Wait...you passed on a chance to get a Weber Performer Deluxe for $200? Are you nuts???
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Here's my recommendation:
Buy the Weber kettle that sells for ~ $150. Add a Slow N Sear to that and also add a leave in thermometer with at least two probes, (one for the meat, and one for pit temps). This setup will be close to your budget depending on which thermometer you purchase. A bonus of this setup is that you will not have to tend it constantly once you get comfortable using it.
You will be able to cook low and slow or hot and fast with confidence and great success. It's possible to smoke up to 4 or 5 racks of ribs, or 2 whole chickens, or 2 butts or chuck roasts at a time.
There is a learning curve, but there is a ton of help here. Cook something that your wife likes first. If you have any questions, ask - there are a bunch of very smart people here.
Once she starts tasting your great cooks, she will start asking you to cook more, and when you say you need another accessory, she will more likely to say go ahead.
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Your wife is a tough cookie. My advice - take her Grill shopping and avoid all the returns. Clearly it doesn’t matter what you like or think. Like my wife she makes no decisions, but keeps vetoing until I get it right.Comment
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I'm lucky - never had a veto. If anything, she buys the good stuff - like the meat order she just made from D'Agostinos. "Ed, I bought all this stuff they had on special ...". I sez, yeah I looked at that and figured discretion was the better part of valor. She sez, but I didn't buy any Berkshire pork, and maybe we ought to!
Do I have a good life/wife, or what?
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Just get a Weber Kettle 22, I've been able to do anything I want with it so far. I can grill steaks/burgers/chops, but I've also done a ton of low n slow on it, with amazing results. I'm starting to want a bit more space, but it was an amazing first grill.Comment
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http://FlipprDolphin - I don't have a WSM, so I can't comment on what it will or won't do, except for capacity. It can't cook as much as the 22" kettle. ABCBBQ does make a SnS for the 18" kettle, so that would probably work: https://abcbarbecue.com/product/slow...xoC2fkQAvD_BwE
The SnS is a game changer. It allows you to do more things and do them better.Last edited by RonB; October 17, 2018, 01:59 PM.Comment
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RonB I don't think the 18" charcoal basket from Adrenaline BBQ is suitable for use in the WSM 18. It's made to fit the shape of the 18" kettles, and sit on the kettle charcoal grate. The 18" kettle charcoal grate is 13.5" in diameter. The WSM is a different beast, and has a different curve down there at the bottom, and uses 15.25" charcoal grate.
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FlipprDolphin I suggest you read this review of the Camp Chef "Slide and Grill" models:
https://amazingribs.com/smoker/camp-...t-grill-review
Basically, as I mentioned, it is very much underwhelming as far as being able to sear or direct grill at high heat. It's a GREAT pellet smoker though, with good capacity. You told you you already have a good smoker (the WSM), so not sure you were after yet another smoker.
My take is that you screwed up in returning the Weber Performer Deluxe. If you wanted a "charcoal grill" (your words of what you were looking for), you had found a great deal on one of the best ones out there. Sure - you can get a kettle for $149, but it doesn't have the charcoal storage bin, doesn't have the propane assist that is one of the best features to me, for lighting your charcoal, and doesn't have the work table and storage shelf. The Performer Deluxe as I said before is the one grill I would keep above all others, and I have a Weber Genesis and a decent size offset (748 sq inches). I grill more on my Performer than I do the Genesis, and I smoke more with the Performer than I do the offset. And even when using the other two, I use the Performer side table for prep work and putting pans and trays and food.
You just indicated you have a WSM 18. That's a great charcoal smoker. Not so much a grill. You can take out a section, and run it with the grate dropped closer to the charcoal, but it will not have the same distance of grate to charcoal as the Weber kettle, and will certainly have much lower cooking capacity. Part of the secret to use of any charcoal grill is mastering the two zone setup (https://amazingribs.com/more-techniq...ature-indirect). Even when DIRECT GRILLING something like burgers, you will often need a cooler zone to move meat into to avoid burning things. An 18" grate just does not hold that much compared to a 22". Plus, when using the WSM as a grill, it was not really meant to produce high heat for searing, and the design of the charcoal ring and venting system is different than on a kettle.
The only time I do not do a two zone setup for direct grilling on my charcoal grills is when I use Grillgrates - I have a full set for my Performer and my Genesis, and a couple of surface panels I can use on the big offset if using it as a grill (it has a charcoal tray that slides into the main compartment under the cooking grate). With those, I can do direct cooking with a single zone and not worry about flame ups.
If I were you, if you want a pellet SMOKER, by all means keep the Camp Chef. It's great for smoking, but likely won't be as smokey as you are used to with the WSM. If you don't want a 2nd smoker, return it and keep using the WSM for smoking. I think you will still need a GRILL (gas or charcoal) for searing and for doing things like burgers and hot dogs, wings, anything you want to direct grill or sear at high heat. The WSM 18 is more of a temporary solution to grilling, and not the best solution at all, as Weber never designed it to grill, but to smoke. I think a 18" Jumbo Joe for $49 bucks would be a better 18" grill than the WSM.
