Help me choose my new Stumps gravity

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Rolling Egg

Knows what a fatty is.
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I'm looking to add a Stumps gravity to the arsenal to accompany my XL egg. I'm wanting the extra capacity for when I want to load up maybe 10-12 butts, or 10-12 slabs of ribs for holiday cooks or the occasional friend that contacts me about cooking for an event.

I'm considering an XL baby with upgraded wheels or the Classic. It would primarily set on my patio but I would like to be able to move it around on the patio by myself. I really like the extra space the classic offers but I don't want to buy a cooker that's so big and aggravating that I wouldn't want to fire up for normal 2-3 butt cooks or a few slabs of ribs just for the family.

Any advice appreciated!
 
Stumps make a awesome rig and with the 2 you have listed you will not be disappointed with either one.
I am a firm believer in go bigger than you think you need.

But for what your saying above that Baby XL will do awesome.
I also would fire it up if just cooking 1 or 2 butts.
I think you will be shocked on how fuel efficient the insulated gravity cookers are.
 
The XL baby is an awesome cooker but my big question is... Is it worth almost $4,000 just to cook for friends and family? I don't think so.
 
The Baby XL is awesome, not too large foot print, will cook the volume you are looking for, and provide your family & friends with high quality finished products. I normally cook 4 butts at one time on the two upper racks or 9 racks of ribs on the upper three racks. You can run it at 250F for over 12 hours so your overnight cooks will be effortless. My briskets and butts are always overnight cooks with the help of a Digi-Q controller.

For me, the bottom rack is worthless for smoking as it's too close to the fire source. The lower rack does well if you want to crispin something up like chicken skin or quickly finish off that last rack of ribs. At times, I will place an aluminum pan on the lower rack to catch drippings simply to minimize clean up.

I would at some point in time purchase the stainless steel grates as they make a huge difference in clean up.

If you can afford the premium price of a Stumps, then YES it's definitely worth the money. The quality and craftsmanship are second to none and your investment may last you a lifetime. Mine still has a paint job like a Rolls Royce. Like cars, all smokers will get you to your final destination but at different levels of performance.

My $0.02 and good luck with your quest...:thumb:
 
hurricanedavid said:
The Baby XL is awesome, not too large foot print, will cook the volume you are looking for, and provide your family & friends with high quality finished products. I normally cook 4 butts at one time on the two upper racks or 9 racks of ribs on the upper three racks. You can run it at 250F for over 12 hours so your overnight cooks will be effortless. My briskets and butts are always overnight cooks with the help of a Digi-Q controller.

For me, the bottom rack is worthless for smoking as it's too close to the fire source. The lower rack does well if you want to crispin something up like chicken skin or quickly finish off that last rack of ribs. At times, I will place an aluminum pan on the lower rack to catch drippings simply to minimize clean up.

I would at some point in time purchase the stainless steel grates as they make a huge difference in clean up.

If you can afford the premium price of a Stumps, then YES it's definitely worth the money. The quality and craftsmanship are second to none and your investment may last you a lifetime. Mine still has a paint job like a Rolls Royce. Like cars, all smokers will get you to your final destination but at different levels of performance.

My $0.02 and good luck with your quest...:thumb:
Click to expand...


Have you ever loaded it down with 12 butts? Or more than 9 slabs?
 
Rolling Egg said:
Have you ever loaded it down with 12 butts? Or more than 9 slabs?
Click to expand...

The answer is No as that is way too much meat for my needs.

I believe each grate could comfortably hold three 9lb butts or four if in the 5lb range. Thus, 9-12 butts could be had on the top three grates.

The grates are perfect size for three racks of St. Louis or BB ribs. Thus, 9 racks on the top three grates would be my limit. Once in the early days with my Stumps XL, I did cook 12 racks of ribs using all four grates BUT the bottom grate ribs were almost a high and fast cook. I had to shift the grates/ribs around about every hour to keep everything cooking somewhat evenly. This was too much work and I never attempted more than 9 racks again.

In summary, 9-12 butts depending upon their size on the top three grates and 9 racks of ribs on the top three grates would be in my comfort zone for this smoker.

I hope this information is helpful.:thumb:
 
hurricanedavid said:
The answer is No as that is way too much meat for my needs.

I believe each grate could comfortably hold three 9lb butts or four if in the 5lb range. Thus, 9-12 butts could be had on the top three grates.

The grates are perfect size for three racks of St. Louis or BB ribs. Thus, 9 racks on the top three grates would be my limit. Once in the early days with my Stumps XL, I did cook 12 racks of ribs using all four grates BUT the bottom grate ribs were almost a high and fast cook. I had to shift the grates/ribs around about every hour to keep everything cooking somewhat evenly. This was too much work and I never attempted more than 9 racks again.

In summary, 9-12 butts depending upon their size on the top three grates and 9 racks of ribs on the top three grates would be in my comfort zone for this smoker.

I hope this information is helpful.:thumb:
Click to expand...
You bet it’s helpful. And thank you for the input. This helps me a ton on deciding which one to get. I’m leaning harder now toward the classic. I don’t want to buy a smoker and end up limited like I am now with eggs. I want plenty room to do a large cook if wanted.
 
A picture is worth 1,000 words. I was looking at some old cooks and found 4 racks of ribs/ grate and 4 large (7-8lbs) butts/grate. The two packer briskets were probably in the 15lb+ range.

So, the numbers can be adjusted upward a bit and hopefully the pictures will give you a visual assessment of the "fit" within the smoke chamber.

I hope this helps.
 
Last edited:
I have a Stumps Classic and have done 12 pork shoulders two different times for my husband’s office. They fit fine with a little room between them for air circulation. Of course it takes a little longer to cook with that volume of meat, but they all got a beautiful bark.

My Classis has never let me down. I moved from a digique to a FireBoard. Works great on a Stumps.
 
Stumps also sells rib rack/grates. Each grate can hold 8 racks of St. Louies. Based on your capacity requirements, I’d go bigger than the XL Baby. The most butts I could comfortably get in mine was 8. That being said, Stumps is a great choice in smoker. Top notch product.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
hurricanedavid said:
A picture is worth 1,000 words. I was looking at some old cooks and found 4 racks of ribs/ grate and 4 large (7-8lbs) butts/grate. The two packer briskets were probably in the 15lb+ range.

So, the numbers can be adjusted upward a bit and hopefully the pictures will give you a visual assessment of the "fit" within the smoke chamber.

I hope this helps.
Click to expand...

Thanks again hurricanedavid. These pics are very helpful. Probably saved me from making the wrong decision. I’m thinking more and more that the classic will give me the needed capacity that I want in case I need to do a huge cook.
 
I personally think you made an awesome choice and know you will be VERY pleased with it and now we all can not wait to see it in action.

What color did you go with?

Congrats
 
The Classic is a great choice. As a former owner of a vintage Stumps GF 222 CM (when Stump stilled owned the company) I loved that cooker. But it was in reality too small and I talked myself out of the next size up when I ordered it. So you did right going bigger. But, Man I still regret selling it.
 
Shiz-Nit said:
I personally think you made an awesome choice and know you will be VERY pleased with it and now we all can not wait to see it in action.

What color did you go with?

Congrats
Click to expand...

Went with the traditional black and added the diamond plate to the top!
 
What’s the percentage of guys that use lump vs briquettes? Anyone have any feedback on fuel choice?
 
I had a classic for 12 year and now have downsized to a baby. Lot's of experience with various charcoal. The first couple of years I spent a lot of money importing various charcoals through internet purchases. All were good but, eventually simply started using Royal Oak lump. Affordable, decent burn time, always available. All the briquettes I tried burned faster than the Royal Oak, at least it appeared so. Never noticed any difference in taste from one charcoal to another but, don't like the smell of Kingsford.
 
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