New (to me) Weber Kettle

[Brian_M]

When I started cooking, I started with big-box store gas grill. That led to smoking, using a big-box store propane smoker. That led me to this website and all the info here. That led to a PBC, which I love. The flavor and ease of use of the PBC is amazing.

Using the PBC for slow cooks over charcoal made me start thinking about grilling hot and fast with charcoal also. Add reading all the MCS posts here, and the debate between the PBC and the Weber kettle, and I began thinking about a kettle.

Thanks to craigslist I found one yesterday. $40, ten miles away. Weber 22 inch. Two years old (they said). Looks to be in good shape. Maybe a little dirty but solid.







Got it home, cleaned it up, got it ready.

Filled a chimney with charcoal, lit it and let the coals get white. Dumped them in, added half a chimney of unlit. Let that get white also.

Put the grate in, loaded with burgers, hot dogs, and some polish sausages.

Learned about hot spots too late...couple of burgers and dogs got over cooked (for my taste anyway). Most were okay. Not great yet, but okay.




So...another cooker to figure out...another tool in the toolbox (or maybe toy in the toy box).

Just want to say that there is no way I would have gotten this deep into grilling and smoking without all the information here. Thanks to all here who share their knowledge.

[djl]

Fantastic deal, and now I'm hungry. Enjoy

[smokenoob]

$40, score! happy grilling!

[FireMan]

Yup, 40 bucks was a good deal. Now you need to get a SnS. It’ll be more than what you paid for the grill, but will put you in another zone as far as your capabilities. PBC & Weber w/SnS, great combo.

[RonB]

+ 1

[Huskee]

+1 +1

[fzxdoc]

Ditto

[jfmorris]

Awesome score!

The key to cooking stuff like burgers and dogs on a kettle - unless you have add on Grillgrates (see the sidebar to the right) is that you need to master the 2 zone setup. A chimney and a half of charcoal and filling the entire grate is a big load of charcoal assuming it’s the large size Weber chimney, and you are talking a blazing hot grill and no "cool" zone to move meat to away from the flames. Read more on the Pit’s technique section about the 2 zone setup for charcoal grills.

[JeffJ]

What jfmorris said. For hotter and faster cooks you don't want more than a full chimney, believe it or not. Dump the coals once they stop producing white smoke, the coals at the top of the chimney will barely be lit - just a little white at the edges. With that, bank the coals to one side and cook indirect with a 'reverse-sear' at the end of the cook. The SnS makes this easier, particularly the reverse-sear, but it's not critical. I cook with this method in the Jumbo Joe year round.

[castironchris]

Do you still use a full chimney even on the Jumbo Joe?

[JeffJ]

I use a full compact chimney - holds about 40 KBB briquettes in the Jumbo. I'll usually lay down about 8 unlit briquettes and empty the small chimney on top. A regular-sized chimney is way too much fuel for a Jumbo. castironchris

[jfmorris]

Read this article....

https://amazingribs.com/more-technique-and-science/grill-and-smoker-setup-and-firing/how-control-temperature-indirect

[Brian_M]

Thanks for the link, jfmorris. I thought I was kinda familiar with two-zone setup and temp control before the first cook. Looking back, I found some errors. I'll fix them (and find more) next time.

[DWCowles]

Nice! BTW, I will take 1 burger, 1 hotdog and 2 sausages. Thank you.

[Huskee]

Dirty? Nah, that's a beaut! And that's a fantastic deal on a kettle in that good of shape. Congrats!

[jgreen]

Nice find. Give some of ideas already listed a try and you will be in love with the little unit.

[stickbit]

Too funny - I’m in exact same
sxenario but you are one step ahead of me - I just started looking around for deals on A Weber kettle
my poor gasser gonna be collecting dust soon

[xaugievike]

my poor genesis hasn't been used too much since my kettle and PBC showed up....yet I just cant part with it?

[Mudkat]

Great score! You're gonna like the way you cook!

[fzxdoc]

Congrats on such a great deal, Brian_M . That kettle looks to be in nearly perfect condition. Have fun inching your way up the kettle cooking learning curve. You've got a lot of fun ahead.

Kathryn

Oh, and P.S. If/when you do get an SnS for that kettle, get it directly from Adrenaline Barbecue Company

https://abcbarbecue.com/product/slow...mc=amazingribs

Don't go the Amazon route. Owner David Parrish says there are too many knockoffs there. You want the real deal.

[Brian_M]

Will do, fzxdoc, thanks. I'll have to decide whether to order GrillGrates or the SnS first. I'm thinking GrillGrates first and leave the low and slow cooking to the PBC for a while. Once I reach a comfort level with hot and fast, then on to the SnS.

[HawkerXP]

Very nice. You now have all you need to delicious food! hahahahahahahahahahhaaha!

[Troutman]

Outstanding, the gauge alone cost about half what you paid, nice find !!! I saw a performer on Craigslist for $80 about 2 weeks ago and called immediately, unfortunately he sold it one call ahead of me. I even offer him $100 but he refused, thing was brand new on top of it. Guy basically gave it away.