How would you set a kettle grill (webber one touch) up to cook for a long time, as in for several hours?
I have only ever grilled burgers sausages (etc) on a bbq so have never had to keep it going for several hours like i would need to for indirect grilling or smoking!
I am a complete novice when it comes to long low and slow so any advice (101) would be greatfully received.
This will possibly reverse my decition from gas to charcoal (also there's a webber kettle for £98 at the moment)
When you are talking several hours are you talking 5+ hours or less? Principles are really similar to using a bullet smoker ie having unlit charcoal in your kettle then adding some lit (minion method) along with playing with the bottom vents. I've had a weber kettle running between 275-300f for about for about 4.5 hours without too much fussing. I've never tried to run it at a lower temp or for longer. Because you can't load as much fuel in a kettle compared to bullet you are likely to find that you would need to do more fussing with adding more coals.
When you are talking several hours are you talking 5+ hours or less
Im thinking of around 5 hrs for the likes of ribs and pork shoulder (etc).
I have read something about the fuse method having a ring of coals around the outside and lighting in one position and the coals then begin burning all the way round to the beginning again very slowly.
Not sure how you would control the temp at 230f though?
You can absolutely do ribs successfully on a kettle though you end up with limited space to work on. Pork shoulder - personally not tried that on a kettle, your not going to get a very big one done in 5 hours though. re 230f: pork shoulder is pretty forgiving doing it a higher temp 250 - 275 really isn't a biggy imho
Pork shoulder - personally not tried that on a kettle, your not going to get a very big one done in 5 hours though
How long would i be looking for?
And how do you maintain 250f heat for that long?
There are plenty of articles about what to do but nothing (101) about exactly sequentially what to do or when.
I am a complete novice so sorry about the rather stupid questions.
Rough rule of thumb I use for pork shoulder on the weber smokey mountain is 1.5 hours per pound. But this is approximate I try to build in a couple of hours for resting. I've had some butts take longer and some take less time. I always try to cook til tender rather than sweat too much over the internal temp of the meat.
You can get a good 3-4 hours on a single burn using a 57cm Weber if you damp it right down underneath but leave the top vents half open. I have managed even longer burning seasoned oak chunks on a bed of briquettes. When I need longer I tend to get a second chimney of burning briquettes ready and simply top up the burn at one of the basting or turning moments.
