Weber Summit Charcoal vs. Primo

[dillywe]

Thanks for all of the thoughts and pics!

I truly was 50/50 between the two, you should see my pros/cons list (I've never once been accused of analysis paralysis ), but ultimately what swayed me is that a handful of times a year, I take my PBC or 22" Weber on the road, so I like the idea of having the ability to travel with the WSGC, so I went with that model (no cart). And like Potkettleblack said, either one is a hell of a cooker and I'm excited to take the rig for a spin; hopefully it arrives in time for the Super Bowl!

I've also started the multi-year ground war on getting a KK one day

[CaptainMike]

I have it saved as a word doc so I can't C & P fzxdoc 's lighting instructions, but hopefully she will share them with you. It is a foolproof method. You're going to really enjoy your new grill.

[Potkettleblack]

I have a KK plan for retirement. And then see if any of my nieces or nephew will want it in the will.

[fzxdoc]

Congrats, dillywe on your incoming WSCG! You're going to love cooking on it.

Alluded to by CaptainMike in his comment, here's the setup/lighting method I use with my WSCGC. It evolved after several cooks and input from various other WSCG users here. It works well for me.



My Current Kamado Setup Method for Smoking

1. Foil the Ash Bucket and the Diffuser Plate. Wipe the grate down with a Lysol or Clorox wipe and then wipe down again a paper towel saturated with plain water. Set out two disposable aluminum pans for drip pans to be set on the diffuser plate.

2. Use 2.5 scoops for short cooks like ribs or chicken and 4 scoops for long cooks like pork butt, chuck or brisket. Four scoops will give you about 10-12 hours of decent temps (250° or so). Spread them pretty evenly on the charcoal grate. Top with 5-6 chunks of wood (4 to 6 oz each). Don't put a wood chunk directly over the igniter. 5 to 6 chunks will give you about 5 hours of beautiful blue smoke. For short cooks, use 1-2 chunks of wood.

3. Start the ignition going. Let it run for exactly 5 minutes with the lid open and bottom vent fully open.

4. After the 5 minute ignition, turn off the gas igniter. Add the diffuser plate, two aluminum drip pans and the food grate. Attach the ambient probes to the grate. Close the lid, flip down the top vent but leave the holes fully open (bottom vent still fully open) and watch the temperature climb.

5. When you're about 70 degrees from your goal temperature, close the bottom vent to the smoke setting (or just below if your WSCGC runs hot) and close the top vent to 1/2 or less, again, depending on your Weber. I like to have the lower vent just to the right of the smoke setting mark and the top vent at 1/3 to ride out the cook.

6. Before adding meat, oil the grate with an oil-saturated paper towel to clean it off and give it some lubrication.

There's a ton of white smoke until the Weber gets around 225-250, then it settles out to white wispy/blue smoke for several hours. If the smoke is pure white (no grey), I'll put the cold meat on at 180°F grate level temp so it can get a jump on the smoke flavor. I feel (but don't know for sure) that adding that cold mass helps to keep the temperatures from running away. I've done it both ways--adding the meat early at 180°F and adding it at 225°F, and honestly, if I keep an eye on the temp, I've yet to have a runaway smoker.

Being a PBC type of person, I'm comfortable with smoking in the 270ish range (270 to 300 works well for my tastes, but that's a bit hot for some folks). A 4 scoop load of coals lasts about 8-9 hours at that setting. To get this, I set the lower vent to just above (to the right of) the smoker setting and the upper vent to 1/3 open.

For cooking below 250, I close the lower vent to just below the smoker setting (to the left of it) and set the upper vent to 1/4 open. At 250 or less, I can get about 10-12 hours of smoke out of a single 4-scoop load of coals.


Kathryn

Oh, and P.S. I didn't get much of a smoke ring on my first few kamado cooks. I know, I know--it's only window dressing, but I still want it! When I started adding more wood (5-7 chunks as opposed to 3-4 for longer cooks) I got the pretty smoke ring. Yay.

[dillywe]

This is awesome, thanks for sharing!

Gotta have a beautiful smoke ring, particularly since my family and friends are used to seeing that beautiful smoke ring on meat coming off my PBC! Vanity is real 😂

[fzxdoc]

Yup, dillywe , we PBC folks are spoiled by all that good food and those pretty smoke rings. That said, I love smoking on my WSCGC too. I named him Mr. Fancypants.

Kathryn

[Smoking like a pro]

I'm a little late to the party but, I cannot speak highly enough of my Primo XL. I've owned all kinds of grills and smokers. I even converted my MES to a cold smoker, but I got rid of them all when I parked the Primo on the deck. I went with the Oval XL 400 for 2 reasons. One, it's made in the USA and is known for top notch customer service and two, I received an unexpected check, so money wasn't a problem as long as I didn't go above $2,800. Well, after adding the stainless steel table, some tools, diffuser plates and a bag of charcoal, I was at about $2,300.00. Emmett's Energy in Waterford MI did throw in a free cover and Primo was giving away a 50 Qt cooler valued at $400, so it wasn't too bad. The cooler quality is up there with Pelican and Yeti. I love everything about my Primo and have had nothing but success with it. Being able to basically set the vents and let it go, is so easy. I did a 8 hour smoke at 275 degrees on a couple handfuls of lump at the temp gauge never varied, plus I had some lump leftover for my next cook, after I closed the vents. Either way you go, cheers to new grills and the desire to keep smoking for the masses.

[FireMan]

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis & affliction. I feel bad that I somehow missed this when it was happenin but I was dealing with family health issues at the time. Things have gotten a little better here. But yer problem, wow, that’s big, I mean really big. It’s good to see you have yer wife’s support. Has there been any major improvements in yer condition seeing what yer condition is in. If we can be of any help we are here. Some pics of yer improvement or deterioration would be appreciated so’s we would know what to do, applaud or give more advice. 🕶