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August 16th, 2015, 3:55 pm
#1
* Abilene ** Abilene *
  • Joined: August 16th, 2015, 3:19 pm
  • Posts: 6

Hey guys,

I'm pretty interested in the loaded wichita, but I'm wondering if it'd be large enough to feed family get-togethers of up to 25-30 people. Normally we only have around 15 or so, but I'm just trying to think long-term needs.

95% of it's use though, will only be for about 10 people.

I have checked out the specs of the loaded wichita as well as the kingman, and while my gut tells me that the later is bigger than anything I'd really ever need - I wanted to ask before buying. Not worried at all about how much space either one takes up. Would love to hear y'alls thoughts.

Also... does anyone have a side-by-side picture of the two, just for a visual reference?

Thanks all!

August 16th, 2015, 6:28 pm
#2
* Wichita ** Wichita *
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  • Joined: August 15th, 2014, 4:08 pm
  • Posts: 162
  • Location: Lincoln, NE

I used to own an offset the same size as a Wichita and I've cooked on a Kingman. Even though my cooks are usually from 4-20 people, I'd still go with a Kingman myself. The Wichita is a great cooker, but you may feel a little lack of cooking space at times with your larger cooks. You don't want to overload a cooker, then you'll have airflow issues and things won't cook or turn out right. The Kingman is a nice sized cooker for any size of cook.

These pictures are a couple of years old and the angles aren't the best, but they give you a view of the two cookers side by side.

Image

Image

Yoder Smokers YS1500, Yoder Smokers 24" Firepot, Yoder Smokers YS640 CompCart(sold)
August 16th, 2015, 8:45 pm
#3
* Abilene ** Abilene *
  • Joined: August 16th, 2015, 3:19 pm
  • Posts: 6

nucornhusker wrote:I used to own an offset the same size as a Wichita and I've cooked on a Kingman. Even though my cooks are usually from 4-20 people, I'd still go with a Kingman myself. The Wichita is a great cooker, but you may feel a little lack of cooking space at times with your larger cooks. You don't want to overload a cooker, then you'll have airflow issues and things won't cook or turn out right. The Kingman is a nice sized cooker for any size of cook.


Thanks for the info! I remember reading in the Kingman's info on the site that it was for like 100 people, but wasn't sure about the Wichita. Shockingly, my wife is 100% on board with buying the bigger Kingman :D so that is probably what I'll go with.

Thank you so much for the pictures as well, that is exactly what I was looking for. Beyond just the larger capacity, it looks like the Kingman has larger trays on the frontside, which I'm sure won't go missed. Looks like the hot plate is a lot larger as well. The larger wheels will likely be more helpful in moving it if I ever need to roll it across uneven ground.

Thanks again for the information and pictures!

-Bill

August 16th, 2015, 9:11 pm
#4
* Abilene ** Abilene *
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  • Joined: September 4th, 2014, 10:45 pm
  • Posts: 37

Go for the Kingman, I had a Cheyenne for 2 years and wanted to upgrade, figured the Wichita would be fine, but knew there would parties and stuff where I might need more space, and figured this would be my last purchase for a very long time, so spent more and went with the Kingman, no regrets, it's a thing of beauty!!!

If you have the $$$, get it!!

August 17th, 2015, 5:07 pm
#5
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  • Joined: April 18th, 2014, 3:12 pm
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The Loaded Wichita will accommodate 2 briskets on the lower shelf with a bit of room to spare. That will leave the second shelf open for other items that you may want to smoke. Cooking on the Wichita is truly a pleasurable and easy experience. Once you get the cooker to temperature it is as easy as adding a piece of wood or two every hour or so. Wood consumption will be dependent on ambient temperature and the amount of food be placed on the pit. Typically you will complete a 225°-250° cook with under 2 cubic feet of smoking wood.

The Kingman is the ultimate backyard cooking machine. The body size in relationship to the firebox creates the best cooking experience possible in a mobile backyard unit. This unit will require no more fuel to run than the Loaded Wichita and require a bit less fire management. It will nearly double your cooking capacity over the Wichita. This unit will allow you room to grow if your event gains a following.

Either of these units will serve you well. These cookers will run with very little temperature variance and will run more consistent from cook to cook. They are very easy to run and will produce better results because of the indirect cooking capabilities.

Yoder_Herb
September 1st, 2015, 1:25 pm
#6
* Abilene ** Abilene *
  • Joined: August 16th, 2015, 3:19 pm
  • Posts: 6

Thank you so much for the information! 2 cubic feet of wood is not bad at all.

As I've been learning and looking into things, I have a pellet vs offset question that I haven't seen addressed yet...

What is the typical operating cost of running a pellet cooker? For example's sake, let's say a long cooks like a large brisket. From what little I've read on pellet smokers, it looks like 1-1.5 lbs of pellets per hour of cook is to be expected, dependent on what smoker you have and all that, but as a rough estimate, I'll go with the 1.5 lbs per hour. If I'm doing a long cook, let's say 12-14 hours just for argument's sake, that's 18-20 lbs of pellets.

Just doing a quick search on Google (I'm sure there are cheaper places if I looked harder) but it looks like I could expect to pay $10-15 bucks worth of pellets every cook. Alternatively... living in eastern Washington State where there are apple, cherry, etc orchards all over the place, I could get wood for very cheap.

Seems like a pellet pit would cost a lot more for me to operate than a stick burner, but I haven't seen any discussions on cost-per-cook, so wanted to get your guys opinions/thoughts on it.

September 1st, 2015, 2:09 pm
#7
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  • Joined: April 18th, 2014, 3:12 pm
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For me, this is like buying a car or truck, as the fuel price is never the same, and can go up or down, but this does not change my mind on whether or not I should buy a car or truck.

If wood is as abundant and cheap in the immediate area as you state, then I think you have your answer. From your other post, you have no pellet source in your area, so you would have to get pellets shipped in and stored.

Yoder_Herb

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