4 meat contest on WSM 14.5"

I don't have exact timelines for this because it can be done at most any temperature. I would probably go 275 or higher on the ribs/chicken so the big meats would not have to be in the Cambro for more than 5 hours or so.

Here is general outline.

Trim meats to fit the 14.5" WSM. 1 brisket, 1 butt, two racks of ribs (most likely just the center bones), 9 chicken thighs.

Cook brisket & pork overnight so they will be done when ribs need to go on the smoker. Since most people wrap both brisket & pork they could be stacked on top of each other on the top rack if the timing was off slightly and they were not ready to come off the smoker when you need room for ribs. If needed arch the brisket with foil in the middle get more width and/or separate point & flat.

Pull the brisket/pork and put them in a Cambro.

Put the ribs on.

Put the chicken on the bottom rack. You don't want raw chicken dripping on your ribs, it probably would not be a problem but why risk it.

That should get it done for you. The key is having a Cambro or good cooler to put the big meats in for the long rest time. Other than that it is not very difficult to do, you just have less meat to choose from at turn-in and can't fine tune the temperatures for each meat.

I'd say the real challenge would be shoe horning a brisket into it. I see doing a 4 meat comp on one 18 as mot being too bad but a 14 would be a challenge.

If you have brisket down in the 14.5 the rest of the cook should not be a problem.

I would keep the brisket as big as you can fit just so you have enough mass to keep it warm for 4 hours in the Cambro.

Personally I wouldn't do it. I can foresee too many issues that would pop up

Of course it can be done, but there would be precious little room for error.

One could buy two 18.5" WSMs and a couple of PartyQs for the amount spent on the contest, so saving money wouldn't be a reason to do it. I guess if you wanted a challenge for the sake of being challenged, it would be a fun way to spend the weekend. Try it half a dozen times in your driveway, and if you feel great about the results, go for it. And take pictures.


Edit: I think I misread your question. If I were going to do it, I'd have the big meats off and Cambro'ed in a preheated Cambro by 8:00. Time the rib wrapping to coincide with chicken going on. Cook the chicken in a pan so that you can be flexible as to what rack holds each meat. And cook ribs/chicken in the 300 range, to build in some cushion. I'd rather have to hold one or both categories than have either not have enough time. :thumb:

It has been done before. Butcher's Daughter BBQ competed on a single 14.5" WSM at Lancaster, CA back in October 2014. She walked in Chicken & Ribs and finished 12th overall of 29 teams. As I recall DivaQ was filming "BBQ Crawl" during this comp and the camera crew spent a fair amount of time around BD BBQ's site. Perhaps, in the upcoming season, her cook will receive some airplay.

In 2013, Slap 'Yo Daddy BBQ competed in the same contest using a homemade tamale pot/Smokey Joe WSM. He finished 10th overall of 41.

Both contests were blogged about here:

http://www.slapyodaddybbq.com/2014/10/the-lancaster-challenge-blazin-bbq-throwdown-by-donna-fong/

and here:

http://www.slapyodaddybbq.com/2013/11/five-kcbs-entries-on-one-mini-12-inch-wsm-new-world-record/

The real question is why would you do it? If you can afford to do a kcbs contest you should be able to afford more and bigger wsm's

It sounds like a terrible idea, to be honest. You could at least build a UDS (yup, there it is) for a tiny amount of money. Borrow a truck from someone. If you think you are Harry Soo material, then go for it. Are you? If not, then don't. Give yourself some space to cook.

While this is not something I will do any time soon I do think it is interesting to think about. The two obvious reasons to consider it are the challenge and cost, although less on the equipment cost side (see Rabidawg's post) but more on the vehicle cost side. With a WSM you can fit everything you need into the trunk of a car or a hatchback. I don't have a truck so I rent a Uhaul but saving the Uhaul money has its appeal.

