Peabody86
Knows what a fatty is.
- Joined
- May 20, 2017
- Location
- Folsom, CA
I've had a Weber kettle 22" for a decade now. It was given to me by my bro-in-law. It belonged to his dad, who had passed away a few months prior to it joining my stable. My bro-in-law didn't need it and didn't want to toss it out. So I gladly gave it a home. I have used it a few times. But my life is busy and I don't often have the time set up a charcoal cook and tend the fire. That's why I've been a pellet grill guy for many years now. Turn it on, cook, turn it off - and the flavor of a non-gas fire. Works for me. But it still isn't as delicious as a charcoal cook.
Disclaimer: I'm not sponsoring products here. Not a compensated shill. Just sharing stuff I've picked up on my own dime and, after a few months of using, found to be big improvements to my grilling game. So I thought I'd share with my thoughts with my BBQ Brethren.
A few months ago, I came across a temp control system for the Weber kettle 22" that looked like it would be game changer. It's the Spider Grills Venom (https://www.spidergrills.com/products/venom). Spider Grills basically took the fan/pit probe concept and designed a simple system with app and digital interface that fits nicely under the bottom of the kettle. After using if for several months, I have to say it's awesome. For me, it's a game changer. Here's why...
Credit: "Hot Spot" posted about the Venom here in May, '22. But no discussion followed. Gotta give him credit... https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=298717
Lighting the grill is easier now. I don't need a charcoal chimney. I just load up the grill with briquettes, hit them with a propane torch to get a spot of red glowing coal, then turn on the Venom with a target temp, set the cover and adjust the top vent, per the Venom's display, and let it blow. The Venom will blow air to stoke the fire until the set temp is achieved. You can also use cubes or tumbleweeds to light the coals using the Venom to build the burn. I just like the torch method. Propane is cheap. And I don't need but 30-60 seconds of torch time to get a hot spot. Here's the torch I'm using - ok quality, gives me a longer reach, and does the job: https://www.amazon.com/JJGeorge-Grill-Torch-Charcoal-Starter/dp/B076HSB7MM. For me, it's great because I don't overlight the coals. I burn what I need for the cook and waste less charcoal... it's a fuel saver.
Temp stability: The Venom does a great job of holding the target temp. I've not had an issue - no flare ups or burn outs. It's great.
App: It's good, perhaps "very good". It does what I need it to do. It hasn't crashed. I haven't lost a cook because of it - no bugs so far. I use it on my iPhone. The interface is good, overall. The only thing I've found that could be better is when I enter a set temp, the number pad covers the "set temp" button on the screen. So I have to touch the screen above the pop up keypad to make it drop down to execute the command. No biggie. I'm grilling with charcoal now. :thumb:
An added benefit, for me at least: I now have an ash pot on the bottom of the grill. My grill had an ash pan. The pot is a great upgrade for me.
That's the Venom in a nutshell. Spider Grills has also come out with an adapter set to fit the Venom on the 26" kettles, if anyone's interested.
Other additions to my Weber Kettle that I've recently acquired and used with the Venom:
- Pizza oven with rotisserie extension. It's good. It works well. I haven't cooked a pizza yet. But I did use the rotisserie for a chicken this week. That was delicious. This type of extension ring also adds extra volume to the kettle for bigger cuts of meat, like smoking pork butts, or stacked cooks using two grill grates. However, more parts to shuffle makes setting up and adding coals a little more of challenge. The only issue I had with this kit was that the rim of the ring was a little bigger than the rim of the kettle. It fit, but had a little slop to it when sitting on the kettle. This was also true with the kettle lid on top of the extension ring. I used some grill gasket-felt sealing tape on the base of the extension ring and the base of the kettle lid to get a better fit. It worked.
Extension kit Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XHFLXB6
Felt Tape link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08G4RK7GV
- Charcoal ring with heat diffuser. Not a new concept. This does the job of holds a large amount of charcoal and provides a means for indirect cooking without limiting the cook to half of the grill area. It works. No issues with warping of the top plate. And it gives a solid surface to do some dutch oven cooking, which I plan to try soon. That might work best with a peg-leg camp oven vs the standard flat bottom. But I think a ring of scrunched-up aluminum foil to provide a stand-off from the plate would work with the no-legs type of dutch oven. I do that on my pellet grill when cooking potatoes or veggies on a cookie sheet, just to keep the bottom of the cookie sheet from getting grill grease on it (wife gets :mad2: when I grease up the kitchen counter that way... which i've done a few times :doh
.
Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08L4KLRTC
- Clip on table for Kettle: Strong enough. Does the job. Folds up and stores easy.
Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06X9G3V63
- New grill cover: I wanted a new cover to protect the Venom from weather. The standard 22" kettle covers fist like mini skirt with the extension ring/pizza oven kit on the grill in place. And I want to keep it all together and covered when not in use. I found a large kamado grill cover (Joe, Egg, etc) does the job. The one I purchased is a tiny bit long. But it does the job well. I can't find the exact item I bought. So here's a link to something comparable, for reference.
Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GND6M7W/
- Lid holder: It works. And I like it better than hanging the lid by the little hook on the lid, which is more of a challenge when the grill grate is flush with the top of the pizza oven extension.
Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0714KS9CV
So that sums up what I've done with my 22" Weber kettle. This setup gives me a kamado-style grill with a 22" cook surface without having to drop the dime for an XL kamado grill. Note: I already have a medium BGE, which I seldom use anymore, simply because the grill surface is too small for my needs, the ceramic surface gets covered with mildew after the winter rains (it burns off easy, but needs to be done before cooking food - my opinion), and I have to de-rust and season the cast iron parts every spring, after the rainy season is over. Thus, BGE season starts with prep-the-grill ceremony that takes me a few hours to execute. And, more so than the kettle, it takes time to prep it and light/tend a fire. I love the BGE - don't get me wrong. But when time is limited, which is the world I live in, I use what takes the least amount of time. Until recently, that was strictly my pellet grill. With the Venom and my other additions, my kettle is part of daily-use grill gear. :thumb:
Disclaimer: I'm not sponsoring products here. Not a compensated shill. Just sharing stuff I've picked up on my own dime and, after a few months of using, found to be big improvements to my grilling game. So I thought I'd share with my thoughts with my BBQ Brethren.
A few months ago, I came across a temp control system for the Weber kettle 22" that looked like it would be game changer. It's the Spider Grills Venom (https://www.spidergrills.com/products/venom). Spider Grills basically took the fan/pit probe concept and designed a simple system with app and digital interface that fits nicely under the bottom of the kettle. After using if for several months, I have to say it's awesome. For me, it's a game changer. Here's why...
Credit: "Hot Spot" posted about the Venom here in May, '22. But no discussion followed. Gotta give him credit... https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=298717
Lighting the grill is easier now. I don't need a charcoal chimney. I just load up the grill with briquettes, hit them with a propane torch to get a spot of red glowing coal, then turn on the Venom with a target temp, set the cover and adjust the top vent, per the Venom's display, and let it blow. The Venom will blow air to stoke the fire until the set temp is achieved. You can also use cubes or tumbleweeds to light the coals using the Venom to build the burn. I just like the torch method. Propane is cheap. And I don't need but 30-60 seconds of torch time to get a hot spot. Here's the torch I'm using - ok quality, gives me a longer reach, and does the job: https://www.amazon.com/JJGeorge-Grill-Torch-Charcoal-Starter/dp/B076HSB7MM. For me, it's great because I don't overlight the coals. I burn what I need for the cook and waste less charcoal... it's a fuel saver.
Temp stability: The Venom does a great job of holding the target temp. I've not had an issue - no flare ups or burn outs. It's great.
App: It's good, perhaps "very good". It does what I need it to do. It hasn't crashed. I haven't lost a cook because of it - no bugs so far. I use it on my iPhone. The interface is good, overall. The only thing I've found that could be better is when I enter a set temp, the number pad covers the "set temp" button on the screen. So I have to touch the screen above the pop up keypad to make it drop down to execute the command. No biggie. I'm grilling with charcoal now. :thumb:
An added benefit, for me at least: I now have an ash pot on the bottom of the grill. My grill had an ash pan. The pot is a great upgrade for me.
That's the Venom in a nutshell. Spider Grills has also come out with an adapter set to fit the Venom on the 26" kettles, if anyone's interested.
Other additions to my Weber Kettle that I've recently acquired and used with the Venom:
- Pizza oven with rotisserie extension. It's good. It works well. I haven't cooked a pizza yet. But I did use the rotisserie for a chicken this week. That was delicious. This type of extension ring also adds extra volume to the kettle for bigger cuts of meat, like smoking pork butts, or stacked cooks using two grill grates. However, more parts to shuffle makes setting up and adding coals a little more of challenge. The only issue I had with this kit was that the rim of the ring was a little bigger than the rim of the kettle. It fit, but had a little slop to it when sitting on the kettle. This was also true with the kettle lid on top of the extension ring. I used some grill gasket-felt sealing tape on the base of the extension ring and the base of the kettle lid to get a better fit. It worked.
Extension kit Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XHFLXB6
Felt Tape link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08G4RK7GV
- Charcoal ring with heat diffuser. Not a new concept. This does the job of holds a large amount of charcoal and provides a means for indirect cooking without limiting the cook to half of the grill area. It works. No issues with warping of the top plate. And it gives a solid surface to do some dutch oven cooking, which I plan to try soon. That might work best with a peg-leg camp oven vs the standard flat bottom. But I think a ring of scrunched-up aluminum foil to provide a stand-off from the plate would work with the no-legs type of dutch oven. I do that on my pellet grill when cooking potatoes or veggies on a cookie sheet, just to keep the bottom of the cookie sheet from getting grill grease on it (wife gets :mad2: when I grease up the kitchen counter that way... which i've done a few times :doh
. Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08L4KLRTC
- Clip on table for Kettle: Strong enough. Does the job. Folds up and stores easy.
Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06X9G3V63
- New grill cover: I wanted a new cover to protect the Venom from weather. The standard 22" kettle covers fist like mini skirt with the extension ring/pizza oven kit on the grill in place. And I want to keep it all together and covered when not in use. I found a large kamado grill cover (Joe, Egg, etc) does the job. The one I purchased is a tiny bit long. But it does the job well. I can't find the exact item I bought. So here's a link to something comparable, for reference.
Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GND6M7W/
- Lid holder: It works. And I like it better than hanging the lid by the little hook on the lid, which is more of a challenge when the grill grate is flush with the top of the pizza oven extension.
Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0714KS9CV
So that sums up what I've done with my 22" Weber kettle. This setup gives me a kamado-style grill with a 22" cook surface without having to drop the dime for an XL kamado grill. Note: I already have a medium BGE, which I seldom use anymore, simply because the grill surface is too small for my needs, the ceramic surface gets covered with mildew after the winter rains (it burns off easy, but needs to be done before cooking food - my opinion), and I have to de-rust and season the cast iron parts every spring, after the rainy season is over. Thus, BGE season starts with prep-the-grill ceremony that takes me a few hours to execute. And, more so than the kettle, it takes time to prep it and light/tend a fire. I love the BGE - don't get me wrong. But when time is limited, which is the world I live in, I use what takes the least amount of time. Until recently, that was strictly my pellet grill. With the Venom and my other additions, my kettle is part of daily-use grill gear. :thumb:
