What’s the deal with these huge pits on wheels?

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rovster

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Pardon my ignorance I am just a home cook but I’ve been wondering what all you with these huge pots are doing with them. I see many huge pits on trailers and monster pits out there. Are these being used for personal use, competition, catering? I can understand a trailered pit being easy to trailer for comps but the capacity on these things is unreal and as far as I understood you’re not cooking a dozen briskets at a competition. I guess catering I can understand.

Just curious here at what niche these large cookers are filling. I do know of one guy that flies back home to the Carolinas and he cooks an ungodly amount of cue for his family gatherings a couple times a year, is that what these are used for? Again, pardon my ignorance I’m from South Florida and that kind of stuff just isn’t part of the culture down here like I imagine it is in other parts.

Curiously yours:shock:
 
I had a 24x48 with a warmer. Take Thanksgiving for example. 2 turkeys, a ham, a pan of dressing, a pan of cabbage, and a peach cobbler takes up some real estate...
 
Probably the same reasons some people Choose to live in million dollar homes when a 2 bedroom apartment would be sufficient. It is all about personal preferences and priorities. Personally, I am thankful to live in a country where we are all free to make those kind of choices.
 
Hope my question not taken as judgement. I can see if you regularly have pans of sides how the extra real estate could come in handy mover thought of that.
 
rovster said:
Hope my question not taken as judgement. I can see if you regularly have pans of sides how the extra real estate could come in handy mover thought of that.
Click to expand...

It's a valid question.

When I had my Shirley, I'd call up close friends to tell them I was firing it up to do a cook and they'd all come over with whatever they wanted smoked. Turned into a party.

Others, myself included use them to do benefits like cooking for Veterans and different VFW Posts. RIP my Brother, Diesel Dave. He did so many cooks for Veterans.
 
PatAttack said:
It's a valid question.

When I had my Shirley, I'd call up close friends to tell them I was firing it up to do a cook and they'd all come over with whatever they wanted smoked. Turned into a party.

Others, myself included use them to do benefits like cooking for Veterans and different VFW Posts. RIP my Brother, Diesel Dave. He did so many cooks for Veterans.
Click to expand...



Just curious, why did you get rid of the Shirley?
 
I've got a 250 gallon offset in my backyard which is overkill for many of my cooks. However I've had a few backyard parties where I've loaded it up full too. I knew when I bought it that it was more room than i'd need most of the time. For what a well made backyard model costs it made more sense to me to buy something larger. Maybe one day i'll get a smaller backyard pit but otherwise I don't feel like i'm wasting wood cooking on a 250 all the time.
 
SonVolt said:
Just curious, why did you get rid of the Shirley?
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Bought a house and used the $ to help with down payment.

Not only that, I work a lot of hours and I wasn't using it as much as I would have liked to. Didn't have much time to do as many cooks as I'd like, unfortunately. I'm in saving mode to purchase another one, though!:thumb:
 
I’m also curious about these large smokers. Lots of the ones pictured are on tires. Do those tires ever go flat? I have a dolly out in the garage with pneumatic tires. What a royal pain in the behind. I absolutely hate having to put air in those tires every time I need to use it.

For example the Shirley smokers everyone mentions, they all seem to have pneumatic tires.
 
I mean, they're on trailers and trailers have regular old auto tires. So should be the same maintenance as your vehicle.
 
I drive an F350 to work most days so..
 
Blizzard said:
I’m also curious about these large smokers. Lots of the ones pictured are on tires. Do those tires ever go flat? I have a dolly out in the garage with pneumatic tires. What a royal pain in the behind. I absolutely hate having to put air in those tires every time I need to use it.

For example the Shirley smokers everyone mentions, they all seem to have pneumatic tires.
Click to expand...

Yup no real issues with the Shirley tires. I’ve added a little air maybe once a year
 
My Shirley is bigger than what I need but I like to have the option of a big cook if needed. A couple spatchcock chickens or a 90lb pig with sides. I can always do small cooks in a big cooker but cant do big cooks in a small cooker. I like the peace of mind with added real estate.
 
I really wanted a 30x70 Shirley. Did a lot of thinking and settled on a 24x55 trailer. It was the first straight back they built. I really didn't realize just how much cooking space it had. It also takes up a huge amount of space in my bbq garage. At the time I was doing 6 or so cooks a year that included 10+ briskets. That kinda got old and now I wish I had a 24x36 Shirley patio instead. Not only do I buy too big a cooker I also bought too many cookers. But in real life I'm a reasonable person. Live well beneath my means. When it comes to bbq I always seem to go overboard. But our motto is "go big or go home"...

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 
pjtexas1 said:
I really wanted a 30x70 Shirley. Did a lot of thinking and settled on a 24x55 trailer. It was the first straight back they built. I really didn't realize just how much cooking space it had. It also takes up a huge amount of space in my bbq garage. At the time I was doing 6 or so cooks a year that included 10+ briskets. That kinda got old and now I wish I had a 24x36 Shirley patio instead. Not only do I buy too big a cooker I also bought too many cookers. But in real life I'm a reasonable person. Live well beneath my means. When it comes to bbq I always seem to go overboard. But our motto is "go big or go home"...

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
I know what you mean. The dimensions when ordering are deceiving until you see them first hand. The cookers hold a lot of food.
 
You fell into the classic trap. Get a big cooker and the wife only lets you have one instead of a half a dozen different cookers to play with. Also allows for different temps running simultaneously without buying a Cookshack.
 
Nobody ever complains that they bought more smoker than they needed. Think about what your biggest cooks might look like, and then double the space for good air flow. That will set you up good.
 
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