The question for you to decide for your self is this: Who is using the grill or smoker (any of them) - you or your wife. If she does all the grilling then by all means involve her in the process. Bring her here. Read reviews together. And I understand that marital finances and purchases are a joint thing - I've been married for 28 years! That all said, if you are the one who cooks outdoors, then take some control of the grill selection process. My wife doesn't tell me which grill to use when I cook things, but does tell me things like "I didn't like those smoked wings - I liked it better when you grilled them last time", which lets me know how she likes her food cooked. So now I don't put wood smoke on wings, and just let charcoal (or gas) do its magic. She has never told me that pulled pork, ribs or brisket were too smokey though. She tells me all the time that if I need/want a new grill or smoker, to get it, as she knows I cook enough to justify it. She could care less if that next cooker is pellet, gas or charcoal powered as long as it produces tasty food!Last edited by jfmorris; October 17, 2018, 11:06 AM.Comment
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Funny, my wife couldn't wait for me to set up our gas-passer and subsequent smoker. She knew it would be good food and less cooking for her.Comment
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FlipprDolphin, like they said. I am on my second wsm, and it is a great smoker, but it is not made for grilling. I have always had weber kettles, and they are great grills, but the addition of the smoke n sear makes it into a smoker as well as a grill. If you want to use charcoal, and you can get the performer back, do it, or just get a 22" kettle and add a sns. If you want to set it and forget it, get a pellet grill. Between either of those and the wsm, you will be set until the dread MCS (more cooker syndrome) sets in. Oh yeah, and a remote temp monitor system similar to the Maverick ET series and a thermapen for instant read.
I have a few smokers and grills now, and while at first my wife thought more than one was overkill, now she asks which one I am cooking on
. Just my 2 cents.
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You should have kept the Performer and sold it for $ 300.00. Repeat. Keep the 3rd Performer.
Sometimes I'm just sitting in my garage...
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No one buys stuff around here. I have my mint 18 inch WSM for $150 for sale with a cover and no bites -
FlipprDolphin you would be called all day - with low ballers - in STL. But someone would offer $ 125 the first day, and be serious. I might... heck I bought this and below off CL... -
i will probably list it in Denver and see what happens; my mom is visiting for halloween and she can bring it back with her
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No one has said ask for forgiveness instead of permission?Comment
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FlipprDolphin why do you have a WSM 18 and are getting rid of it? Seems to me your ideal combo would be that for smoking, and a kettle for grilling. Nothing that combo couldn't handle. Is the WSM another grill/smoker you bought and have not fired up?
Seems in your first post you said you have a busy schedule or young kids. That would actually be something to swing me to saying that the convenience of a pellet smoker like that Camp Chef would be great. You set the temperature, and as long as the hopper is full of wood pellets, walk away knowing its going to do its thing, and maintain 225 or whatever you set. You can smoke ribs/pulled pork/brisket/whatever while doing something else. You can also do that with the WSM though, but it has more setup time, and you need to be involved the first hour of the cook (15 minutes getting the charcoal going, and 30 minutes or so getting the smoker temp stabilized). Once you KNOW your cooker, even a charcoal one, you know where to set the vents. I smoke overnight on my Performer Deluxe using a Slow 'N Sear and with the right charcoal, can go 10-12 hours before I need to refuel it. And yes - some things you will cook can take up to 18 hours at 225 - a large brisket or pork shoulder (Boston butt) for example.
Either way, you need a way to direct grill, and a way to indirect smoke. You just have to decide what you want.
The Performer Premium you mentioned an hour away differs from the Deluxe in not having the propane ignition. So you have to use starter cubes, crumpled up newspaper or something like that to get your chimney going. The Deluxe can use those 1 pound propane bottles that camp stoves and lanterns use, to light the charcoal, and can also use a 20 pound propane tank if you have an adapter hose. I set my charcoal chimney on the grate in the Performer and light it by pushing a button even if I use my offset, as it is just the easiest way going. I think I've been on the same propane tank all year too, and I cook as much as 2 to 3 times a week.Comment
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JGo37 a turkey fryer works fine. I have two outdoor burners, but they are usually stored in a shed with upside down pots stacked on top of them, covered in a tarp. I don't like rusty cast iron burners, haha. The Performer is out with the other grills, so its easy to just put the chimney on its charcoal grate and push the button... -
jfmorris the last Performer I bought came with baskets I hadn't seen before. I was shocked when I looked them up that they run ~ $ 45. a pair. You can see one in the pic above. I use the baskets I have in everything, not just the kettles. I don't think I've ever just filled a kettle with coals. If nothing else I use a vortex.
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