I SnS’d and Billows’d my Weber, and how it turned out.

[Doug Stuart]

​ ​ ​​ Hey folks! I had a busy weekend. Saturday morning I promptly voided the warranty on a brand new 22” Weber Master-Touch by step-drilling a 7/8” (largest the local hardware store had,) hole for a ThermoWorks Billows fan and two 1/2” holes for probe ports, one above and one below the grate level. Also three 3/16” holes for the screws to mount three swing-doors to cover the larger holes. Got the doors from SnS Grills, along with a SnS Deluxe Platinum Bundle and a few other choice goodies of theirs. (A quick side-note: if you purchase the port covers, the cute little wrench and t-handled Phillips screwdriver included are NOT useless extra junk. You need them. You’ll occasionally need to gently adjust the screw tension to keep the covers tight but not so tight that you break porcelain. The screwdriver is also the tool to tweak the mounting holes in the covers to just the right angle to make them fit tight to the outside of the kettle. Yes, the porcelain will chip in the thin metal surrounding the hole; just paint with high temp paint and go on.) I oriented the large bottom hole and its small cover hole horizontally because I wanted to orient the widest dimension of the Billows vertically, so I was placing the port cover screw to the side.
Then I masked the holes on the outside, painted from the inside, pulled the tape when it was dry to the touch, and cured it with a heat gun.
I got the Smoke X4 rather than the Signals from ThermoWorks because almost everything I do, working, hunting, mowing, bush hogging, happens within a mile of my house. I just didn’t need the network capability.
By Saturday afternoon everything was together and I took it for a test run. I lit the SnS with 12 briquettes, added a full starter of unlit briquettes, set the Smoke X4 to 225 and covered it up. I had a little trouble keeping it from overshooting at first, though it never exceeded 245. I had anticipated that the Billows might be a bit much for a kettle, so had purchased the intake damper for it just in case. I tried it just taped in place at first (it’s a permanent installation) and it is just what was needed. It has 15 stops, and I only opened it two to maintain 225, +/- 4 degrees, with the lid vent open perhaps 1/8. I watched it hold this for an hour and a half, then satisfied that I had it, set the Smoke X4 to 325 and opened the little Billows damper two more notches to four. In 20 minutes it was there, and I watched it hold 325 +/- 5 degrees for another hour. Then set 400 on the Smoke X and opened the damper another two. In under 15 minutes it was there and held it within three degrees for another hour. I was pretty sure I had it then, and I had plenty of charcoal and a 400 degree oven. Hmmm…. Well, there’s that chicken pot pie in the freezer. I popped that in for 35 minutes and that was the best darned cheap Banquet pie ever!
Before I went to bed I dry brined two little racks of beef back ribs and made up some Big Bad Beef Rub. I put them on Sunday at 225 for 7 1/2 hours until they were 200 or so internal, wrapped them in foil and put them in a faux cambro for an hour while I cleaned up and they were pure heaven! I’ve never experienced anything like them in any restaurant. The bark was to die for!
This is the first time I’ve ever smoked any ribs, and they’re the best I’ve ever had. (And I’ve had pork ribs from The Rendezvous 40 years ago when they were truly great! Those were always my ideal, never met by anyone else, even them the last time I was there, I’m afraid. Bigger isn’t always better.)
So, Guys and Gals, I’m hooked. This is going to be much worse than turkey hunting, except I’ll get to eat a lot more often. I’m only a week into my free 90-day trial membership here, but I might as well pay up and join for real. I hope to be here a long, long, time, if you’ll have me!

[Waiting for the Worms]

It is awesome to hear how well it all worked out for you. Looking forward to seeing and hearing a lot more!

[holehogg]

Extremely satisfying when a plan comes together as did yours. Looking forward to some great cooks Sir.

[Purc]

Welcome from Fort Worth. I too love my MT Kettle with the SnS. I have not modified my kettle yet as you have done but I keep looking at those mods and I keep thinking about it. Glad you have been successful. Thanks for sharing your experience.

[Henrik]

Sounds great! Automation really helps. But you know the deal: pics or it didn't happen

[Panhead John]

Yep, pics are a must around here.

[Doug Stuart]

Are there no pics? I see them posted from my side. Let me know please; I’m still trying to figure out this forum stuff.

[FireMan]

Keep it smokin! 👍
Yup, pay up. Billows’d, my kind of lingo.

[Doug Stuart]

It’s often useful and descriptive to verbify a noun! (No matter what my English teacher might have thought.) I think there’s a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon to that effect.

[jfmorris]

Welcome to the Pit from Alabama! Glad to have you here and I hope you stay around. Next time show us some pictures!

At one point I wanted a pellet smoker for control and convenience, but with a fan controller on my charcoal grills, and the ability to hold a temp for 12 hours or more without refueling, I kinda realized I had achieved the control and automation I was looking for already. I don't have the Bilows, but do love my Thermoworks Smoke for monitoring things. I have a separate fan controller called the PartyQ (no longer made).

