ahve a BGE XL but really haven't cooked on it much so can't give you any experienced based opinion on that.

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        #18
        Hello all, thank you so much for the wonderful responses. It has opened my eyes to a couple of things I need to decide before I pull the trigger. With all of your input it looks like I should stay true to the Weber line of equipment and go with a kettle or WSM. Maybe down the road I could take it to the next level and jump up to the kamado's line/ price tag but I just don't seeing my other half letting me pull that big of a trigger! HAHA. I just need to decide what my true capacity needs are and how "flexible" I want the cooker to be. Obviously, I could just fire up ALL the cookers to get things done, but that is not always easy. So thank you again for your inputs, The Pit always comes through when you need them.

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        • jfmorris
          jfmorris commented
          Editing a comment
          Glad we can help! And I agree - a meal ought to be able to be prepared with only one or two cookers at a time, haha. I often find myself smoking something on the kettle while grilling something on the Genesis gas grill...

        #19
        I have the Kettle/SnS and have owned a WSM 18. If you need a charcoal grill also, then I would go with the Kettle/SnS, but you are losing a lot of capacity. If you are looking for strictly a smoker to replace the offset, then I would go with a WSM. jfmorris has already listed the advantages of the WSM.

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