KettleDial Heat Diffuser Plate for Weber Kettle

[Steve R.]

Has anyone tried this? I don't believe it has been reviewed here, and I am intrigued.

I recently bought a new-to-me 26" kettle w/ SnS XL, and I have successfully transplanted the Spider Grills Venom from my Performer onto it since then. During my most recent brisket cook the ambient temp got way out of control. The Spider Grills site specifically advises against using the SnS and snake method. So I'm looking for alternatives, and I'm thinking the KettleDial + Minion method might work, while also giving me the full grate to cook on. It's pretty cheap at under $50 with shipping, so it has that going for it.

KettleDial

[Hulagn1971]

I never knew the KettleDial existed until now. That seems like it would be a great method to run with. I'd start with about 8-10 lit coals in the middle then spread unlit coals around that evenly out to the edges of the kettle. This is how I start a cook with the FireBoard Ring and it works perfectly.

[SheilaAnn]

Following….

[klflowers]

That looks like it would work well. Since I have a WSM I don’t need one. I am not going to hit the buy it button. I’m not. Really

[Steve R.]

I'm thinking this setup makes the kettle a lot more like running a WSM with a dry water pan, which is the way I used to run my WSM for most things.

[klflowers]

Steve r that's how I run my wsm. Mine is an 18", which is why I even considered this. But I would only use it for brisket, and I don't do many briskets these days

[jfmorris]

I see no reason it won't work. And the fact they do have a size for the 26" kettle is a plus.

But you really do NOT get the full grate, as you really want to avoid putting the meat above all those cut openings - direct heat will be coming up there. Any time I smoke something on a kamado, any part of the meat that hangs out past the heat diffuser gets scorched or overcooked. I.e. while the indirect temp might be 225 or 275, the hot air and smoke rising around the deflector plate is much hotter.

My solution on my 22" kamado was to add an additional 18" drip pan on top of the ceramic deflector (with an air gap using some ceramic spacers). That expanded the indirect area for long items like ribs or brisket. Or even doing more than one butt. I have to avoid the 2" perimeter of the cooking grate with meat, but take advantage of that hotter more direct zone for quick items like sausages or corn during a long indirect cook of a protein.

If I were designing a plate like this, that wedges into the body of the grill below the cooking grate, I would put a series of slits as close as possible to the outer edge, to maximize cooking area. I think those curvy slits go so far into the central portion of the cooking area that you likely end up with an 18" wide cooking area even on the 26" grill, and less than that on the 22" version.

I think I would look to do something like the Weber low and slow kit for the 22", which is a fire ring like the WSM uses, with a deflector plate that sits on top of the fire ring. Maybe a fire ring for a 22 inch WSM, with the largest pizza pan you can find sitting on top of that?

[Steve R.]

I'm not a fan of any direct heat with this type of setup. Even with my Bronco Pro, I set a big deep dish pizza pan on the heat deflector that allows maybe 1" of open space all the way around. I'm pretty sure I can find a way to limit the pile of unlit coals to fit under the more solid center area.

[jfmorris]

Steve R. it's not an issue of limiting the coal pile size so much as the fact that hot direct heat comes up through those curvy slits. They should have made the slits more straight and at the outer perimeter than they did, as it cuts too far into the cooking area. Remember that the plate is already a smaller diameter than your cooking grate.

[TripleB]

I bought diffuser plates along with rib racks for my WSM's. The plates work well.

[LegoMySearwood]

I bought the stainless steel version for my performer and added 4 screws to my Weber rotisserie to add a grate and increase distance between the fire dial and the grate. I have a WSM 18” but thought this would give me a WSM 22” feel without buying another WSM. I have yet to use this setup but I’m off of work after today for a week and a half and I bought lots of meat!

[Lynn Dollar]

By raising the cooking grate, are you gonna run a snake with the deflector ?

[LegoMySearwood]

Either a snake or minion. Maybe put in my 18” ring under it for the minion.

[LegoMySearwood]

I’m hoping the increased distance will lessen the heat being given off and allow more even distribution of heat.

[Lynn Dollar]

Here is a discussion of the FireDial ............

https://tvwbb.com/threads/firedial-heat-control.98271/

[Lynn Dollar]

In that discussion of the FireDial at TVWBB, it was primarily around whether there's off flavors from grease dripping on the plate.

Some say they like that flavor, that its the same as cooking in a drum. And gas grills have had flavorizer bars for forever. Others say its got the aroma of burnt grease.

Malcolm Reed was talking about the possibility of off flavors from gravity feeds and reverse flow offsets, in his podcast a couple weeks ago.

Gravity feeds will have grease dripping on hot metal, but on mine, I keep a water pan in the bottom that catches most of the grease. I did once start it up without a good cleaning, and the first smoke it produced had to be from burning grease. It was a deep gray and putrid in aroma. But it burnt up and went away. I've not noticed any off flavor.

Reverse flows have a baffle that runs almost the entire length of the cook chamber. I can't recall hearing anything about off flavors from grease.

[Lynn Dollar]

He's only concerned with flare ups. But he's cooking with radiant heat from the FireDial. And his Minion Method ran off to one side, air flow dictates where the Minion will go.

IMO, this was designed for a WSM. And in that TVWBB thread, IIRC , most are using it in a WSM to replace the water pan.

Frankly, I can't see a use for this in my Kettle.

[Steve R.]

He seems to be using a screwdriver to do a job better suited for a hammer (Vortex). It is but one tool in the tool box.

[LegoMySearwood]

I bought mine to use the whole grate and maybe do a brisket or several racks of ribs. Of course I will be much further away since my grate will be near the top of my rotisserie.

[Lynn Dollar]

The Spider Grills site specifically advises against using the SnS and snake method.

KettleDial

I'm curious as to why Spider Grills advises to not use the SnS or snake ?

[SheilaAnn]

Lynn Dollar maybe with the SnS, too much heat is concentrating on just one side? And with the snake, while heat is circling, it’s too much in any one spot? I don’t know… this accessory is odd to me. Especially after reading everything here and linked….

[Steve R.]

It's right here:

https://spidergrills.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/72000658886-unstable-temps-with-the-venom-best-practices

[SheilaAnn]

Steve R. There ya have it!