Txags2011,
I usually cook a brisket, a pork butt, chicken thighs, and ABT's, corn, veggies of some sort on my old heavy offset stickburner, and it was a TIGHT fit for just the brisket and butt, so I was constantly staggering meats, moving things around, etc. Frustrating and not productive.
I bought the standard LSG insulated cabinet so that I could smoke without tending a fire, and so I would never have to juggle my food around and stagger my cooks, etc.
So my plan is now to simply add/remove each meat as is needed and as they finish.
Much simpler!
The standard LSG insulated has four racks, 6" apart. I put it to the test yesterday.
I put the ABT's, veggies, etc on the top shelf, it took up about half to 3/4 of the rack, nicely spaced out.
Then the brisket was on the next shelf down, took up about 1/4 to 1/3 of the rack, depening upon the size (this one was a 12 lb but a 16lb would take up more room) And usually my friend throws his brisket or pork butt on there, as was the case, so this second shelf was about 2/3 full with briskets spaced out nicely
Pork butt on the 3rd shelf...lots of extra room here, room for expansion or other folks stuff, etc. My buddy threw a pork butt and 2 racks of ribs on here. If I did ribs, I would put them on this shelf as well.
Chicken thighs on the bottom shelf. I did 18 or so, and there was plenty of room left!
So I used all four shelves, but with ample space between everything, and room for expansion if I need it (or my friends continue to bring their meat, which is about 50% most of the time!)
I never liked crowding my meat, I prefer to space everything out nicely. With this much room I may add a half pan of beans, cheese grits, etc
And if I choose I can now cook all my meats in disposable pans. Great to have options versus not enough room, etc.
And around the holidays I will be smoking a dozen or so small turkeys for my close customers and friends, so that will fill the smoker at 4 turkeys per rack x 4 racks.
Keep in mind that there will be times in the future where I will fire up the smoker just to have 2 racks of spares inside the entire smoker!
But they will turn out great and the smoker will just chugg along, just the same as when it is loaded down. It will come up to temp faster with less cool meat load, but will still work exactly the same. And will probably use less fuel as well.
You don't have to fill the entire firebox, you can just use a small amount of briquettes. The smoker doesnt care! I used 7-8 lbs of Stubbs (1/2 the 15 lb. bag)
which took up about 1/4 of the firebox, and it stayed at 225 for about 8 hours, then burned another 3 hours or so at 350 when I opened the ball valve wide open to use up the rest of the fuel, then temp started to drop over the next 2 hours as it ran out of fuel. Temp still showed 165, 16 hours later! Smoker is VERY well insulated!
Sorry to be a bit long winded, but hopefully I answered some of your questions!
Worked fantastic for my LSG vertical insulated, rolls up and down, no issues! Just make sure you have couple of guys to help you. I am sure loading it up at Lonestar Grillz while picking it up will be no issue, they have plenty of helpers!