[RonB]

Congrats! You are correct Sir. This is a rabbit hole that is very deep, but also very tasty...

[Panhead John]

Welcome to The Pit Doug! And good on you for making those improvements to the Weber. I don’t remember, but the first ribs I ever cooked were probably tough as leather and a burnt mess. Sounds like you’re gonna fit right in here. I’ve got a Master Touch also and wish mine had a few more features like that. I keep it at my Mom’s house to use when I visit.

Not sure if you were aware of this, plus it’s too late now, but the SNS Kettle grill that they make, already has those modifications you made built in. They come with a 1” smoke hole and a 1/2” probe port with sliding covers. For this and a few other features lacking on the Weber, I bought their kettle and love it. Thought I’d share this with you in case you know anyone that might be in need of a kettle themselves one day. It doesn’t have 2 probe ports like you did, but has one. Look forward to seeing pics of your future cooks.

1” Smoke Hole





1/2 “ Probe Port

[radiodome21]

Nice. I have a billows too and have used it on my WSM. I’m a fan 😜

[Murdy]

Well done. Plan on doing something similar one of these days. Welcome!

BTW, how's turkey season going? My first tag starts tomorrow.

[Doug Stuart]

Ours just ended yesterday. Very few gobbles heard this year, again, and again, no turkey. The season starts so much later than it used to that by then the mating is pretty much over. It used to start before serviceberries bloomed and ended when dogwoods just started. Often frosty on opening day. I understand why the G&F moved it, but it made the hunting harder.

[Murdy]

Doug Stuart -- My first tag is actually 4th season in Wisconsin, but as a non-resident, best I can do is usually 3rd and this year ended up with 4th. But the hunting is usually still pretty good in mid May, and it's been cold here up until recently and I'm hoping they are still going. What part of the country are you in?

[Doug Stuart]

Murdy, I’m in Johnson County, Arkansas, in the hills between the Arkansas River Valley to the south and the Ozarks to the north. My land bounds the Ozark National Forest 1/4 mile to the north. I can see the first major ridge of the mountains just a mile north of me.

[Doug Stuart]

Well ok. I was having trouble with pics getting them in the right order last night so gave up. Well, still can’t get the order I want, but here are some.
I considered the SnS kettle, but the orientation of their smoke hole cover plate would interfere with the way I wanted the Billows to be mounted. I also didn’t like the placement of their probe port on the right of the cooker. I wanted my probe wires farther away from the SnS insert, and everything on the left. With a fan, the side directly opposite the fan is the hot side so orientation of everything is set. I didn’t really need a table on the side that was always going to be the "back" side to me. That’s for adding charcoal and a table there seemed like it would just be in my way. Also why I didn’t add it as a mod. I put the money toward a cheap stainless-top grill cart with much more room and space for all the required stuff. Plenty of steel to attach magnets to, too!

[jfmorris]

Doug Stuart I am curious as to why you felt the need for a probe port below the grate? Are you planning on cooking down at the charcoal grate level a lot?

My findings on my Weber Performer are that it runs 50 to 75 degrees cooler than the main cooking grate on my Performer, and its just almost too cool to cook anything down there if running the main cooking grate at 225F. Now, if you are cooking hotter, say 325F on the main grate, that brings the lower grate up into a usual cooking temperature around 250 or so.

I have all the SNS equipment in my Performer - the SNS, the Drip 'N Griddle and the Easyspin grate. I had hoped at one point to be able to smoke 2 butts on the main grate and have a 3rd one on the lower grate, but the super low temps down there didn't allow for it to work out very well at low and slow temperatures.

[Panhead John]

I’ll tell ya what it means! It means you’re pretty damn squirrely as well as bein nuts!
[I know because…I am]

[fzxdoc]

I like your sass, MsTwiggy . Keep giving as good as you get, girl.

Panhead John , you may have met your match. Where is the squirrel emoji when I need it?

Kathryn

[Panhead John]

fzxdoc Yeah, that MsTwiggy is a keeper! She’s a great fit here in the Pit……👍

[Mark The Q-er]

I've tried the Billows on the SnS kettle and it doesn't work because the input where the bottom fan blades are located leak significantly even when they are fully closed - pouring smoke out of the bottom. If you look closely, you can see the gaps at the tip of the blades. The Weber blades are snug to the bowl and so the Weber (apparently, reading the OP) doesn't have this problem.

[jfmorris]

Yeah, that is a good bit of a gap between the ash sweeps and the surface of the kettle in your photo. I can attest that the Weber ash sweeps on my performer hug the contour of the kettle pretty tightly.

[Doug Stuart]

Actually, I could see a few gaps in my Weber so I took small doubled pieces of foil and pushed them up into the three slots from the bottom with all my fingertips and sort of mashed the foil up around the edges to hold it. They were easy to knock out with the ash sweeper at clean out. This was just for low and slow.