New Weber 22.5 Kettle dry run

Nice lookin grill . U gonna enjoy that one.

Enjoy the kettle... my few cents would be to just make sure you can read your temps with a reliable thermometer. But most importantly, get cooking - don't worry about other people's configurations. I own 3 kettles and they all need to be set up a bit differently. Start cooking, and make a ton of ribs (and eat them!!) and have some fun!! Use some set-up guidelines from this forum and other sites such as amazingribs.com, and use that as a baseline. Go from there and next thing you know, you'll be holding 225 for 5+ hours. Also, commit to 1 brand of charcoal.

zach1234 said:

Enjoy the kettle... my few cents would be to just make sure you can read your temps with a reliable thermometer. But most importantly, get cooking - don't worry about other people's configurations. I own 3 kettles and they all need to be set up a bit differently. Start cooking, and make a ton of ribs (and eat them!!) and have some fun!! Use some set-up guidelines from this forum and other sites such as amazingribs.com, and use that as a baseline. Go from there and next thing you know, you'll be holding 225 for 5+ hours. Also, commit to 1 brand of charcoal.

Click to expand...

Very true .........and I forgot to put that in there.....

Those pics & descriptions I showed are just possibilities or suggestions.....
places to start, perhaps...........

The main thing anyway is to cook & play with it.....my coals sets & vent sets & such will be a little different anyway.....temp, humidity, wind, shade....all kinds of little stuff makes a difference....

Develop your own style & have fun !!!!

zach1234 said:

Enjoy the kettle... my few cents would be to just make sure you can read your temps with a reliable thermometer. But most importantly, get cooking - don't worry about other people's configurations. I own 3 kettles and they all need to be set up a bit differently. Start cooking, and make a ton of ribs (and eat them!!) and have some fun!! Use some set-up guidelines from this forum and other sites such as amazingribs.com, and use that as a baseline. Go from there and next thing you know, you'll be holding 225 for 5+ hours. Also, commit to 1 brand of charcoal.

Click to expand...

There are a lot of possibilities for coal arrangement.

That's a great diagram... thanks for sharing! I could be completely wrong but what I had found worked for me to get a decent understanding on what really influences the burn is trying to simplify the coal arrangements and setup, focusing on trying to eliminate unneeded variables. For example, if the goal is to smoke at 225 - Use 1 brand of charcoal, try and block the wind as best as possible, set it up the same every time. Set it up for indirect, simply banking the coals (and maybe use one of those weber coal baskets as a divider. Of course depending on what is being cooked, a water drip tray and water pan close to fuel seems to help keep temps from jumping around too quickly. Adjust the temp with the vents, but make small adjustments and try and note the general positions of them. But learn what really influences the burn and temps and what it takes to adjust it. If a limitation is hit, then look at other adjustments, etc. But in my opinion, the quickest way to really get a handle on the kettle is to keep it simple and eliminate as many variables as possible. Most importantly, if you're at ease while cooking, the quality of food seems to skyrocket - whether you are the most experienced pitmaster or someone picking it up recently.

[/URL]This is one of mine that 1Buckie
helped me with a while back. Counter-clockwise for pork butt!

I really appreciate VORTEX. I have 3 different misures for smoking L&S, for roasting big chunk of meat and finally the small for small roasting action.



Senza titolo di BBQness, su Flickr

Great thread. For those looking to buy a new Weber, check out the new Mastertouch. It has some great new features (like taller legs). Great looking grill.

Quick Question what are the cooking capacities of the 22.5 vs the 18 vs the 26 inch?

305Q said:

WOW thanks for all the insight. I was able to dial in the 225 temp I was looking for and held it for 5 hours. I only used the bottom vent and left the top completely open. Should I use top and bottom or one or the other.

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You should be able to control your temperature by leaving the top vent wide open and adjusting only the lower vents in most applications.

Jaredhulon323 said:

Quick Question what are the cooking capacities of the 22.5 vs the 18 vs the 26 inch?

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Jared,

Here's what you can do with rotation on an 18" kettle:

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...d.php?t=190569

You can do a butt on one w/o too much trouble....



A 22" can do all kinds of stuff, just depends on setup & how far you're willing to hang out there......

'Turds, chicken & taters up on the firebrick...



16# brisket....



Big load of 'Turds.....



Bunny & 12 thighs....



A 26" I'm just now beginning to explore......got this 1961 Fleetwood just a bit ago & I'm only a few cooks down as of yet....



'Turds, of course....



This can be nice having extra room to spread out....









Lightin' off a bunch of 'em all different sizes is always an option here at the Kettle Orphanage....

305Q said:

WOW thanks for all the insight. I was able to dial in the 225 temp I was looking for and held it for 5 hours. I only used the bottom vent and left the top completely open. Should I use top and bottom or one or the other.

Click to expand...

My opinion, only use bottom and keep top open as wide as possible (and only start closing it if you're needing to close the bottom vent less than 1/4ish or less - the fact that you can keep 225 with a full open top vent for 5ish hours is absolutely awesome - don't change anything too quickly - only making small simple tweaks to adjust the temp if you need it higher (for a turkey for example), looks like you got a great kettle with a nice tight seal. Looking forward to hearing about your upcoming cooks!

1buckie said:

Jared,

Here's what you can do with rotation on an 18" kettle:

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...d.php?t=190569

You can do a butt on one w/o too much trouble....

A 22" can do all kinds of stuff, just depends on setup & how far you're willing to hang out there......

'Turds, chicken & taters up on the firebrick...

16# brisket....

Big load of 'Turds.....

Bunny & 12 thighs....

A 26" I'm just now beginning to explore......got this 1961 Fleetwood just a bit ago & I'm only a few cooks down as of yet....

'Turds, of course....

This can be nice having extra room to spread out....

Lightin' off a bunch of 'em all different sizes is always an option here at the Kettle Orphanage....

Click to expand...

What do you mean by rotation

Cooking the longest needed food (time-wise) first to almost done, then the next longest, then ending with the shortest cook time.....keeping the first item warmed at a 'finish the cook' temp, so everything ends at once....

In the example, the taters were down in the basement & take 45m.~1 hr. so they start first.....

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...d.php?t=190569

Rotating the foods in & out of the hot zone, I guess would be another way to describe it........