I bought a Weber Kettle

A few weeks ago, I bought a Weber Kettle. One of the "original" 22 inch kettles with the "one-touch cleaning system". One very much like this ...  Weber 14407001 Original Kettle Premium Charcoal Grill, 22-Inch, Green.

When it arrived, my wife asked me ... "what can you do on this that you can't do on your other smoker?".

"Nothing".

She gave me a weird look and might have said something like "then why the hell did you buy this?"...

It might have just been her eyes that said it.

Well ... of course I didn't need another grill / smoker. I still don't NEED it. I like having it, though.



I feel like every time I look at one of my smoking or grilling forums, someone raves about how wonderful the Weber Kettles are.

It seems like all the youtube channels I watch, use their kettles quite a bit.

You can shut the vents off and completely snuff the coals, allowing reuse. It also seems to be more efficient in the use of fuel than my bigger smoker.

It is nice to have something a bit more portable to smoke meat on.

Plus, a real man should have multiple "pits" to cook on.

So far, I've cooked 3 things on the Weber Kettle.

Chicken thighs.

Deep dish cast iron pizza.

A whole chicken.

Everything so far has turned out great. None of these so far have required low-and-slow temperature moderation. I've really just wanted to go hot on fast on all three.

I did the whole chicken this weekend, and it was REALLY windy. I felt like the Weber handled the wind better than my offset would have, but that might just be my selective memory.

For what it is worth, the chicken turned out REALLY juicy and delicious.

So far, the only real negative I've determined is indirect-zone real-estate on the Weber. I guess this is simply a reason to have the Weber in addition to another smoker.

One thing I'm going to try soon is trying an overnight cook using the "snake method" on my Weber kettle.

If you are unfamiliar with the "snake method" ... here is a pretty good description / how-to ... How to: The Snake Method.

Basically, setting a line of unlit charcoal along the outside edge of the kettle. Light 12 or 15 briquettes on one edge. Let the lit coals ignite the unlit coals. This should give consistent smoking heat for 8 to 12 hours of low-and-slow cooking.

Friday night, I want to try to smoke a Pork Butt to serve at my Big Brew Day, and my plan is to use the Weber snake method.

Hopefully it will work. I'll let you know ...

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Go Avalanche ...