I Bought My First WEBER!

Roguejim

Roguejim

Yeah, I know...BFD.  But, I'm a guy who purchased a $1,000 Traeger 075, thinking I would have smoked meat on demand.  I even went so far as to join the pelletheads forum, and modified my Traeger with a "better" controller for about $135.  I even added another shelf for additional meat.  I even routinely added hickory chips to the flame diverter plate for additional smoke flavor.  The smoke flavor NEVER HAPPENED!  In the end, the smokiness is/was NOT there.
 
Today, I came home with a $30, used, but very clean, WEBER Kettle BBQ.  I load my chimney with cheap mesquite charcoal, and lit it.  After it cooked down to almost white, I threw 2 hickory chunks into the kettle, on top of the smoldering briquettes.  Within 4 minutes, smoke ensued.  The end result was that the chicken thighs that I cooked were smokier than almost any piece of Traeger meat that I've ever cooked.  Next, I will be looking into buying a WEBER BULLET.  My only gripe is that it will be tough to fit 2 briskets onto the grill.  Is it possible?   Anyone want a Traeger 075?
 
Grilling on the Rogue River.

 
 
 
Congrats, Jim. My advice would be to buy the Weber Smoky Mountain 22.5 inch. It will fit two full briskets or 4 (and possibly more) pork butts at a time. It is the best $400 I ever spent, and you can sometimes find them cheaper. They truly are set it and forget it smokers. I have a large offset trailer smoker too, but I seldom use it since the Smoky Mountain does such a great job.
 
midwestchilehead said:
Congrats, Jim. My advice would be to buy the Weber Smoky Mountain 22.5 inch. It will fit two full briskets or 4 (and possibly more) pork butts at a time. It is the best $400 I ever spent, and you can sometimes find them cheaper. They truly are set it and forget it smokers. I have a large offset trailer smoker too, but I seldom use it since the Smoky Mountain does such a great job.
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Very true, I have done roughly 40 pounds of meat in mine at once.
 
http://www.amazon.com/Weber-731001-Smokey-Mountain-Charcoal/dp/B001I8ZTJA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1403713406&sr=8-2&keywords=webber+smokey+mountain
 
midwestchilehead said:
Congrats, Jim. My advice would be to buy the Weber Smoky Mountain 22.5 inch. It will fit two full briskets or 4 (and possibly more) pork butts at a time. It is the best $400 I ever spent, and you can sometimes find them cheaper. They truly are set it and forget it smokers. I have a large offset trailer smoker too, but I seldom use it since the Smoky Mountain does such a great job.
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Hi John! Having the two grates, one above the other, is it hard getting a constant temp between the two? Which grate runs hotter, upper, or lower? Also, how do you test the meat on the lower grate for fork doneness? Is there a way to access that lower grate?   Thanks.
 
Roguejim said:
Hi John! Having the two grates, one above the other, is it hard getting a constant temp between the two? Which grate runs hotter, upper, or lower? Also, how do you test the meat on the lower grate for fork doneness? Is there a way to access that lower grate?   Thanks.
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It is called a remote meat thermometer. I prefer to cook by temperature of the meat for doneness except for ribs!. As for access to the bottom, you just need gloves to lift the top grate and sit it aside. 
 
Roguejim said:
Yeah, I know...BFD.  But, I'm a guy who purchased a $1,000 Traeger 075, thinking I would have smoked meat on demand.  I even went so far as to join the pelletheads forum, and modified my Traeger with a "better" controller for about $135.  I even added another shelf for additional meat.  I even routinely added hickory chips to the flame diverter plate for additional smoke flavor.  The smoke flavor NEVER HAPPENED!  In the end, the smokiness is/was NOT there.
 
Today, I came home with a $30, used, but very clean, WEBER Kettle BBQ.  I load my chimney with cheap mesquite charcoal, and lit it.  After it cooked down to almost white, I threw 2 hickory chunks into the kettle, on top of the smoldering briquettes.  Within 4 minutes, smoke ensued.  The end result was that the chicken thighs that I cooked were smokier than almost any piece of Traeger meat that I've ever cooked.  Next, I will be looking into buying a WEBER BULLET.  My only gripe is that it will be tough to fit 2 briskets onto the grill.  Is it possible?   Anyone want a Traeger 075?
 
Grilling on the Rogue River.

 
 
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I'm sure come mid summer and fall you will be BBQ up some fresh salmon. 
 
