I finally scored my first Weber kettle.

[rbranstner]

I have been on the look out for a 22.5" Weber kettle to use at my new house. I am going to put my propane grill out back on my patio but it's so big that I can't move it around very easily and being I live in ND and it's windy all the time I figured it would be to tough to grill back there on certain days so I figure a kettle would be perfect to leave in the garage and I can use it out on my driveway where it is protected on those windy days. I've been searching CL for a while now and wasn't finding much so I just put out a Wanted add on the CL and I started getting emails left and right from people trying to sell their kettles. I haven't picked up this one yet but I will be next week. I can't wait to try it out. Now I just need to do some reading and figure out how to set this baby up for indirect heat and do some practicing. I did some searching but do any of you have any good posts or web pages that do some good explaining on how to set up and run your kettle? Thanks for your help.

[Charcoal Man]

Nice score!! You will LOVE it, you can do almost anything with a weber.....

[Mikey]

For indirect, you won't need more than this.
Welcome to the wonderful world of a Weber Kettle

[rbranstner]

Nice score!! You will LOVE it, you can do almost anything with a weber.....

Your kettle setup must be the one I have kind of been picturing. Coals on one side, fire bricks in the middle and then a drip or water pan on the other side. Does that sound about right? I can't really make out how it's set up in your avatar but I think that's pretty close. You care to elaborate a bit on how you set yours up? Do you have a thermometer installed that you use to monitor the internal temp on the kettle?
Any help you guys can throw my way on set up would be greatly appreciated. I'm just not sure which meats I want to go direct or indirect.

[rbranstner]

Thanks Mikey. That's exactly what I was looking for and kind of picturing. So whats the foil for on the one side? Is that just to catch drippings and keep the kettle cleaner? Do you always set your kettle up for indirect heat? Lets say you are doing burgers. Do you usually remove the indirect set up or do you leave it in there and just put the burgers over the coals if you need to char something up?

[Mikey]

Thanks Mikey. That's exactly what I was looking for and kind of picturing. So whats the foil for on the one side? Is that just to catch drippings and keep the kettle cleaner? Do you always set your kettle up for indirect heat? Lets say you are doing burgers. Do you usually remove the indirect set up or do you leave it in there and just put the burgers over the coals if you need to char something up?

The foil serves 2 purposes but the main one is making the air flow very directional. The top vent on the lid goes opposite of the coals. The other is to keep the kettle clean. I always set mine up this way. I don't do burgers but if I did, I'd use the same set-up and reverse sear.

[rbranstner]

The foil serves 2 purposes but the main one is making the air flow very directional. The top vent on the lid goes opposite of the coals. The other is to keep the kettle clean. I always set mine up this way. I don't do burgers but if I did, I'd use the same set-up and reverse sear.

Thanks for the info. Did you make that charcoal basket? I'll have to figure out something like that. If not I can hopefully just pile the coals over in the corner until I figure something out. Do you use a thermometer to monitor the temps of the kettle or do you just fire it up and let it go?

[MossyMO]

Congrats Ross... welcome to the world of KettleHeads!
If you start looking around a little, they sure do make quite a few different accessories for these things... Rottisseries, Lift Kit for a Pizza Insert, etc.

[Mikey]

Thanks for the info. Did you make that charcoal basket? I'll have to figure out something like that. If not I can hopefully just pile the coals over in the corner until I figure something out. Do you use a thermometer to monitor the temps of the kettle or do you just fire it up and let it go?

I did make my own, but for the 22.5" you can use the Weber coal holders. They're $15.00 for a pair of em @ Home Depot. This is what I made. Took 2 coal grates and tacked em together to form a grid, then tacked the basket to the grate(s).


This is my temp gauge in the 26. Works great.


A view from the inside showing the probe part of the gauge.

[SmokinOutBack]

Thanks for the info. Did you make that charcoal basket? I'll have to figure out something like that. If not I can hopefully just pile the coals over in the corner until I figure something out. Do you use a thermometer to monitor the temps of the kettle or do you just fire it up and let it go?

I think most of us kettleheads used a therm until we got used to it, after that you just KNOW how to do it. Depending on what you're smoking, and for how long obviously, you'll figure out how much charcoal you'll need, how to use the bottom vents, when to add more coal, etc...so for a kettle newbie, a therm will be a great help.

[SmokinOutBack]

And just for the record, Mikey made my charcoal basket.

[rbranstner]

All in all the kettle should act pretty much like my UDS right? Open up the top exhaust to let the smoke out and then open your bottom intakes to control the temps. More air equals more heat and less air equals less heat? Sound about right?
All in all do most people set their kettles up for indirect heat? The only time I have been around a kettle was a few years back at a friends house and he just had the whole bottom of the charcoal grate filled with charcoal so he was definitely doing a direct heat cook. I'm thinking I will definitely be going the indirect heat route.

[Fishawn]

Congrats & it looks like a nice one

Watch the bottoms of that type of charcoal chimney, the have been known to rust out & break out at the worst time

Here's a 101 Weber link for indirect smoking I did a while back, not as cool of a set up as Mikeys, but similar methods. Good luck with your new toy

http://www.smoked-meat.com/forum/sho...ght=kettle+101

[tenacious bee]

Congrats on the kettle. Until you get the bricks and basket made you can do what I do. foil the grate as shown and make a baffle out of the thick foil lid that comes with a disposable foil pan. Like this.
You can stick a a candy/fryer thermo through the vent lid. With a little practice you can get it right at grate level.



I light five coals and drop them in the center of the unlit chimney load. Spread the wood around so it catches as it burns. Six hours at 230 is easy. Wanted to add that I learned all of that either in fact or theory from Fishawn and Mikey.

[SmokinOutBack]

Excellent Bee, excellent.