WSM Cooking Capacity	Originally posted: 03/02/2005 Last updated: 10/10/2012

To give you an idea of the cooking capacity of the Weber Bullet without any modifications, I have cooked the following quantities of meat at one time in my cookers. (Not the entire bulleted list at one time, just each line!)

18-1/2" WSM

• 4 chickens, cut into halves, flat on the cooking grates
• 2 whole butterflied chickens, 3 slabs of rolled baby back ribs, 4 sausages, and four baked apples
• 8 slabs of rolled baby back ribs
• 2 13-lb whole briskets
• 4 8-lb pork butts

22-1/2" WSM

• 6 slabs of baby back ribs cooked in a rib rack using only the top cooking grate
• 6 beer can chickens
• 6 8-lb pork butts
• 2 13-lb whole briskets

Comparing Capacity Between 18-1/2" and 22-1/2" WSMs

Here are some photos showing how much meat you can fit in the 18-1/2" WSM versus the 22-1/2" WSM. Click any of the photos to view a larger image.

Beer Can Chickens

In the 18-1/2" WSM, the chickens touch the underside of the top cooking grate—they do not in the 22-1/2" WSM. Notice that I squeezed 5 beer can chickens onto the bottom grate of the 22-1/2" cooker.

18-1/2" WSM	22-1/2" WSM	18-1/2" WSM	22-1/2" WSM
Photo 1	Photo 2	Photo 3	Photo 4

Baby Back Ribs

Three slabs of ribs can lay perfectly straight in the 22-1/2" WSM, and it can easily hold 6 slabs of rolled ribs on the top grate.

18-1/2" WSM	22-1/2" WSM	18-1/2" WSM	22-1/2" WSM
Photo 5	Photo 6	Photo 7	Photo 8

Pork Butts

Three boneless pork butts on the top grate of the 18-1/2" WSM; 4 on the 22-1/2" cooker.

18-1/2" WSM	22-1/2" WSM
Photo 9	Photo 10

Briskets

These photos show the same 15.39 pound whole packer brisket on the top grate of each cooker. This brisket could be cooked in the 18-1/2" WSM by "shoehorning" it between the grate handles and it would shrink during cooking, but a 12 pound brisket would be a more comfortable fit.

18-1/2" WSM	22-1/2" WSM
Photo 11	Photo 12

Increasing Cooking Capacity

No matter how big your cooker, there are always times when you wished it was just a little bit bigger! See Increasing Cooking Capacity for ideas on how to fit more barbecue into your WSM.

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