Finally got a new Weber kettle

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chiefmanywrenches

Meat Mopper
Original poster
Sep 8, 2011
156
11
Florida
I have been wanting a new charcoal grill for a while now and after reading up I decided on a Weber Kettle 22.5 one touch gold. I managed to get it for $110 since my wife's family owns a building supply store and that is their cost from ACE Hardware. I was really happy with how easy it was put together and it makes a nice addition to the arsenal. While I was putting it together I got a chimney full of charcoal going to test fire it and burn off whatever may be on it from the factory. I also bought the Weber charcoal baskets to make things easier. I decided to make the zone fire with coals on either side and open in the middle. I must have used too much charcoal because this thing was hot and even with the bottom vents off and the top at half, it stayed in the 350-400 range for like an hour. I will either need to choke it off sooner or use far less coals when it is cook time. After it started coming back down I tossed some chicken tenderloins on and some asparagus. Everything came out great and I love my new grill.



 
So, Noboundaries...judging by your signature you are quite experienced with these grills. Yesterday when I was doing my initial burn I lit a chimney full of standard kingsford coals and spread that between 2 weber charcoal baskets. I then separated the baskets and did the multi-zone fire with coals on either side. Now, I was trying to get it hot at first to burn all the cooties off and that lasted about 30 minutes or so. The bottom and top were both at wide open the temps were 400+ dome and grate (per digi thermo). After that I tried to choke it down by closing the bottom grate to ~1/8 and the top at 1/2 and it still was roaring. After another 10-15 min with no change I completely shut the bottom and barely cracked the top. Still no change for 10-15 minutes. Then, I took the lid off to jiggle the coal baskets and back on. Then it started to die down some after the charcoal had been in for a good hour or so. My conclusion was that I used far to many coals initially for cooking purposes.

So, in short, when you are doing some normal grilling (chicken, steaks, etc.) how much charcoal do you usually start with? Next time I will maybe do a half of a chimney and add as needed. Thanks for any input.
 
Congrats! That is the same Weber I own. I find it is the most versatile one in my collection.
 
I only use one charcoal basket at a time. I put a dozen unlit bricks in the basket and half a chimney of coals with the bottom coals ashed over and the top ones just starting to burn. I put one chunk of flavor wood in the basket on unlit coals and when I put my ready to go chimney in basket I put one more chunk of flavor wood. I also put both chunks of wood in the chimney first to get them hot and whatever moisture is in them out.

I also put a aluminum drip pan 18 x 13.5 inches to cover the rest of the open space as a drip pan for easy cleaning. Inside that pan I put a sheet of foil so at the end of the cook I throw the foil away and save pan for next time i cook. You'll have to bend down two corners of the lip of the pan make it fit.

The cool thing about this is at the end of your smoke you can move what you are smoking right above the basket and direct grill to crisp up chicken skin or bacon on a fatty!

I should also add that I have the hinged grill so when I start I open the grill up because that basket is going to full with the flavor wood at grill level.
 
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UFBG, Welshrarebit gives some great advice. I have an significantly older One Touch that does not have a temp gauge in the lid. When I "grill" I put my two charcoal baskets off to one side to form a circle and fill them with hot coals completely. All vents are fully open. I sear my steaks, burgers, chicken, whatever for the length of time desired, then move the meat over to the indirect side of the grill to finish. When grillin' I don't bother looking at temps at all. Time is what I use to figure out when it is done.

Now, when I smoke in the Kettle temps are important. I have a Smokenator in my 22.5" to use as a heat fence so all the heat rises and circulates. I don't use the charcoal baskets in the Smokenator. In my now defunct 26+ year old 18.5" I just used a couple of fireplace bricks as a heat fence, putting the charcoal baskets curved side against one side of the Kettle to form a crescent shape. I load the baskets or the Smokenator with cold charcoal and wood then only put about 10-14 hot coals on top of the cold charcoal. Bottom vents on the One Touch are fully open. On my old 18.5" that had three bottom vents I closed off the one opposite the fire and left the two directly under the fire fully open.

I turned the lid so the lid vent was on the opposite side of the fire to encourage circulation and controlled the grate temp purely with that top vent. I thread a Maverick chamber temp probe through the top vent and attach it to the grill directly underneath the top vent.

At lower smokes like 225F there can be a 30F difference between the lid temp and the grate temp, the grate temp being cooler. That difference goes up the hotter you are running your Kettle.

The trick is learning how to control the temp with that one top vent. I usually leave it fully open until the temperature climbs to within 15 degrees of my target grate temp then close it down to about 1/4 open and let it stabilize. If using a Maverick you'd be amazed at how easy it is to control that temp to + or - 5F making 1/16" changes by opening that top vent to increase temp or close it down 1/16" to cool down your temps.

Initially I chased temps quite a bit, but quickly figured out when to make those top vent adjustments to catch the temp just where I wanted it. I can keep temps steady for about 90 minutes now before I see any movement.
 
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Thanks for the replies, I will play with it some more and get it dialed in. We like to grill a lot at my house so I will have plenty of opportunities to practice. Next time I am definitely only going to use one of the little baskets of coals for shorter cooks. I am just used to having to use a whole chimney full for my side fire box charbroil smoker that I use to grill. It didn't smoke as good as my UDS and won't grill as good as this new Weber. It is currently for sale if anyone in Florida want's it for a fair price.

 
Gatorbooster , you're gonna have a lot of fun with your new toy. Be sure to send Q-view...
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Have fun and . . .
 
Hey nice grill! I just picked up one today too but opted for the one with the cart attached. Took me about an hour to set up and then I did a test run to check temps and burn off any factory crud (mostly just an excuse to fire the thing up. HA!). Here's some pics, please excuse the messy backyard.

Nice and new and shiney, probably not for long though 
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Got some nice TBS right away.


Ooooo glowy.


One thing I noticed right away is that royal oak lump smells great reminds me of the smells of a fair where all the vendors are out cooking. Looking forward to grilling/smoking tons of stuff this summer.
 
Yeah, I was considering that one also but I am planning to actually make a table/cart for it myself. That way I can keep the legs on and take the grill out if I want to for travel or whatever. I have used mine a few times already and everything has turned out great. Here is a picture of some chicken thighs that I did over the weekend. I found that one of the baskets of coals is plenty for most jobs I will be doing. I kept it around 300 or so for about an hour and a half no problem then seared them off when they were done. 

 
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