Ricky,

I have the WSM 22 as well as an 18". I still use them both. Being able to just lay out full slabs of ribs and/or a full packer cut brisket without worrying about the fit is great.

I was lucky and my door fits fine, however having purchased a new SS door for my 18" from Cajun Bandit and being completely happy with it, I'll be getting the SS door for the 22" when it's available.

The top of my 22" doesn't leak any more than the 18", which is hardly at all.

One trick with the 22"... use the charcoal ring from the 18" to save charcoal. It works fine for all but high-heat cooks when you'll just have to use the 22" ring and more charcoal.

You keeping those FBA boys in line?

Grumpy

What don't I like?



The fact that I don't have one.

quote:

Originally posted by Tom Ferguson:
Ricky,

I have the WSM 22 as well as an 18". I still use them both. Being able to just lay out full slabs of ribs and/or a full packer cut brisket without worrying about the fit is great.

I was lucky and my door fits fine, however having purchased a new SS door for my 18" from Cajun Bandit and being completely happy with it, I'll be getting the SS door for the 22" when it's available.

The top of my 22" doesn't leak any more than the 18", which is hardly at all.

One trick with the 22"... use the charcoal ring from the 18" to save charcoal. It works fine for all but high-heat cooks when you'll just have to use the 22" ring and more charcoal.

You keeping those FBA boys in line?

Grumpy

Ricky, I think you are on to something there.... I think the smaller ring from an 18" will still allow for enough charcoal to handle the large volume of the 22"

quote:

Originally posted by Ralph Grunz:
Grumpy

Ricky, I think you are on to something there.... I think the smaller ring from an 18" will still allow for enough charcoal to handle the large volume of the 22"[/QUOTE]
I think more people here than not (the ones that have both sizes of the WSM), are using the 18" ring instead of the 22" ring to help save some fuel on their low and slow cooks.

Have both the 18 and the 22. As stated by others full slaps of ribs and complete briskets fit. The 22 uses more fuel as expected. When doing a all night coook I wrap the 22 with wind temp barrier, which makes a hugh difference.I still use the 18 at least 70% of the time.The only way to snuff out the fire I have found is removing the center section and putting the lid off my 22 inch weber kettle.

quote:

Originally posted by Jim Bloomfield:
The only way to snuff out the fire I have found is removing the center section and putting the lid off my 22 inch weber kettle.

I have never had a problem with snuffing the fire simply by closing all of the vents. I usually have unburned coals left over and I just give the grate a shake to knock the dust off.

I must be the luckiest guy on here because my unit is airtight, I haven't even messed with the door as it fit perfect. However, I agree with the tabs on the bottom vents, but that is an easy fix.

My only complaint is that I can't smoke more often.

quote:

Originally posted by Ricky Ginsburg:
I'm giving serious consideration to buying a 22" WSM to replace my Backwoods Party. Having been through the bullet smoker, compliments of several Charbroil H20s many years ago, I'm kinda leery about the WSM.

Please tell me the downsides to it, before I plunk down $400.

Ricky,
I have a Backwoods FatBoy and an 18" WSM. There is no way that BBQ from the WSM is as good as the Backwoods Smoker, in my opinion. The Backwoods has much better circulation and smokes better than the WSM. There is much less circulation in the WDM. Just one man's opinion from a fellow FBA member.

Bob

quote:

There is no way that BBQ from the WSM is as good as the Backwoods Smoker, in my opinion.

I wouldn't tell this to guys who lose at comps to guys w/WSMs (yes, it can happen), this would mean their cooking is inferior as clearly it's not the smoker

The lid still fits inside the body, rather than over the center section. So there's no way to keep rain water out of the bottom section. It seems like a simple and logical fix -- Weber kettle grills are made this way. What's up?

quote:

Originally posted by J Hasselberger:
The lid still fits inside the body...

See Why does water collect in the bottom of the cooker, even when the vinyl cover is in place? Why doesn't the lid overlap the middle cooking section like other Weber grills?

Regards,
Chris

Chris -
Thanks for the link. The bit about condensation seems logical. Like others, I thought the cover would work. Maybe waterproofing the cover is the best option.
Jeff

While I love the big access door for adding additional fuel, it is still difficult to add water to the water pan without spilling any into the fire (and risking putting it out).