The one area that seems the most interesting is if you want to fly someplace to do a contest. If I wanted to do The Royal I could check one bag with the WSM, one cooler with the meat/knives/rubs/sauces, carry on a bag with clothes and buy charcoal in KC. Add Southwest tickets, a rental car, a $20 fire extinguisher from Walmart, 3 dish tubs from Dollar Tree and buy or rent a cheap folding table and you are set for the contest. If you are really ambitious you could rent a table/canopy/Cambro from a party rental company in KC. For me this would be a lot cheaper than renting a truck and driving 1800 miles to KC, that would be nearly $1,000 in gas alone.

Sure it can be done, anything can with enough planning and determination. BUT why would you intentionally make it difficult and start at a disadvantage? Successful competitors focus on making things as efficient and easy as possible. For the small investment of another one, your competition experience is going to be much more enjoyable and successful. If it's just to prove that it can be done, okay do it once and you've proved it but the time and energy used to prove it could be better used to improve as a cook.

egorham said:

The one area that seems the most interesting is if you want to fly someplace to do a contest. If I wanted to do The Royal I could check one bag with the WSM, one cooler with the meat/knives/rubs/sauces, carry on a bag with clothes and buy charcoal in KC. Add Southwest tickets, a rental car, a $20 fire extinguisher from Walmart, 3 dish tubs from Dollar Tree and buy or rent a cheap folding table and you are set for the contest. If you are really ambitious you could rent a table/canopy/Cambro from a party rental company in KC. For me this would be a lot cheaper than renting a truck and driving 1800 miles to KC, that would be nearly $1,000 in gas alone.

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hey, thanks for this! when you think of it this way there is almost no place you can't go. with then right planning you could probably buy brand new wsm's (any size) at the competition site and have them sold before you leave.

Rythym n Que out of Phoenix cooks on WSM's and they fit their entire site into a minivan. I don't get why teams would want to handicap themselves and cook on a tiny WSM. Besides wanting publicity or to prove it can be done. Hey, anything can be done, but why throw away money? That is the only thing that you would be doing.

Sometimes on your threads, you ask for advice and then you ignore what people are saying because you have your ways set. This is one that you should ignore all those inner demons talking to you and get a full smoker setup. Nothing personal, but you do not have the skill set to do this. Even folks with experience can only scratch the top 10 with a mini WSM. But if you like throwing away money, that is up to you. As a competitor, I love it when teams take themselves out of the competition before they even start cooking.

Scottie said:

Sometimes on your threads, you ask for advice and then you ignore what people are saying because you have your ways set. This is one that you should ignore all those inner demons talking to you and get a full smoker setup. Nothing personal, but you do not have the skill set to do this. Even folks with experience can only scratch the top 10 with a mini WSM. But if you like throwing away money, that is up to you. As a competitor, I love it when teams take themselves out of the competition before they even start cooking.

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The only advice that is being ignored is the unsolicited advice that people felt the need to chime in with on this thread. Neither Rusty Kettle nor anyone else asked if it should be done, they only asked how to do it.

I also think Rusty Kettle and myself answered the question of why. I know it is hard to imagine but some people do BBQ competitions just for the experience, knowing that they probably won't win a GC. If throwing a mini WSM in the trunk of their car or being able to fly someplace allows them to have more and different experiences what is wrong with that and why is it so hard to understand?

Scottie said:

Rythym n Que out of Phoenix cooks on WSM's and they fit their entire site into a minivan. I don't get why teams would want to handicap themselves and cook on a tiny WSM. Besides wanting publicity or to prove it can be done. Hey, anything can be done, but why throw away money? That is the only thing that you would be doing.

Sometimes on your threads, you ask for advice and then you ignore what people are saying because you have your ways set. This is one that you should ignore all those inner demons talking to you and get a full smoker setup. Nothing personal, but you do not have the skill set to do this. Even folks with experience can only scratch the top 10 with a mini WSM. But if you like throwing away money, that is up to you. As a competitor, I love it when teams take themselves out of the competition before they even start cooking.

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wow!!! when you say nothing personal, you know $h!+ is about to get personal!!! bbq is supposed to be FUN first!!! if it's fun to do a competition on a 14.5, DO IT!!! if it allows you to compete because it is more affordable or more convenient, DO IT!!! maybe you will become the 14.5 specialist.