Newbie with a 57cm Weber one touch kettle

[wozzad]

Evening guys.

Finally got round to buying a half decent BBQ - Managed to get John lewis to price match their "one touch master" to a local company at £150.

Few questions/comments after a first use.

1. I REALLY need a chimney starter ! Spent the first hour staring at unlit coals, then the next hour looking at unburned coals i had added !

2: Wood for smoking. I'm using weber hickory chips - Mainly because i can't find a seller of chunks - any advice?

3: Temp - i really had a hard time keeping the temp low engough, it seems it didn't want to go below like 160c. I presume this is just a practice thing ?

4: Cleaning - any tips on cleaning the grill grate, and indeed the coating of black treacle that has formed on the inside of my lid ( I'm guessing i'l be told thats normal, and to leave it be ?)

5: coals ? I've been using normal house coal, It seems a little smokey, and the food tastes funny - is this normal or should i use smokeless coal ?

6: internal temps - i have 2 meat probes- but if i stick them both into 1 peice of meat, there is a 10F difference between them......which do i trust( i/e how do i check which is right ?)

Thanks for your help in advance - really looking forward to doing some low and slow pulled pork, brisket etc. I do a mean brisket in the slow cooker, so i can only imagine how good it'll taste in the weber/

[RobinC]

1) Chimney Starter is a must have imho
2) Assuming you can't find something local take a look here: http://bbqsmokingwood.co.uk/
3) Yes its practice with the vents but unless you are using something like a smokenator you will find it difficult to get a kettle bbq much below 150c for a length of time.
4) I do occasionally wash my grates but you can get by with lighting the bbq. Put the grate on, wait 10 mins then scrub the carbonised crud off with a stiff wire brush. Don't worry about the lid unless the crud starts to flake off in which case again give it a scrub with a stiff brush
5) House coal, no!!! Get yourself some lumpwood charcoal or charcoal briquettes (heat beads are good). I try and avoid anything billed as instant lighting as generally that means they've got alsorts of nasties in them.
6) boil some water and stick both in there.

[wozzad]

On:

5 - Did you really fall for that ? HOUSE COAL ?? ha ha ha. I was using £3 bags of 'king of the grill' briquettes.

6 - both only go to 190f/88c - So boiling water doesn't really help? If i left both in boiling water, and one dropped before the other.......nothing to say which is the good one, and which is the bad ?


Genuine thanks for the tips though - Always good to get some info. tell you what, my t-shirt smells good enough to eat !

[keith157]

Get a thermopen from eBay. If your temperature probes only go to190 they are meat safety probes to check cooking temps and not suitable for using in a bbq. I assume your coal was found in your Christmas stocking instead of a present

[wozzad]

Yeah, they are meat probes, i only use them to keep an eye on meat temps - a habit that comes from slowcooking big cuts in the oven.

I DO have a oven temp dial i could use the the bbq, its rated to 250C - so should be fine.


what temp difference can i expect from the weber lid guage, and the indirect temps at the grill?

[keith157]

There is no exact answer, the only way to check is to get an accurste guage to read the grill temp then see what the dial reads. Doubtless there would be more info on the Weber site

[beercan]

Dont worry you will get amazing results from the Weber you just have to pre plan a little for longer lower cooking times compared to a dedicated smoker and just realise the limitations.

Firstly dont skrimp on good quality coals for example heat beads or Weber coals might seem expensive but they will burn better and longer and if your only doing a quick grill you can even shut the vents and re use them next time.
For lumpwood get the best you can something like the big k restaurant grade you wont believe the difference in lump size compared to the cheap stuff!

For real long cooking times try using the minion method where you use a small amount of lit coals which then feed into unlit coals which then gradually light and give you a much lower temp and longer cooking time.Dont forget those vent positions make a huge difference even to the point the bottom vent almost looks closed it will still vent.The other variable is going to be weather and we get plenty of that ! In wind you even need to think of the position of the kettle and Ive even used a wind break before to shield it.

For woods there's great info on here. I tend to use oak more than anything else as a great all rounder but plenty of other woods work and give different flavours ( smokiness ) and will also burn at different temps. As an example if you want heat mesquite will burn very hot great for flash cooking but not so good for a long cook.

Just dont be afraid to experiment your going to get some disasters we've all had them lol and the biggest temptation is lifting that lid- tie your hands together, watch a film, have a beer, be nice to the missus ( ok thats drastic) just leave it on and trust it !
Hope some of this helps anyway

[slatts]

I did my third cook over last night, 2 small pork shoulders like the other 2 cooks ive done, first 2 went very well,constant temps and small stalls.
Last night the maverick was going off all night due to temps dropping below 200 and a 6 hour stall, there in the oven finishing off now.
I didnt do anything different and the weather was good, is this just the way it goes sometimes??
Im using restaurant grade lumpwood, had a big lump of charcoal in there but that never really burnt,all the other bits burnt well, could that big lump be causing problems, theres an even bigger bit in the bag.

Got 6 racks of ribs to do and a beer can chicken to do today,lovely morning here so there might be a few ciders being drunk aswell.

Have a good day all

[keith157]

.........is this just the way it goes sometimes??.............l

Sadly yes it is, if it were an exact science (and there is science involved somewhere ) everyone could/would do it Perseverance is the key, when it goes right it is righteous BBQ when it doesn't it could be a lesson learned but still darn good eating

[slatts]

Damn good eating it was though, never seen a whole chicken get eaten that quickly
Pulled pork all went again but a did keep back a little bowl so the wife and I can have pulled pork nachos later
The charcoal was not lasting that long today either, was a split blue bag maybe it got damp.
Anyway all our friends liked the food and hopefully it'll only get better.