Greetings from Greensville, ON, CA!!

[pitboy]

Hi all. First off, love, love, love the site!! I happily discovered it soon after the purchase of my Weber 26" kettle and never looked back. I've tried a lot of recipes, from rubs to sauces, different cooking methods, and everything in-between. Even the delicious pie crust recipe I love the science discussed, and am very happy not to be wasting my time on methods proven not to work. I've passed along the website to everyone I can, and very recently purchased my father a 22" Weber kettle to get his addiction going! Looking forward to everything this website has to offer and will continue to offer.

Thank you, my BBQ'ing has changed forever!

Oh ya...currently cooking banana bread with the fabulous smokenator

[Jerod Broussard]

Welcome and thanks for the support!!!

I would love to get a 26.5 one day for my grilling needs and occasional fish smokes.

[Jon Solberg]

Welcome the the pit boy... I mean pit Pitboy. lol

nice to meat youe

[Huskee]

Welcome pitboy! Glad to have you here and thanks for supporting the site. Smoked banana bread....mmmmm

When you get aminute, check out Pit Boss' Welcome post on the main page as well as the Forum Tips & Posting Pictures there in that same channel. This will help you fill out your signature properly as well as post pictures the best way. We want to see & hear more about your favorite things to cook!

[BBQLipscken]

Welcome Pitboy!

[David Parrish]

Welcome to The Pit! Please take a moment to read my Welcome letter and Tips topics located here. Tip #1 will help you with filling out your Signature!

[_John_]

Wow i've never seen a 26"...must be like cooking on a kitchen table! Welcome!

[_John_]

And you're gonna have to post the method you use for that banana bread, my wife says mine is the best that mankind has ever made, and I wouldn't have the first idea how one might get a smokenator involved.

[hoovarmin]

Welcom, pitboy! I'm intrigued by the 26. I have the 22 now and love it, but have often thought the extra space would be terrific. I would be interested to learn what, if any drawbacks you or others might see to going up in size with the kettle?

Dave

[pitboy]

And you're gonna have to post the method you use for that banana bread, my wife says mine is the best that mankind has ever made, and I wouldn't have the first idea how one might get a smokenator involved.

Hey John, funny I got similar comments on mine my co-workers thought my experiment turned out grand! Seeing as you already have an amazing recipe to use, I'll just comment on the bbq setup. As mentioned, I have the 26.75" Weber kettle and a smokenator to go along. I've also outfitted the kettle with a DigiQ DX2 for temp control. So, I mostly filled up the smokenator with natural Maple Leaf briquettes (unlit). I then lit 5 pieces in the chimney starter and let them get nice and hot. Dumped them in the smokenator, placed the pit temp probe roughly were I would be placing the loaf pan and let the temp come up to 350 as per the DigiQ. I left the top vent open all the way and closed the bottom vent just over half. I found this airflow setup worked well for me and kept the kettle at 350 for over two hours with help from the fan running off the DigiQ. The bread took 1 hour and was seriously delicious and moist. This was my first attempt and I was very happy with the results.

[pitboy]

Welcom, pitboy! I'm intrigued by the 26. I have the 22 now and love it, but have often thought the extra space would be terrific. I would be interested to learn what, if any drawbacks you or others might see to going up in size with the kettle?

Dave

Hey Dave. I don't find the 26 has any drawbacks, and if you are feeding several people the space certainly comes in handy. The only thing you have to allot for is the extra fuel it requires. I also have a hover grill which gives me another level to cook on. When doing multiple slabs of ribs this comes in very handy. The only drawback (maybe) to the hover grill is you can't put anything too tall on the main grate, such as a whole chicken. there just isn't the clearance between the two.
I really fell in love with the 22 as well. My father and I cooked some great meals on it, and I really like the size as it warms up quick, and seems to have the perfect amount of real estate for a family of 4.
Couple items I noted when using the 22 silver compared to the 26. On the 26 you're able to grab the lid handle and open it without wearing an oven-mitt, I found on the 22 it gets real hot! This also hold true for the air damper on the lid, hot on the 22, not so much on the 26 due to a plastic piece they put on.

Hope this helps a bit...
Cheers!

[hoovarmin]

Thanks, pitboy. When I saw the pics of the 26 in it did seem as if clearance over the dome was diminished. But i don't think there's enough room over the hover grill on a 22 inch for a whole chicken either. My wife and I, between hers, mine, and ours have six kids who all live at home and consume ridiculous amounts of food. Our house is the place where all their friends hang out, and usually eat, and we like have people over as well. I'm thinking that the 26 is a better option for us based on what you said.

[Huskee]

I'd love to have the 26", but at literally double the price of the 22" I can't justify it, there isn't twice the materials in it. They're charging more piece rate for convenience and I don't like that.... I still want one though, lol

[David Parrish]

As y'all might know I have an 18.5" kettle at the vacay home. It'd be really nice to have the 22". I could use that extra little bit of space as well as benefit from all the aftermarket accessories made for the 22" kettle. For me I think the 26 would be overkill.

[crvan]

Hey Pitboy welcome, I'm new here as well. congrads on your weber I saw one at a grill store in Safety Harbor Florida just north of here 2 weeks when I picked up all the parts to rebuild my Weber Q. impressive