MY New Cooker Day & Mini Saga

[Panhead John]

As a previous owner of 2 Weber kettles and then an owner of 3 SNS kettles over a period of time, I feel like I can chime in and hopefully answer your concerns. I recently bought the new SNS Master Kettle and have now done my initial burn in and 3 total cooks on it, my latest just today. I have owned SNS Grills original grey kettle and their current black version of kettle. I no longer have those and I now own the Master Kettle.

Your concern of a possibly warped lid….if so, please contact SNS via email with your problem. They have excellent customer service and I have no doubt they will make it right if there’s a manufacturing defect or a shipping problem which might have caused it.

I also noticed that my SNS Master Kettle’s lid seemed thinner than my previous SNS version, as well as the thickness of my previous Weber kettle’s lid. After assembly and using it, I was pretty sure it wasn’t as heavy or thick as the grey SNS model I had just sold. I was initially a little concerned about it. I never thought that SNS would skimp on quality! I’m no rocket surgeon and don’t know for sure if it’s thinner or not than their previous lids, but honestly, I don’t think it makes any difference. I just did a 2 hour pork loin cook, a reverse sear steak cook and tonight’s rotisserie cook, if it is thinner than the Weber’s lid….I really don’t think it would affect 90% of your cooks, if at all.

Your concerns about the spring loaded vents, don’t worry about it. Me and a few others here who own one have said it doesn’t affect shutting down your cook, it seals just fine. I’m happy so far with my Master Kettle and would recommend it to anyone else looking for a kettle.

[GolfGeezer]

Skatrdie0 Please see my posts #9 and #13 above about air leakage and the sweeps. I also had similar concerns that the sweeps did not seem to be more firmly seated to the bottom. One arm seemed bent upwards. I took the sweep off and did some slight bending, very slight, to get the arms to lay more snugly and more uniformly against the bottom before reseating it.

The arms are still looser than how the previous, or regular, SnS Kettle sweeps mount. However, at the end of my burn-in run, as posted above, I closed the sweeps and the top vent, and the kettle killed the burning coals just fine. So, no problem with the cool down.

I also added a couple of washers to the top vent, one above the spring and one below before the cotter pin, as fuzzydaddy did to have it more firmly held. It was too easy for that vent to move and open/close without actually touching it, so this helps a lot.

As for the lid, I did note that when the cart was even slightly tilted, my lid had a slight wobble. I have a mat under my SnS, and I noticed one leg was off the mat. When I moved the cart so that both the legs and wheels were on the mat, the wobble went away. I'm not saying that yours isn't out of round or something - just what I noticed with mine.

I hope this helps in your decision on what to do.

[Panhead John]

Hmm, my top vent works good, didn’t need to add a washer. It won’t move at all unless I move it myself, but it is just a little bit looser than my previous kettle. It closes off the vent just fine though.

[GolfGeezer]

Panhead John Maybe you got the special “Influencer Edition” with better hardware! 😇

[Skatrdie0]

Yeah the lid is definitely out of round. I have the grill on a pretty level concrete patio. I brought the lid inside and set it on my floor and it is out of round. Sns recommended I try to reshape it but if I'm unable to get it good then they are happy to send out a new lid if needed.

Yeah I thought about getting some washers or a higher compression spring to see if I can add more tension to the ash sweep

[Skatrdie0]

Skatrdie0 Please see my posts #9 and #13 above about air leakage and the sweeps. I also had similar concerns that the sweeps did not seem to be more firmly seated to the bottom. One arm seemed bent upwards. I took the sweep off and did some slight bending, very slight, to get the arms to lay more snugly and more uniformly against the bottom before reseating it.

The arms are still looser than how the previous, or regular, SnS Kettle sweeps mount. However, at the end of my burn-in run, as posted above, I closed the sweeps and the top vent, and the kettle killed the burning coals just fine. So, no problem with the cool down.

I also added a couple of washers to the top vent, one above the spring and one below before the cotter pin, as fuzzydaddy did to have it more firmly held. It was too easy for that vent to move and open/close without actually touching it, so this helps a lot.

As for the lid, I did note that when the cart was even slightly tilted, my lid had a slight wobble. I have a mat under my SnS, and I noticed one leg was off the mat. When I moved the cart so that both the legs and wheels were on the mat, the wobble went away. I'm not saying that yours isn't out of round or something - just what I noticed with mine.

I hope this helps in your decision on what to do.

Yeah the lid is definitely out of round. I have the grill on a pretty level concrete patio. I brought the lid inside and set it on my floor and it is out of round. Sns recommended I try to reshape it but if I'm unable to get it good then they are happy to send out a new lid if needed.
Yeah I thought about getting some washers or a higher compression spring to see if I can add more tension to the ash sweep but at the end of the day these modifications don't inspire confidence in the product (not saying we er doesn't need their own or that the sns is bad)

I'm just having a hard time because I also bought a new Weber performer (the one with folding shelf) for $199 out the door from Wayfair....(oops )😬

I used $150 gift card to get the sns kettle from Lowe's but I was thinking about going with the Weber and returning the sns then using my gift card for the slow n sear basket and maybe easy spin grate.

As a bonus in webers favor parts are more readily available without need for contacting the company and countless accessories that may not fit the sns kettle (pizza oven/ rotisserie combo for example)

I have some thinking to do before my wife kills me 😅

I appreciate your response

[Skatrdie0]

As a previous owner of 2 Weber kettles and then an owner of 3 SNS kettles over a period of time, I feel like I can chime in and hopefully answer your concerns. I recently bought the new SNS Master Kettle and have now done my initial burn in and 3 total cooks on it, my latest just today. I have owned SNS Grills original grey kettle and their current black version of kettle. I no longer have those and I now own the Master Kettle.

Your concern of a possibly warped lid….if so, please contact SNS via email with your problem. They have excellent customer service and I have no doubt they will make it right if there’s a manufacturing defect or a shipping problem which might have caused it.

I also noticed that my SNS Master Kettle’s lid seemed thinner than my previous SNS version, as well as the thickness of my previous Weber kettle’s lid. After assembly and using it, I was pretty sure it wasn’t as heavy or thick as the grey SNS model I had just sold. I was initially a little concerned about it. I never thought that SNS would skimp on quality! I’m no rocket surgeon and don’t know for sure if it’s thinner or not than their previous lids, but honestly, I don’t think it makes any difference. I just did a 2 hour pork loin cook, a reverse sear steak cook and tonight’s rotisserie cook, if it is thinner than the Weber’s lid….I really don’t think it would affect 90% of your cooks, if at all.

Your concerns about the spring loaded vents, don’t worry about it. Me and a few others here who own one have said it doesn’t affect shutting down your cook, it seals just fine. I’m happy so far with my Master Kettle and would recommend it to anyone else looking for a kettle.

Thank you I appreciate your response!

I just snagged a Weber performer (the one with folding shelf) for $199 out the door from Wayfair that I couldn't resist for the price...I have some thinking to do 😅