Mudkat....Same here for me, as it stands now, I think I'm already buying against next years.
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Burning a load of charcoal. Made a 3 wide, 1 deep, 3' snake. About 5 hrs in now, and roughly 1/3 of it to go. No clue on the vents or how it's running, temp-wise, but I'll figure it out.
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Mission accomplished!Comment
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The Martians have landed! That is a thing of beauty. How many coats of wax have you got on her now?
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Now that I've have this thing a couple of months and used it a few times, I realize how different it is than its 22" cousin. Some observations:
1. That top vent, just forget everthing you thought you already knew about how to set it. The holes are so large on this one, and it's right smack in the middle of the dome, setting it wide open decreases the temperature by letting too much hot air out. Took me forever to get it up to temp the first time until I realized this. About halfway open is the equivalent to fully open on the regular kettle.
2. The lid holder is really handy for getting under the hood. But beware of using this on long cooks. Tilting the lid 90 degrees lets all the heat out and you have to climb a steep hill to get it all back. There is a lot of air to heat up, so conserve it by lifting the entire lid and setting it down on a hard flat surface (concrete driveway) and the temp returns very quickly.
3. This thing is very easy to cook on once you learn temperature control. Duh, right? The hot and cool spots on this aren't very drastic. I still haven't put multiple ambient probes around to put exact numbers on it, but the food cooks pretty evenly the way I have it set up. I'll eventually get a SnS RKE, but a row of fire bricks held in place with clay bricks does the job for now.
4. I'm very glad I took advantage of those 1/2 price KBB sales this year. I have been getting 1 hr of cook time per pound of KBB, on average, for long cooks. Cooler outside temperatures now, though, so I'm sure that is on the low side of normal.
5. An extra Guru adapter is handy. My PartyQ works just as well for this as it does for the 22" kettle, and it makes life so much easier. I really wanted this grill for large capacity on overnight cooks without babysitting it, and it does that. The last time I used it with the PartyQ, I got a good trouble-free 8 hrs out of the initial load of charcoal.
6. I love the large size of the flip up sections of the cooking grate. I pattern the size of my charcoal pile after the size of the flip up section and it works perfectly for adding coals when the time comes.Comment
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Great information. Thanks for sharing.Comment
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That is an awesome grill! Congrats!
I saw these in use at the Weber Grill restaurant in Chicago several years ago and have been dreaming about it since.
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It's been awhile since I've been on the site, just read this. I have the ranch kettle - have owned it for over five years now. bought the SnS (regular size) when they first came out. also bought the griddle when it came out. I actually like the smaller size SnS as it fits exactly the size of the flip-up grate. I have used the ranch kettle for everything from burgers, brats, steaks, chicken, turkeys, ribs, briskets, etc. I have fed from 150+ for a brat fest at work to 50 + for my daughter's graduation parties with smoked ribs and briskets to just the wife and I for some steaks. Positive: Definitely the size makes it easier to feed many!!! Negative: cleaning it out! Unlike the smaller webers, you have to get a shovel to clean up after a few grillings
What I really like is that I have a hot side and a cooler side and can put 1/2 dozen 14-oz. NY strips on it to get to temp before reverse searing them. It's portable if you have a pickup I bring it camping and we do a corn roast with it. I've had a lot of people compliment me on the size of the grill..... Always the size ..... hmmmm
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