Jumbo Joe Upgrades

[binarypaladin]

I've finally got my 18.5" Jumbo Joe and my SNS charcoal basket. I'm pretty happy with this little guy. In fact—and it might just be the novelty—but the temp control is so easy, it might be my favorite cooker! I'm gonna drag it along with me to my in-law's for Thanksgiving to add a bit of my own touch to dinner.

I'd like to get a reusable drip and water pan—especially a drip pan. I know you can use the Weber foil units, but I do my best to avoid disposables. In most cases cleanup isn't that bad. I've come to really love the the Drip'n Griddle pan in my 22" but, alas, there isn't one for the small kettle.

Is there a similar product for the Joe? If not, any specific recommendations on a stainless steel drip pan or something that would work? (I'm considering seeing if I can use a friend's plasma cutter to make something, lol.)

Also, the stock grate is pretty weak sauce. In fact, the top grate from my Smokey Mountain is slightly heavier and I've been using it instead. I'd like to get a quality stainless grate with hinges though. (The lack of hinges isn't too bad, except when I want to add wood at the start of a cook when adding the meat.) Any recommendations? I ordered this one, but have to return it because it's like 1/4" too large. Looks like the 18.5" kamado stuff is just slightly too big.

[Huskee]

I absolutely love mine w/ the SnS basket. Like you say, temp control is super easy. But I just use foil for the drips, I do that on all my kettles. I prefer the toss-it method myself. I bought a hinged 18" grate, not stainless steel but it is nice and does the job mighty fine, and while I haven't tried it I suppose it would work in the PBC too if you want to hang ribs plus grate something.

[Attjack]

I made a nice drip pan for my 26 from a pizza pan.

[Attjack]

Craigar I used this 22" pizza pan. Perfect fit. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Craigar]

Boom!!! I"m all over it! Thank you Attjack!

[LA Pork Butt]

That’s a great idea!

[Attjack]

I also made an enclosed ash catch from a stainless steel bowl for my Jumbo Joe.

[Craigar]

Attjack You need to change your handle to Weber McGyver!

[EdF]

We love this one so much that we bought a second one. Very, very easy to clean - if a bit expensive. But they last forever. https://www.paellapans.com/Stainless-Steel-s/32.htm . The 14" is perfect for the 18" BGE.

[binarypaladin]

Huskee Yeah, that might be what I ultimately go with in terms of grates. I've been using foil for now but cleaning the Drip'N Griddle pan is probably easier than folding foil! (And like I said, I just hate disposables where I can avoid them.)

I made a nice drip pan for my 26 from a pizza pan.

This is brilliant! What did you use to cut it?

Funny you show a 26" because I might score one this week. Watching one on a local auction. Do I need it? Not really, but if I can get it for under $100, why not?

I also made an enclosed ash catch from a stainless steel bowl for my Jumbo Joe

Awesome. Did you just cut a hole in the side and then... put a hole in the bottom to screw it in?

Also, what did you use for the handles? I've added something similar to my 22", and after a few cooks they're more important on the Joe for sure.

Really love the mods man. I really want to trick this cooker out.

EdF Are you using that as a griddle in this situation? Not sure it would work as a drip pan with an SNS. (Gotta have a sort of half moon.)

[EdF]

OK, I'm not that familiar with the SNS, so I missed that detail. I generally use it as a drip pan (and for other things), but with the SNS it looks like you'd have to use it like a roasting pan.

[binarypaladin]

Yep. For 22" kettles there's a specific, perfect fit accessory, but not so for the smaller ones. Attjack's pizza pan will probably do it. I just have to figure out how to best to cut it.

[Attjack]

binarypaladin I just cut it with a jigsaw. Then I bent the cut edge up to create a lip. I use foil on the drip pan to make clean up easy.




Fo the ash catcher I just use the legs to hold it in place. They flex and nothing else is required to keep in place. To remove I just grab a tab on the ash catcher with one hand, push the leg assembly down, and remove the ash catcher.

[binarypaladin]

Attjack Sweet mods. I think the hardest part is probably finding the right bowl for the Joe's ash catcher.

I have a buddy with a plasma cutter, and if I can't arrange using that... jigsaw time!

Still debating on whether to drill a hole to put my probes through. Using the damper holes on the Joe—and maybe it's the size and the fact that it has a place to rest the lid—isn't a hassle like it is on my bigger kettle.

As an aside, since Huskee mentioned the standard Weber hinged grate, with the handles being the same size, you can flip the original grate and have, more or less, a hover grate. I'll have to play with it and see what the temp differences are but being able to improve the capacity on the go should be pretty fun.

