For those with multiple cookers: how do you choose?

[glitchy]

Mine is determined by how much time I have and what flavors I'm looking for. Sometimes it's determined by which grill(s) are clean and ready to go. With more free time right now, the WSCG is getting more use than the pellet grill and the gasser has been fired up once in the last couple months. The OKJ is still isn't in the rotation much yet.

[troymeister]

Spinaker The colder months for you are like September through June...

[troymeister]

Craigar That's a good way to look at MCS...Now to convince my wife..lol..

[Mr. Bones]

Might try callin Peter Paul. They can help, though nowadays, it'll most likely be ported over to Hershey's.

[Mr. Bones]

Sounds like yer all set up; a person can make nearly everything/anything with th cookers ya have, given some experience, an practice.
There's also a reason that they make more than jus one Universal golf club. A reason some of us might have more than one guitfiddle, or amp. Same holds true fer cookers.
I likely only have bout 50 kitchen knives, so at least it ain't like my cast iron, which I have kinda an obsession t'wards

[Craigar]

Sometimes I feel like a nut, sometimes I don't.

[Craigar]

The correct amount of smokers/grills is the current amount you own plus one more.

[rickgregory]

So, these responses are typical of any hobbyist community Ive been part of. When I was learning about Japanese knives, I hung out at Kitchen Knife Forums. It's probably the premier board for j-knife knowledge in the world, at least in English. There, too, people fell into two broad camps - collectors and those who viewed knives as tools. The latter subdivided, of course. Some are chefs, some are serious home cooks, some are regular home cooks. But the collectors had 20+ knives, many of them duplicates of a given style. They didn't just find a really nice $200 knife, they'd often have gorgeous $1000 knives or they'd have a thin-bladed gyuto for one kind of prep and a thicker knife for another.

And reading above, we have the same. Not so much collectors, but some of you have way more cookers than you really need. But you enjoy it and can get cookers for specific stuff so... you do. Others of us might have a couple of cookers for broadly different categories, but are less serious. Me, I'm in the latter category. I have a 22" Weber with SNS and can dial it in at about 250F so for now it's fine for smoking. I have a Smokey Joe for quick grilling and...that's it. But then, I read about some of your cooks and am jealous... hmm.

[Santamarina]

I only need three outdoor cookers: a stickburner smoker, a charcoal grill, and my 36” Blackstone griddle!

Can’t find a fourth outdoor cooker I need. If anything might qualify it’s the air fryer that gets heavy use with sides for things I cook outside.

Now I certainly have the desire to upgrade those pieces, but those would replace what I have now, or add to them.

[JeffJ]

I have the Jumbo Joe, 14.5" WSM, Weber Spirit 3 burner, PBC, 26.75" Weber kettle and an OKJ offset. The Joe, WSM and gasser reside in the garage. The gasser hardly ever gets used but when it does I do like it's functionality and even heat distribution. Because they WSM and Joe reside in the garage I'm able to use them during winter - pull them just past the threshold. They are also quite portable and have served me well at tailgates and camping. I really like the set/forget nature of the PBC and now that I have the hinged grate it's nice to throw some potatoes on while a pork butt is hanging and doing its thing. The big kettle is by far the most versatile and if I could only keep one that would be it (I do have the SnS for it). I've had the OKJ for a year and because it's a cheap offset it requires a ton of baby-sitting when in use. I used it a few weeks ago. I threw in a chuck roast and a bunch of other stuff that ranged 1-3 hours to cook. After 3 hours I moved the chuck roast from the OKJ to the Kettle + SnS to finish. As most of you surely know cooking with wood produces a different flavor profile than other fuel sources. I do like that if I remove my make-shift baffle I can throw a couple of steaks close to the firebox and use it as a grill. Thick steaks will get really good sear on both sides sitting close to the firebox by the time they hit medium rare.

[Rod]

I have 22 and 26" Weber kettles, Weber Genesis, PBC and Blackstone. I use the 22 more than any of them. As it's just the two of us I don't usually need more in terms of capacity. However, the 26 is nice when I want to do a rack of Blasphemy ribs. That way I can put them on a bigger rack for better spacing or if I want to smoke a bunch of sausages to freeze for various uses later.

The gasser is now only used to do quick hot cooks like dogs, veggies, toasting buns etc. Maybe the searing for reverse seared steaks if I don't feel like using a bunch of charcoal for a 4 minute sear.

If I want smash burgers then the Blackstone is deployed. That also gets used for stir fry and ginormous breakfasts the wife occasionally makes.

The PBC is rarely used. I only really use it just for fun and something different.

So ultimately the 22 is my go to whether it's a meatloaf or a long hunk of meat smoke. The others are selected based off cook time and /or capacity.

However, I may cook on one simply because it may have been a while since I used that cooker. It's weird (maybe not weird for this glorious place), but I don't want any of my cookers to feel left out or neglected for too long.

[Uncle Bob]

The old car enthusiast thing is a great comparison, guilty as charged. Fifteen or so years ago we moved to a new neighborhood. One of the neighbor couples came over to get acquainted and upon seeing four old cars in the garage the wife said "Ah, going through your mid-life crisis?". I said, "Well, if having old cars is the criterium then I've been in a constant state of 'mid-life crisis' since I was 16." She looked perplexed.

[Huskee]

I've always applied this to folks who collect cars. Jerry Seinfeld for instance, has 30 or 40 Porches last I remember hearing. How do you decide which to drive and when? I cannot imagine the need for that. Back to cookers, I choose which to use based first of all on what I'm cooking (ribs? brisket? they love charcoal and/or wood; chicken pieces or burgers? They are mighty tasty with pellets, etc), second on how much babysitting do I have time for (or patience for if it's nasty weather or raining), and if I still can't decide I ask my wife "which cooker should I use for this?" If I'm going camping it's either the PBC or the kettle that goes with us, depending on if there'll be a group of friends at the campground (PBC for capacity) or just us (kettle). I have the same trouble deciding which wood to use.

[Spinaker]

I like having options. There are flavor differences and differences in how hands on I want to be.

If I have time and I want the best BBQ I can make, go for the KBQ every time.

The BGEs are awesome for smoking and grilling. I use the BGEs much more in the winter months. I can use my controllers and stay inside in those cold winter months.

I also like using the PBC for simple cooks, like ribs or chicken. I can also bring the PBC anywhere and have tons of flexibility with capacity and types of meats you can cook, and cook quickly.

I am currently looking at adding a Backwoods G2 Chubby. Just for kicks.....and I want more cookers......seems to be a theme around here
LOL

[Skip]

Simple answer. I think of almost every cook and meal as an experiment so....this wonderful site seems to fuel that theory for me! Kettle? BGE? PBC? Weber Genesis Gas? Pellet Grill? No others on order that I can remember right now.