Larry, I have had a 40 year affair with Weber Kettles. I received my first kettle back in 1983 as a wedding present. I still have some of the parts from that kettle, but no longer have the base and the lid. I no longer have the wife associated with that wedding present either.......
These two kettles I bought this week were the first two new kettles I have bought since purchasing one for my then ten year-old son for a Christmas present almost twenty years ago. All the others I have owned were either picked out of the trash or from the curb, purchased at yard/garage sales, Craigslist or given to me. I guess you could say I rescue and recycle old Webers.
One thing I tell someone who inquires about buying a Weber Kettle is to go check the local garage and yard sales as they are a cheap source for grills. I have two old kettles I paid less than ten dollars for. By trying out an old one first to see if you like cooking on it or not, you can then decide whether a new kettle is something you want to spend money on. If you then buy a new one, you can always use the old one as a source for parts. The cooking and charcoal grates when purchased new will be more lot more expensive than the used kettle you bought.
I usually use two cooking grates when I cook on my kettle when I am using the indirect method. I will take the second grate and turn it upside down and place it on top of the first cooking grate. The handles of the bottom grate with be at 12:00 and 6:00 with the handles of the upside second grate being placed at 3:00 and 9:00. This allows you to double your cooking space for items such as hamburgers, sausage, chicken, bacon and other small meats.
Yes you can accuse me of being a fan of the Weber Kettle. Back in my college days, in my Consumer Safety class, were required to do a report on the history and proper usage of a consumer product. I chose the kettle. I had to write a ten page term paper and give a demonstration of how to properly operate the product of my report. I also had to give a presentation to the class on my chosen product. I brought my new kettle into class and showed the class how to use the cooker. Of course it was not fired up. I did bring in some ribs and bacon that I had cooked on the kettle for the class to sample. That report was worth half our grade for the class. It was the only time in my college career that I received a perfect score on a term paper with a class presentation.
I can brag about my college career. When I graduated, the administration told me I was the first person in the history of the school to graduate in three terms! Those terms being Clinton's, Bush's and Obama's..................
