My first experience with the Slow 'n Sear wasn't that great
I did my first cookout with the SnS Saturday night at the bar. I started the charcoal with a full chimney starter. My homemade paraffin firestarters worked great, although they were tough to catch on fire. Dumped the first coals in and soon the indirect side was 350 and held that temperature for about 45 minutes. Outstanding! I'm doing chicken thighs so that's precisely what I want. This burn counts as the new grill grease burn-off as well as the test of temperature with a full load. The coals start burning down and it's time to add more. I add more unlit coals on top of the lit coals, using the Weber Premium's hinged grill. That hinge is totally worth the extra $50 for the Premium, it is an outstanding feature.
However, my new Maverick thermometer said that the indirect side was down to 200! It wasn't going anywhere! I was baffled. I look in and the coals don't seem to be catching. I don't know what the problem is, all the vents are 100% open. Wait ten minutes, 180F on the indirect side. Hungry people are waiting. Chicken is 110-130 internal measured with my new Thermopop, no way it's ready. Ten more minutes, there is nothing happening. The temperature is not moving. Even the otherwise worthless grill-top thermometer, located right above the coals, is indicating 200 degrees. What's going on!?!?!
All night long I had a terrible time keeping the fire hot. Based on the advice I got the last time I cooked chicken too cold, I needed to load in the coals to get the heat up. The SnS holds one full chimney, so I thought I was set. Maybe the SnS is only set up for one-time cooking, adding more coals isn't supposed to be done. But people do all day cooks all the time with it, what are they doing that I'm not?
Furiously investigating after the 60 minute mark passes and the temp is stuck at 180. People are leaving the party, too hungry to wait. I start poking at the coal bed in the SnS and start removing all the coals, shaking the dust out, and putting the coals back in. Maybe this was causing the problem. However I've never read anything about having to clear out the clogged bottom of the thing. According to this page, "It takes over 8 hours but ash buildup will eventually start blocking the intake vents." This was my first cook in a brand new Weber.
I also read somewhere that the water section should be left alone and you don't need to mess with it much. Well, it had to be refilled about once every half hour, the water came to a rolling boil and then disappeared. I don't get how water is not supposed to boil when it's next to a bunch of red-hot coals. At one point it boiled dry and then a grease fire started in there. I hope it doesn't affect the flavor of the food hereafter.
The "sear" part of the SnS worked great. I flipped the hinged grill closed and crisped the chicken, although flareups from the chicken grease were a big problem. Some of the thighs were just bathed in flames. Moreover I was using a big metal bowl to store the chicken, and I put about 20 pieces in there and started serving. The six pieces at the bottom got soaked in an inch of liquid chicken fat, completely lost their crispness and went soggy like breakfast cereal. None of the books said anything about that.
Hardly the SnS' fault but an unpleasant discovery nonetheless.
However, my new Maverick thermometer said that the indirect side was down to 200! It wasn't going anywhere! I was baffled. I look in and the coals don't seem to be catching. I don't know what the problem is, all the vents are 100% open. Wait ten minutes, 180F on the indirect side. Hungry people are waiting. Chicken is 110-130 internal measured with my new Thermopop, no way it's ready. Ten more minutes, there is nothing happening. The temperature is not moving. Even the otherwise worthless grill-top thermometer, located right above the coals, is indicating 200 degrees. What's going on!?!?!
All night long I had a terrible time keeping the fire hot. Based on the advice I got the last time I cooked chicken too cold, I needed to load in the coals to get the heat up. The SnS holds one full chimney, so I thought I was set. Maybe the SnS is only set up for one-time cooking, adding more coals isn't supposed to be done. But people do all day cooks all the time with it, what are they doing that I'm not?
Furiously investigating after the 60 minute mark passes and the temp is stuck at 180. People are leaving the party, too hungry to wait. I start poking at the coal bed in the SnS and start removing all the coals, shaking the dust out, and putting the coals back in. Maybe this was causing the problem. However I've never read anything about having to clear out the clogged bottom of the thing. According to this page, "It takes over 8 hours but ash buildup will eventually start blocking the intake vents." This was my first cook in a brand new Weber.
I also read somewhere that the water section should be left alone and you don't need to mess with it much. Well, it had to be refilled about once every half hour, the water came to a rolling boil and then disappeared. I don't get how water is not supposed to boil when it's next to a bunch of red-hot coals. At one point it boiled dry and then a grease fire started in there. I hope it doesn't affect the flavor of the food hereafter.
The "sear" part of the SnS worked great. I flipped the hinged grill closed and crisped the chicken, although flareups from the chicken grease were a big problem. Some of the thighs were just bathed in flames. Moreover I was using a big metal bowl to store the chicken, and I put about 20 pieces in there and started serving. The six pieces at the bottom got soaked in an inch of liquid chicken fat, completely lost their crispness and went soggy like breakfast cereal. None of the books said anything about that.
Hardly the SnS' fault but an unpleasant discovery nonetheless. 
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