Maximizing the space is probably what I am enjoying the most. I wonder if I could fabricate an insert for the SNS. The charcoal basket is a great size for searing on the 18", but for smoking you are basically cut to half. With as efficient as I've found the Jumbo Joe to be, it'd be handy to cut the space used by the SNS. Having something to act as a heat wall and restrict the charcoal to more like 1/4 or 1/3 of the total space would be nice, especially for hot and fast cooks.

[binarypaladin]

Incidentally, just cooked my first chicken using the two grate method for more space. I'm certainly not the first, but I can confirm it works great for chicken. Also, given that I can cook a chicken with ~25 briquettes, I think it's definitely time to build some kind addition to the SNS basket to bank the coals off to one side and gimme 20-30% more grill space.

[Attjack]

Attjack Sweet mods. I think the hardest part is probably finding the right bowl for the Joe's ash catcher.

I have a buddy with a plasma cutter, and if I can't arrange using that... jigsaw time!



I've used an angle grinder too.

I go to the second hand store to look for bowls. When I bought that one I thought it was going to make a Poortex for the JJ. Then I realized it would make a great ash catcher.

Still debating on whether to drill a hole to put my probes through. Using the damper holes on the Joe—and maybe it's the size and the fact that it has a place to rest the lid—isn't a hassle like it is on my bigger kettle.


You may as well.



As an aside, since Huskee mentioned the standard Weber hinged grate, with the handles being the same size, you can flip the original grate and have, more or less, a hover grate. I'll have to play with it and see what the temp differences are but being able to improve the capacity on the go should be pretty fun.

Maximizing the space is probably what I am enjoying the most. I wonder if I could fabricate an insert for the SNS. The charcoal basket is a great size for searing on the 18", but for smoking you are basically cut to half. With as efficient as I've found the Jumbo Joe to be, it'd be handy to cut the space used by the SNS. Having something to act as a heat wall and restrict the charcoal to more like 1/4 or 1/3 of the total space would be nice, especially for hot and fast cooks.

That's why I haven't bought Slow n Sear charcoal basket for the Jumbo Joe. It takes up a little too much room. Meanwhile, one of the Weber Charcoal baskets that came with my 26 is a little too small. I may try to use that scrap from the drip pan I cut for the 26 to create a charcoal barrier for the Jumbo Joe.

Let us know what you do and be sure to take some pics!

[binarypaladin]

Incidentally, cooking a chicken tonight with a pair of grates like a hover grill setup pretty much solidified drilling a probe hole. I wonder if Thermoworks makes a more low profile meat probe. The stock version gets pretty unwieldy in there.

[binarypaladin]

Attjack No! Not another idea!

I know dial thermometers have kind of a bad rap, but when camping especially I like to minimize electronics, which includes most of my digital probes. (And I haven't found them to be terribly inaccurate so much as the placement isn't great.) I was thinking about adding one to the Joe but felt like with the lid and space, it would be an issue. Turns out, you don't have to put it in the lid.

Is there a higher quality one out there?

I'll post pictures of my modes. With access to said plasma cutter, I might be able to make something pretty cool to reduce the charcoal space in the SNS basket too. This looks to be a good holiday project.

Thanks again for the tips. It's been super helpful.

[Attjack]

I think analog makes sense for the highly portable Jumbo Joe. I also wanted to get the temperature at grate level, not the dome temp. So that was my solution, come in from the bottom to get to grate level and not interfere with the food. However, that's just a mockup I haven't chosen the thermometer I'm going to install yet.

[binarypaladin]

Beautiful solution. I'm still waffling on whether to do it, but as per the conversation below, an el-cheapo unit should do fine. I'm thinking if I drill a hole for my normal probes, I can probably use it for both my normal digital thermometers and then just screw in the analog if I wanna take it camping.

[Mr. Bones]

Thermo-wise, yall might start here...then surf, find best deals...

[Attjack]

Those are pretty spendy though, Mr. Bones .


Amazon has a lot of choices in the $10-15 range.

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[Attjack]

Yeah, I was looking for a smaller one and that's one reason I haven't ordered one yet.

[JGo37]

I use DozyAnts too. They all hit ~ 210 in boiling water - I was surprised.

[binarypaladin]

Part of me always wants to go expensive for most good equipment, but I use a Thermoworks Smoke most of the time and it's an excellent thermometer. For camp cooks... if it's accurate within 10ºF, it's probably all good.