Weber Kettle Question

[cookindeac]

Anyone out there ever do an all night smoke w/a kettle? I'm looking to do a couple of Butts but I'm a little leary about setting up and going to bed. I have ordered a Maverick dual probe w/alarm for safety. I have seen where fire bricks as a barrier help w/ temp. Any help or suggestions.

Thanks

 

[mneeley490]

I have done butts in mine before, but I did not go to bed. I pulled an all-nighter. Generally, my Weber kettle will go about 4+/- hours at 230°, using the Minion method, before it needs to be refueled. While smoking, once you get it dialed in it does maintain temperature well on it's own, and I live in a cold and windy area.

 

[thenovaman]

Does your temp stay pretty constant during shorter smokes?  Even with the bottom vents completely closed, my Weber slowly gets hotter and hotter, so even for a short smoke I have to apply ice cubes.  I suspect it has something to do with how I set it up.  Maybe I'll post my own thread about that later today...

 

[cookindeac]

Does your temp stay pretty constant during shorter smokes?  Even with the bottom vents completely closed, my Weber slowly gets hotter and hotter, so even for a short smoke I have to apply ice cubes.  I suspect it has something to do with how I set it up.  Maybe I'll post my own thread about that later today...

Yes I can get a fairly consistant temp. I do get a big variance between the dome temp and the grate temp. I think that is a thermomerter issue so that is why I ordered the dual probe Maverick.

This may be a stupid question but does it take longer to do two 6 to 8 lbers vs one larger cut?

 

[thenovaman]

I would imagine smoking two pieces would be quicker than smoking one piece if the total weight is the same, but I don't know for sure.

 

[mneeley490]

Novaman,

Try using less charcoal for shorter smokes. Maybe half a chimney full, and continue experimenting with the vent postitions.

Cookindeac,

I don't think it would take much longer with two, but I don't recall ever trying two at a time on my Weber. However each butt is different and will cook slightly differently, so you might want to set a probe in both.

I'm sure some engineer has probably worked out the thermodynamic law of heat to mass ratio, but I don't have the patience to try. I'd just throw them in and see what happens.

 

[pa pitmaster]

I have a modified offset that I'm finally giving up on. Maintaining the fire and temp is just too much of a hassle, so I'm going to put it on Craigslist and move forward with my Weber 22 1/2" Silver. I recently just purchased one of these (today actually)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep_35ytUcz0. Its called the Smokenator and looks pretty legit. Nothing but rave reviews, and supposedly you can get a 6 hour burn without doing much other than filling the water pan. I also just got the rotisserie attachment for my birthday, so I'm excited to figure out how to incorporate the two for some good smoke. Anyways, I hope this helps.

 

[cookindeac]

^ I have a Smokenator and there are pros and cons with it. If you put the water pan directly on the coals like instructed you will find yourself refilling it every hour. I have put it on the cooking grate and it works better. It is not something I would leave unattended for an overnight cook. I have been reading on this method and this is where I'm headed. I have already got my fire bricks.

http://tvwbb.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/9040039023/m/6750042994

 

[pa pitmaster]

Shit. I wish I didn't just buy the smokenator. lol. Oh well. I'm sure i'll get some use out of it. Let me know how the firebrick works out. I'll maintain with my kettle until I save enough for the 22 WSM. I'm through with the offsets. Well, at least until I can afford a Lang ;)

 

[bama bbq]

The kettle works great on shorter cooks....but an unattentended overnighter simply isn't in the cards.  Just not enough fuel capacity. 

IMHO the smokenator has it's purposes and works great for the job it was intended to do which is to get someone without the desire to go to a dedicated smoker into smoked food.

