Just for comparison Traeger Texas vs Pro 575. I’ve found that in general larger grills take a little longer to heat up and recover after opening lid. You can feed an Army from a 36â€, especially when using upper shelves and a pretty big group from a 24.
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Old guy new to pellet grill Trying to determine size 24 or 36.
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Club Member
- Jul 2019
- 2110
- Central IA
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MAK 2 Star General
KBQ C-60
Weber Summit Charcoal Grillw/ Big Joetisserie, SnS LP, and VortexWeber Genesis II - S-345
Weber Traveler
Fireboard 2 Drive
Anova Precision Sous Vide
All the (pellet) grills I’ve loved before:
Traeger Junior Elite^
GMG DB
Traeger Texas Elite
Memphis Pro§
Traeger Pro 575
CampChef SmokePro STX (ugly grills need love too)
Weber SmokeFire EX4§
Traeger Select
CampChef Woodwind WiFi w/SearBox^
Weber SmokeFire EX4§
^ = Favorites
§ = Love/Hate Relationships
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Thank you all for the welcome! I'm going to do more reading but feel like I really can't go wrong with either size. I especially appreciated the two sets of pictures.
Barry
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I did just buy a WiFi 24 with SearBox, but can’t give you much feedback yet. I plan to do some cooking on it today though. I will say the taller barrel and new upper shelves make it seem like one of the bigger 24†pellet grills for capacity. It has 19.375†deep grates, compared to 17.5†on some others, but you don’t get the full depth as you want to stay over the drip tray.
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Founding Member
- Jul 2014
- 5338
- Blue Earth, Minnesota
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LSG Adjustable Grill/Smoker, MAK Pellet Grill, Large BGE with Several Attachments from the Ceramic Grill Store, Weber Gasser, Cast Iron Pans & Griddle, Grill Grates, Mostly Thermoworks Thermometers, Avova SV Stick, BBQ Guru Controller and Fan
Welcome from Minnesota. IMO go with the larger cooker. As you do more cooks you may find yourself doing more of your side dishes along with the main dishes on your grill. Just another thought on your cooker choice. Have fun.
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Club Member
- May 2019
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- San Clemente, CA
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Sam
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And, cigars, wine and some good spirits!
I also primarily cook for two, and a wife who does not like smoked foods. I had a Camp Chef 24" DLX, forerunner of the Woodwinds and same dimensions, for my first pellet pooper for a couple of years. It has plenty of room with 2 racks (main and upper). The post above of the Traeger 520 gives you a fair idea of the capacity of the CC Woodwind. You will like it.
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Charter Member
- Dec 2014
- 7385
- Grew up in New Orleans, 20 years in Texas, 22 years in Mandeville, LA. Now Dallas, TX
Welcome to the Pit from Dallas! I can’t help with the pellet smoker, but usually cook for two and sometimes cook for six with two of them being grade school grandkids. I can identify with not wanting to get up in the middle of the night to refuel. I cook on a Kamado with a controller to solve that problem.
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Club Member
- Mar 2016
- 1636
- Sunny SoCal
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Cooking gadgets
Weber Summit Charcoal Grill Center
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Other useful bits...
KitchenAid 7-qt Pro Line stand mixer
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All-Clad pots & pans, along with some cast iron...everything from 7" Skookie pans to 8.5qt Dutch ovens
Weber GBS griddle, pizza stone, and wok
Knives range from Mercer to F. Dick to "You spent how much for one knife? One knife?!" LOL
Normally my attitude is "Go big, or go home."
When it comes to grills, my attitude is "Go big and stay home." LOL
Even if it’s not filled to capacity 90% of the time...that 10% is going to pose a problem if the grill is too small.
Budgets notwithstanding I generally always see it as bigger is better.
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Thats 2 racks of ribs, a 12 lb brisket, 5 lb chicken, and a 8 lb pork butt. I was told to be cautious of over packing the cooker but I had no problems and it all came out great. Its alot of food on the 24. If your only hosting 2 events per year and already have a kettle a 24 should be cool. The 36 I have never used but I want one!Last edited by tenphases; March 1, 2020, 02:07 PM.
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Just wondering if the firebox is centred in the same centred physical location on both grill's.
If the firebox on the larger 36" grill is actually physically located farther to the left, would it still be able to maintain a relatively similar temperature throughout as compared to the 24" unit.
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My opinion is go with one size larger than you think you need. You aren’t going to use that many more pellets, and you can use an insulating blanket to retain heat if needed.
But you can’t ever make a smaller grill larger. That one time you think "wow I’m glad I went with the 36 inch" it will be worth it.
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Founding Member
- Aug 2014
- 2092
- Hays, KS
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Green Mountain Grill - Jim Bowie
(I've never regretted having too much grate space).
Weber Genesis Gas grill
Weber Kettle grills x 2
I’m with above posters that I’ve never wished I had smaller grill or less cooking surface. I have the YS-640 that another poster talked about and love it’s versatility and durability. I cook primarily for two since my son is at college, however, every now and again we will entertain or cook for larger groups and the extra space is nice.
good luck on your search and welcome to The Pit!
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Club Member
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I can't speak for other pellet grill users, but on my GMG the temps at the front and back edges of the cooking grate where the heat is coming up from around the drip tray are significantly hotter than in the center of the grill. So 520 inches of cooking area doesn't really mean 520 inches of cooking area unless you are either willing to overcook whatever is around those edges or you are willing to move food around a few times during the cook so no part of the meat is exposed to the higher heat for too long, but that isn't ideal if you really want that "set it and forget it" benefit of a pellet grill. Not an issue when cooking for two, but I would say bigger is better to ensure you have enough cooking area away from those hot spots when you do want to cook for larger groups.
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Club Member
- Nov 2017
- 7153
- Huntsville, Alabama
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Jim Morris
Cookers- Slow 'N Sear Deluxe Kamado (2021)
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Looking at the pictures online of that new Woodwind Wifi 36 versus 24, it does appear that the firepot in the 36 is offset to the left of center, likely so that it can use the same auger as the 24. I don't think I would worry about it too much though, as pellet smokers are effectively convection cookers, and the fans are moving the air around inside the cook chamber enough to where I imagine it will even out. I know the Yoder pellet smokers have an offset firepot, at one end of the cooker, and they seem to do very well with that design.
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So in my experience it all depends. If you are only going to buy one grill then I would go with the large one. That being said, I have 2 traegers. I have a 34 and a 22 traeger.
I honestly use the 22 more often since it is rare that I have large cooks. The 22 is better on pellets and it heats up faster, but the capacity isn't there. I has the 34 first and it did everything I asked of it. I think you should start big and if you find that you want a smaller one you can add that to your arsenal later.
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