I have the Weber Performer and the Weber Genesis. But I've been reading up on how awesome the Big Green Egg is. I've tried smoking meats on the Performer and they turn out well, but its alot of work. I've read how superior the Green Egg is for smoking and searing. Also, would love to make pizza on this thing. The only thing holding me back is the price. $1000+ for a charcoal grill?
It is fantastic. I love mine. We routinely grill on it, smoke ribs, chickens, etc., and we love doing pizzas. It is a great grill.
So I've heard, but is is really worth the $1000? Is is really the best charcoal grill out there? If I get the GE, I am going to sell my Performer. I grill 3-4 times a week, but use mostly by gas grill for the ease of use. But on the weekends, holidays, etc. I love to use charcoal. Make pretty good steak, but the gas can only get so high. I've read the GE can get as high as 700-800 degrees which would be freakin awesome for steak!
I've never used any of the other "premium" grills but I can easily tell you that I have never regretted my purchase or spending the money. I have zero complaints.
My Dad in law has it and it does make a good Thanksgiving turkey. He's also grilled some portabella mushrooms on there for me and it does a really good job with that too.
I love mine. Holds a 225-250 temp for 10+ hours on one load of charcoal and once you get your temp dialed in there is almost no adjustment necessary. Love doing steaks, pizza and bread on it also. I wanted one for years and finally found a company selling them after cooking on them once at a fundraiser. I paid 590 for a large which was the best price I had seen after years of shopping and waiting. I've cooked on an XL also and think the large is perfect.
You should get a Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker first. BGE is insulated and really heavy. It can hold a more stable temp but if you are just slow smoking it isn't worth it. Auto temperature fans can make anything hold a temperature, and the Smokey Mountain Cooker holds a solid temp anyways. If you live where it is cold, or you don't mind having something that is hard to move, requires o-rings, and can crack get the egg. But since you are just getting started in smoking, I would start with the Weber.
I have an XL that I've had for five or six years. I've also had several more traditional smokers starting with a New Braunfel's Bandera, moving up to an Oklahoma Joe offset with Chimney smoker that weight about 600 lbs., and then a trailer mounted pit made from an old water tank that was big enough for ten briskets at a time and weighed several thousand pounds (not to mention a whole host of gas grills, webers, and even an aluminum “portable kitchen” I use at our beach house rental). My big green egg spent the first five years or so in Pearland, but this past winter, it's been up here with me in Calgary. Now granted, I haven't cooked on it when it is 30 below, but I have used it when it was typically colder than anything you'd expect in Texas, and cracking was not a concern. I've made better pizza on it than anything I've had in Houston (that probably isn't saying much, Houston has great food, but it is hardly a pizza destination). I use a plate setter, and then a BGE pizza stone, and then another larger pizza stone I found on the Internet, so I can get it up to about 800 without the top pizza stone getting overly hot, and the pizzas are done in just a few minutes...it makes for quite the party. As for smoking, it is just ridiculous how fuel efficient they are. I've smoked briskets back to back for more than 30 hours with one load of fuel, and its ability to maintain a closely controlled temperature is simply unrivaled......save perhaps for some electronic system. That being said, if I had one complaint, it is that if I need a lot of brisket, I would need to cook them back to back because even on the XL, there simply isn't room for more. I've been able to cook two smaller briskets at once with a second raised grate, but I prefer to cook a larger brisket one at a time. I do use a Maverick meat thermometer with a remote alarm, but for the most part, it lets me sleep the whole night through. Cleanup is a snap. I tend to leave my grilling grate dirty after use because I find the grease protects against rust; then when I use it, I bring the temperature up pretty high beforehand and clean the grill hot; then back off on the temp to whatever I plan to use. If I make pizza, it gets so hot that it basically burns off any grease or creosote residue, and the inside looks almost new and white after I’m done……….It’s like cleaning an oven. Finally, I’ve found that the BGE looks (and acts) newer than any other smoker I’ve ever used with very little maintenance. Even if you only smoke, your firebox will get hot enough to melt off that black paint, and you end up with rust the first season. It’s tough to keep most pits from rusting, but not so with the BGE. One of my favorite purchases, and I won’t be without now. They aren’t perfect, but they are the best I’ve used.
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For smoking, I love my WSM. I got the 22 inch one and I can fit like 4 briskets on it. I think they are selling BGEs at costco this year for about $700.
The only smokers weber makes are the little bullet type ones made for people who buy their charcoal and wood "chips" at HEB. Not that you can't make some decent cue on one of those, but hardly the type of unit you'd use for a large brisket either. The biggest one is still smaller than my Big green egg..........granted it's much cheaper. I was talking about offset smokers......heavier steel smokers that will retain heat a lot better than the lightweight enamled steel webers, but not as well as a big green egg. The kind of smoker where you buy (or chop down) oak or hickory or pecan logs or chuncks and build a fire in them. Granted, I have to put smaller chunks of wood in my big green egg, but if I built a pizza hot type fire in a webber, it would melt.
I've yet to see a BGE that is the size of my 22 Weber Smokey Mountain. It has two 22.5" racks and I can cook 4 full size briskets on it with no issues. Of course its a smoker and not an oven or a grill, so I can not cook a pizza on it. I have lots of friends that have BGE and they love it because of the versatility but for smoking, they are not any better than offsets or smokey mountains. The biggest drawback with the BGE, is that once its gets too hot, it take forever for it to cool down. Its biggest strength is also its biggest weakness.
Only the XL egg is larger than Weber's smallest smoker. I have no idea why you think a Weber Smokey Mountain 22.5 can't take a brisket. Melt a weber? What would melt exactly? Why are you just talking out of you ass now?
I think we are talking difference size briskets then because the BGE I have has a 24" grate/rack, and I never buy briskets small enough that I can put two of them on that rack. Oh well.......to each his own. I have had three different webers in my youth. a smaller smoker, and two of the kettle charcoal grills. They were nice, lasted a long time, and sometimes, I really like the taste of a burger done over charcoal, but I prefer the versatility of my BGE, and if I just wanted a charcoal grill, I'd get the aluminum www.pkgrills.com over the weber.
I'm not saying BGE are not great. I haven't met anyone that dislikes theirs. I just want to make sure the WSM is getting a fair shake. When someone says that the BGE is better than the WSM for smoking, I have to take their claims with a grain of salt because there are a lot of BBQ competitions won on WSMs. BTW, the briskets I cook are 10-12 pounds trimmed.
