Weber Original Kettle Premium 2015 (formerly One Touch Gold) Vents & Other Measurements

[Huskee]

For any getting their hands on the 2015 model of 22" Weber Kettle, I thought I would show some detailed pics of the vent handle/vent settings. Different sized kettles may vary on these settings.




Second Hole

Second Hole Vent position ^ (barely a crack)





2 ^1/2 Hole (between 2nd & 3rd holes)


2 ^1/2 Vent position ^





3rd Hole:



3rd Hole vent position ^ (3/4 open)







4th Hole:



4th Hole Vent position ^ (nearly wide open)








4 ^1/2 Holes (top of arrow):


4 ^1/2 Holes Vent position ^ (wide open)




And lastly....



Far right, cleanout position:


Far right Vent Position ^ (still wide open)




NOTE: This is for the 2015 redesign, may not necessarily reflect prior One Touch Gold models.

[David Parrish]

Nice review Huskee. It looks to me like vent settings 2 to 2.5 are where all the real action should be happening.

[The Burn]

Interesting - I'll have to see how that matches up to my markings on my Performer or OTG.

Oh, and starting to notice the trend here. Nice gifts

[Huskee]

Please post what you find if you're able!

[_John_]

Not sure how you're gonna fit a log in there though.

[The Burn]

As our friend Strat50 woud say: "Easy peasy lemon squeezy" - the charcoal grate on a 22.5" is 19.5", plenty of room for a few "sticks"

[W.A.]

Is the grate smaller than the older gold version?

[Huskee]

I'd be happy to snap a couple pics of the grill and grate sizes....but tape measures when you have little kids tend to disappear don't they....still looking...

[Huskee]

Measured, see a couple posts down...

[The Burn]

Based on the descriptions on Weber's site of the total cooking area (363 in) and the replacement parts/accessories, I'm pretty sure they just dropped the "1/2" to sound cleaner. They did it on the 18 also, and the WSMs. Heck, some number cruncher probably told them they could save X millions of dollars a year in ink costs by not have to print the .5, .75 or 1/2 on advertising, packaging and manuals.

[mtford72]

Smart use of the holes, Huskee. I would have saved disfiguring my weber with a sharpie if I'd thought of that!

[bhleigh]

And I'm 2 hours late to reading this post before I did just that!

[Jon Solberg]

Nice kettle ya got there stick man!

[Huskee]

For any getting their hands on the 2015 model of 22" Weber Kettle, I thought I would show some detailed pics of the vent handle/vent settings. Different sized kettles may vary on these settings.

Also some other measurements just because...

Top & Bottom vent settings are in first post at top of this thread ^^

Grates:
Still 22.5" outer diameter, 22" inner diameter. The main cooking grate is 21.5", with a little back & forth play.

[Spinaker]

Nice new rig there Husk.

[Huskee]

Thanks! Maiden voyage is some pecan smoked turkey burgers tonight!

[David Parrish]

Very cool. I made chicken on mine last night, brats for lunch today, and soon burgers for dinner. Tomorrow is ribs.

[Huskee]

Thermometer measurements:

Accuracy test: Boiling water 210-212*F



I'd consider this as accurate as it needs to be. Just over the 210 mark, not quite halfway to the 220 mark.




Distance from dome thermometer to cooking grate:


Lid sitting on the edge of the counter, tape measure from counter surface to tip of thermometer= 4.5"




Cooking grate recess (distance from cooking grate to lid edge) = 2"




Total distance from grate to tip of lid thermometer sensor= 6.5".

Since most food is 1" or 2" (steak) or 4-6" (roast, whole chicken), this isn't too terribly bad of a distance IMO. At least this shows us 2 things- the thermometer is quite accurate for being bi-metal, and it's not terribly out of place for real world cooking.

However, here's the downside of Weber's thermometer placement on the newer models: When doing indirect, we would typically place the vents over top of the food, opposite the coals, to cause the heat/smoke to travel over the food. To do this, now the thermometer will be on the opposite side, or right over the coals, giving us a higher reading than where the food is. Always use your digital cooker thermometer!

Deduction- The older placement being 90* from the vent is better than this new 180* opposite placement IMO.

[W.A.]

Thank you. Enjoy the grill. I'm using mine right now. Hard to keep hot with 15 degree temps.

[cdd315]

This has to be a sign of a true pit master (or bbq geek) lol. Most people would just fire it up and cook on it and here I am soaking in all the info and thinking to myself .. I need to find a tape measure and find out if my 2014 OTG measures out the same as yours hahahaha!!!!

Nice kettle, have fun

[Huskee]

I'm not sure which I prefer, pitmaster or geek. It's all the same, just depends who you ask I guess. Those eating your food, you're a pitmaster. Those who couldn't care less, you're a geek!

[David Parrish]

This has to be a sign of a true pit master (or bbq geek) lol. Most people would just fire it up and cook on it and here I am soaking in all the info and thinking to myself .. I need to find a tape measure and find out if my 2014 OTG measures out the same as yours hahahaha!!!!

Keep us posted!