I found a great deal on a classic stainless steel Weber performer and it immediately occurred to me that I needed to consider a Santa Maria attachment given the stability of the performer. I bought the Santa Maria from https://www.titangreatoutdoors.com on sale for $95 with free shipping which I think is a hell of a deal. The Performer ran me $80 so for a total of $175 I think I did pretty well. I'll be breaking it in this week with tri-tip, potatoes, asparagus, and maybe some garlic bread.
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Duuuude Attjack I didn't even know this existed!! DO you like it, and do you think it would be stable enough on a regular rolling tripod base? Thanks buddy, this is motivational!!-
PaynTrain My first impression is very good. The build quality seems great. It is not that heavy so I'm sure it would be fine on a tripod. I have not used it yet so we'll see if any issues arise after I start putting it through its paces. I'll update this thread as I do.
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I will be watching for updates. I have been thinking about getting one of those for a while now. I also got a used Performer this spring. Albeit not as great a price as you got. 😩
This would be a fun upgrade perhaps.Comment
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Wow - what a great set-up.Comment
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Love it!!! Get ready for splits of wood in that grill. If you are going to go Santa Maria style you have to have the nice flame and photos. Phots are a must.Last edited by tbob4; December 2, 2020, 01:19 PM.Comment
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It seems kinda lonely out there off the deck...are you going to make room for it with the others?
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No, I'm actually planning an outdoor kitchen expansion. To the right of the existing kitchen, I want to build a retaining wall and install pavers and another smaller matching roof. Then the Primo will live there along with the pizza oven, the Performer, the 26.75", and my little webers. Once I can get all that accomplished I have renovation plans for the existing kitchen.
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I'm not liking you right now Attjack
Since your last post I have one in my cart. Waiting for your review before I pull the trigger.
Funny I also picked up a used performer 2 years ago and was thinking of reselling it as I hardly use it.
That is until now maybe.
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Sweet rig ya got there, Brother!!!!
Lookin forward to yer updates...
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So, brother Attjack , you know you're a trouble maker, right? Some months back you alerted the crowd about another device similar to this, albeit at a slightly higher price point. It's the one made by Onlyfire, offered on Amazon. Troutman noted that he was happy to see it had a removeable grate as the Gabby's unit he was familiar with was a bit of a pain to clean with the grate not able to be removed. Looks like the Titan is the same?
Anyway, as I wrote up elsewhere here, I bought the Onlyfire and have used it a few times, it works pretty well. One thing I notice is that the Titan you have has a wheel stop mechanism similar to the "big boys" that might give more range of hold positions that the Onlyfire lacks as it's pin system only stops each rotation. Not bad, just somewhat limiting in a way. The other difference of note is the Onlyfire comes with a rotisserie accessory, though the supplied drive motor is battery operated. Fortunately the mounting bracket is a "standard" (for as much as that is a thing with foreign produced goods), and the a/c motor I already owned fits and functions just fine. Also, I found at the end of the cook I can raise the grate, set the lid on the mounting rim, and while it's not a tight seal it's good enough to put out the fire and save some fuel. BTW, the Onlyfire price on Amazon has gone down now to $160-170 range.
I think you'll enjoy the cooks. It's a good tool for sear, then slow cook to temp, or vice versa. I'll post up a pic or two of some cooks I've done on the kettle, and a bonus pic of adapting the unit to the Bronco Pro barrel cooker.
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I'm glad you pointed out the removable grate thing in the earlier post, it was an important point for me. My Weber kettle grates fit perfectly, as well as a couple aftermarket ones I have, including the Hunsaker griddle piece. The elevation feature is a way to regulate griddle temp to a degree (I'll take that pun
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Sweet setup Attjack. Can't believe you got that Performer for $80, nice catch !! I've seen Titan around, they do a lot of industrial and farm implement stuff so they are a known (and American by the way) company. Like I mentioned in another post, I like my Gabby's Grill for small to medium cooks but still want to upgrade to a true Santa Maria style rig soon. Love doing live fire cooking !!
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Thanks, I love it. The attachment really completes the Performer for me. I definitely sniffed out a great deal. I want to look into my options for dealing with some of the rust it has in a few spots though. Otherwise, it's in great condition for a 30-year-old grill.
Titan also makes exercise equipment and ramps as well. They seem like a great company. https://www.titan.fitness/
Nice cook you had there!
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@Uncle Bob
I am a champion of MCS and I have no qualms about instigating, facilitating, or planting its seeds in my forum brothers and sisters. If that makes me a trouble-maker then I wear that moniker as a badge of honor.
In order to remove the grate, you can just unhook the cables and lift it off.
The cheap grate that came with my Performer almost fits on top of the Titan grate. If I wanted, I’ll bet I could fairly easily modify it to accept a stainless grate. But I don’t know if that will be something I deem worthwhile or not.
The wheel stop is good but it’s not spring-loaded or anything so you have to manually engage it which isn’t difficult. You can micro-adjust the height which is great and it works easily and intuitively. I think it’s safe to say that it’s better than the pin system you described on the OnlyFire product.
I’m not sure if I will pursue a rotisserie or not. Right now, I like using the rotisserie on my gas grill with the infrared burner. Though I sometimes wonder how different the results would be over charcoal. But then would I want to get the attachment that will be released soon for the Primo? It seems like closing the lid is a valuable feature when cooking a bird or a thick cut of meat on a spit. If I do decide to add rotisserie to the Titan it would have to be a custom solution. Or I could buy the Gabby Grills kit. But because I have rotisseries for other grills, I would probably just fabricate the brackets that come in the kit myself and use the spit, forks, and motors I already have.
I was hopeful after you mentioned it but I cannot replace the lid with the unit attached. I can easily lift the whole thing off wearing welding gloves though if I wanted to snuff out the fire with the lid.
What is the vortex-like ring you are using? That looks like it would come in handy to corral the coals and raise them up for searing.Last edited by Attjack; December 3, 2020, 09:48 PM.Comment
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Attjack, I have a couple vortex cones, 10 & 13" on the wide end/bottom, they are stainless "knockoffs". The "normal" narrow end is correspondingly smaller, and used that end up are a typical vortex that folks use for wings and such. Inverted as shown, you're correct, they are a good containment vessel for concentrating the fuel/heat. As for height to the cooking grate I've also used some pieces of angled strap pieces and a chunk of expanded metal to raise the vortex to desired height.
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The Gabby’s Grill has the same cable and clamp arrangement. I’ve taken it apart to clean the grate but it’s a pain in the butt. I think what I’m gonna do with mine is to get a quick release set of carabiners. That may be the simplest solution!!Comment
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First off, this is terrible lighting. But my first cook was a lot of fun. I started a chimney of lump with the gas assist and realized this will always be how I'll start a chimney now regardless of what grill I'm using. What a convenient feature. Then I used some cherry spits to build up the coals base.
I tossed some potatoes wrapped in foil into the coals. Then I seared the tri-tip and adjusted the height. As the cook progressed I added splits to the sides of the fie bowl. It was cold out and I went through more wood than I might have thought. When the tri-tip was nearly done I added some asparagus and tossed some garlic bread on.
I had fires on both sides of the yard and dinner was delicious. The Santa Maria is a lot of fun and I learned some things about the process. The attachment itself performed flawlessly and I actually liked the grate more than expected. I can't wait for the next cook.
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Great write-up - really enjoying the posts as you start to use this and show the various attributes. Is helpful for those looking at these types of add-ons. Seems like your model has some positives compared to the others that make it a bit easier to clean and provide some adjustability in height.
And nice initial cook! A tri-tip is just perfect for that first cook!Comment
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