 

[cookindeac]

I did a test run yesterday with the fire bricks. I put the bricks about a 1/4 of the way across the bottom then filled the short side almost to the cooking grate with charcoal and a few chunks of wood. On the meat side I put a peice of foil down under the drip pan to deflect the air to the heat side. I then lit 10 coals and put them all at one end of the unlit coals ( so the burn would move across slowly). When I started the air temp. was around 100 and there was a steady breeze around 5 to 10MPH. The cooking grate temp. came up to 230 with the top vent all open and the bottom open  1/8". it held very nicely. About 2 hours in the wind stopped and a cloud cover came in so I had to open the bottom vent about half way and got my temp. back to 250 and it held very well. I let it burn for 5 hours then shut it down as I was pleased with the results. After 5 hours I had a least 1/2 of my fuel left. One thing I will do different the next time is only light 6 coals instead of 10.

 

[ski-freak]

I could never get my 22.5 Weber Kettle to burn more than 4 hours, without re-fueling.

 

[ski-freak]

I could never get my 22.5 Weber Kettle to burn more than 4 hours without refueling...

 

[cookindeac]

I did a 4 1/2lb Butt yesterday. I used about 60 briquttes and at 5 1/2hrs still had fuel left. I only lit 6 to start and put all at one end and let burn across.

 

[ski-freak]

OK, I get how you're managing your slow burn - great stuff. What sort of temperature profile does it run over the burn as you outlined just using the charcoal grate?

Might be worth welding up a Weber Kettle sized round charcoal basket with a labyrynth maze...

 

[cliffcarter]

Here's my setup for long cooks on the Weber kettle. I have had 10-11 hour cooks using this with fuel leftover at the end, using about half a bag (or slightly less) of Stubbs briquettes.

2012butt (4).JPG

• cliffcarter
• Jul 20, 2012

 This is from a more recent cook showing the lit coals, about16, placed to the left of the ring-

July42012 (2).JPG

• cliffcarter
• Jul 20, 2012

The wood is 3/4" by about 3" long and placed upright, if you lay it down it ignites the coals further along the ring and makes temp harder to control.

Make sure that your lit charcoal is fully lit and leave all vents open to get started. Don't panic if the temps keep climbing past whatever magic number you have as the ideal BBQ temp, close the bottom vent completely and let it settle in to whatever temp it wants( mine usually will jump back and forth between 250° and 280°- this is acceptable) with practice, you will know better how to manage the fire. When the meat is done shut all vents completely, this will snuff out the coals and conserve any unused coals for later use.

 

[cookindeac]

^ I don't have any pics to show at this point but my setup is the same as yours with the only difference being I have two fire bricks between the coals and drip pan. Thanks for the tip on the wood, I was unaware they burn that way - this should help keep the temp. a little lower.

 

[ski-freak]

The Weber paperwork says to not lay coals up against the enameled sides of the kettle bowl. I figured this was for longer kettle life and have never done this. Do you find your kettle life affected by doing so?

 

[cliffcarter]

The Weber paperwork says to not lay coals up against the enameled sides of the kettle bowl. I figured this was for longer kettle life and have never done this. Do you find your kettle life affected by doing so?

This was a question elsewhere last month and the general consenus was that this was not a problem. I use the kettle to BBQ like this 6-10 times per year and since the heat moves around the bowl the porcelain finish should stand up to it. That being said if you grill with the coals always in the same spot I can see where you may degrade the finish over time, esp. if using lump or a hot burning briquette like Comp K or Stubbs.

 

[ski-freak]

I use my Weber 22.5 quite a bit, and that's exactly the kind of hot natural charcoal briquets I use, plus I add lump and wood chunks. I have always heeded Weber's warnings and kept my coals away from the enameled sides of the kettle, and had planned (but procrastinated) to build a charcoal basket. This email string was the motivation I needed to desire longer burns so instead of just making a plain basket, or a basket with a zig-zag labyrinth, I also incorporated a water bowl similar to what you're using Cliff to get a circular track, and I welded in a steel stop/start barrier. It's 4 inches deep.

Lowe's sells the replacement Charcoal Grates for my 22.5 Weber for $11 (Weber # 7441), so that was my starting point. I added to that around $15 worth of sheet metal and a stainless kitchen bowl, and then used my little MIG welder to build what you see below - a drop-in long burning charcoal basket for my Weber 22.5:

Weber 22.5 Charcoal Basket.JPG

• ski-freak
• Jul 21, 2012