Congratulations :P . You're going to like it a lot.
 
Webers are great. We have been the lucky owners of what we here in DK call 57OTG for 8 years and it's still going strong. It was our first and then came Q200 and Smokey Joe. The last member is out Primo Kamado XL which we also love.
 
Which model is that? Diameter?
 
JoynersHotPeppers said:
It is called a remote meat thermometer. I prefer to cook by temperature of the meat for doneness except for ribs!. As for access to the bottom, you just need gloves to lift the top grate and sit it aside. 
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I always fork test my brisket, and butts.  So, does either grill cook hotter?
SavinaRed said:
I'm sure come mid summer and fall you will be BBQ up some fresh salmon. 
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I haven't caught a Spring Chinook in years.  The best salmon there is, much better quality than the late Fall salmon run.  These fish are best suited for smoking.
The Hot Pepper said:
Which model is that? Diameter?
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22 1/2" diameter.
 
Roguejim said:
22 1/2" diameter.
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You can fit one 13 lb. (max) whole brisket. Remember, one side of the grill needs to be the fire, the other side, the water pan. And you don't want a hot spot, you want the meat far to one side. You cannot fit two. No way.
 
Roguejim said:
I always fork test my brisket, and butts.  So, does either grill cook hotter?

I haven't caught a Spring Chinook in years.  The best salmon there is, much better quality than the late Fall salmon run.  These fish are best suited for smoking.

22 1/2" diameter.
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Well if you fork test you can remove the top grate, for me that just let's out heat but I am not a competition BBQ guy. I do not find one hotter than the other and my sensors have heat around both grates roughly the same. The water pan redirects all the heat up the sides where it circulates. 
 
Not real difficult.  The top grate runs just a tad hotter than the lower grate, but they are both pretty consistent.  I haven't measured the temperature variation, but it would surprise me if it is more than 10 deg. F.  If necessary, you can exchange the meat from upper to lower grate and lower to upper grate half way through the cook, or more often if you think it is necessary.
 
To test doneness, in addition to the remote thermometer chris mentioned, you can just don your bbq gloves and lift off the top grate, which gives you access to the lower one. 
 
And as to what THP said, I agree, only one brisket will fit on a 22.5 kettle, but we are also discussing 22.5 WSMs, which have upper & lower racks and will fit two briskets.
 
Roguejim said:
Hi John! Having the two grates, one above the other, is it hard getting a constant temp between the two? Which grate runs hotter, upper, or lower? Also, how do you test the meat on the lower grate for fork doneness? Is there a way to access that lower grate?   Thanks.
Click to expand...
 
The Hot Pepper said:
You can fit one 13 lb. (max) whole brisket. Remember, one side of the grill needs to be the fire, the other side, the water pan. And you don't want a hot spot, you want the meat far to one side. You cannot fit two. No way.
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Sorry, I should have been more clear. I was asking about the Bullet, not the kettle. I wouldn't try to cook a whole brisket on a kettle.
 
midwestchilehead said:
Not real difficult.  The top grate runs just a tad hotter than the lower grate, but they are both pretty consistent.  I haven't measured the temperature variation, but it would surprise me if it is more than 10 deg. F.  If necessary, you can exchange the meat from upper to lower grate and lower to upper grate half way through the cook, or more often if you think it is necessary.
 
To test doneness, in addition to the remote thermometer chris mentioned, you can just don your bbq gloves and lift off the top grate, which gives you access to the lower one. 
 
And as to what THP said, I agree, only one brisket will fit on a 22.5 kettle, but we are also discussing 22.5 WSMs, which have upper & lower racks and will fit two briskets.
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John, I know you're a lot more experienced than I, so, if you had a brisket on the lower grill, would you rely on temp, or would you pull it to test with a fork? Maybe you've been doing it so long, temp is all you need? I don't like the idea of having to pull the upper grill to fork test the meat below, but I guess there aren't any other options.  Last question, do you use the Minion method? 
The Hot Pepper said:
Not the pellet one obviously.Also: http://www.smokenator.com/store/
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Thanks. I'll give it a look.
The Hot Pepper said:
You can always buy the extension ring or conversion kit too.
http://cajunbandit.com/
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That Cajun Bandit Conversion Kit is slick, but, for $225, I would save up the extra $$ and buy a WSM.  I think this is the route I'm going to take.
 
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