This weekend I made sort of a trough with some tin foil. I stuck one end into the pan and poured the water from a pitcher into the other. The water ran down the trough and into the pan.

This worked OK, but does anyone have a better solution?

quote:

Originally posted by Rita Y:


Imagine my surprise when I couldn't lift the center section!

Goodness! How much does the center section of the 22 weigh?

I have used the door as a pour guide, and have even used my wife's plant watering jug that has a long spout. Also If only cooking on the top grate, then leave out the lower grate to allow less splashing during pouring.

quote:

Originally posted by TonyD:
While I love the big access door for adding additional fuel, it is still difficult to add water to the water pan without spilling any into the fire (and risking putting it out).

This weekend I made sort of a trough with some tin foil. I stuck one end into the pan and poured the water from a pitcher into the other. The water ran down the trough and into the pan.

This worked OK, but does anyone have a better solution?

I had the same problem until I bought a watering can from Lowes like this:



I cut off the shower head end and use that to fill my water pan...No more spills. I have a 18 WSM and it's the perfect amount of water (2 gallons, I think). You may need a bigger one for the 22 (or fill it up more than once).

As an aside, I cooked a high heat brisket recently and used an empty foiled pan for the first time. I had a pretty difficult time getting the temps up above 300*...cracking the door did the trick. It was incredibly easy to control temps even without water (I tested some different vent setting to see how the cooker reacted after pulling the brisket). I don't foresee me using water anymore.

quote:

Originally posted by Derek Yoder:
As far as issues I can name a few. 1) the charcoal grate sits on the bottom vent tabs, so you will have to make some type of mod to correct this. 2) the door leaks like a sive (sp?). Cajunbandit is working on a stainless steel replacement door which should be ready for purchase next week. Individuals that bought the one of the 18 WSM have posted good results. 3) the lid also leaks alot.

i own a 22 and have done a lot of cooking on it so far. i also own my faithful 18. here are my observations, as well as solutions to the points you brought up-

1) like others have mentioned, i just broke off the tab that was interfering with the charcoal grate. easy fix, but weber should have noticed that.

2) the stock door out of the box will leak. easily tweaked into shape, mine does not leak. i don't care for the tabs that keep the door from coming out easily. i will be buying a SS replacement when available.

3) the lid leak disappears after a couple of cooks unless your center section is out of round.

as far as fuel use is concerned, i just use the same amount of charcoal that i used with my 18. and the extra cooking capacity is very nice!

Hi Ricky - Wow! You do know how to pose a question. (Straight and to the point) I'm trying to give you an answer in the same context as your question and please note that I'm not a salesman or associated with Weber whatsoever. The lid for my 22WSM is round and fits perfectly. The door IMO leaks very little smoke and I use an oven thermometer on my upper grate for verification of my lid thermommeter which is always showing only a 5-10 degree difference between the two. Every time I fire up the WSM I only produce another WOW factor in the neighborhood and the neighbors and my family couldn't be happier. I have to agree with Greg from Sherman Oaks; the mods on the "have to do list" are very small and fuel usage is pretty minimal. I would have to say that on a scale of 1 - 10 I would have to rate it at 8 or 9 after clean-up consideration. Hope this helps. Bob B

I have an 18", 22" and an BGE. My complaint with all of them is spacing. The 22" is better holding 6 full racks of ribs but I would love to afford a Backwoods. To just be able to pull out a tray to foil or sauce instead of having to remove 2 layers of grates. Plus have the room where the ribs are far enough away from any direct heat coming up from the sides....I can only hope.......

Howard

I'm a new owner and I've only fired mine up a few times.So far I'm pretty darn happy with this cooker, but if I had to pick one thing I don't like it would be that the racks are so big that it's kind of a pain to clean them. They just don't fit too well in any of the sinks in my house.
I'm thinking I should get some king of plastic tub I can fit them in to make the job a little easier and less messy

I found that with the grates too. I got some 'looks' from the wife when I was trying to clean the grates in our kitchen sink. I may have scratched the sink a bit too while I was rotating the grate a bit heh.

A plastic tub sounds like a great idea though!