To me, that’s money well spent considering how much easier it is to discard ashes, one of my least favorite things about operating my previous Weber. The built-in thermometer and dampers also enhance the cooking experience and justify the cost. The weber charcoal grill BBQ Dragon was designed for the impatient charcoal griller. Functionally, it’s a turbo-charged hair dryer that speeds up lighting time significantly. It’ll get your fire going in just 10 minutes, and you can use it in a charcoal chimney, too.
However, if you’re someone who is interested in smoking meat, it’s definitely worthy of consideration. The exhaust vent is placed over the food because you want to pull smoke over your meat. The lid thermometer and the exhaust damper are placed on opposite sides. The enamel is baked on at 1,500F – which is enough to hold up to any heat you throw at the grill as well as potential rust and burn through problems. It almost feels like the legs aren’t made flush to fit well into their holes. This results in you getting upset – or in my case mad – inevitably scratching the legs slightly near their base (not capable of being seen).
I found that just pushing the leg in a little and then tapping the wheel covers on with a hammer (ball-peen, claw, or even a rubber mallet) worked. Our R&D department develops high-quality, fairly priced grilling equipment. The basic kit comes with an aluminum pizza tray, but we recommend using a classic pizza stone for a crispier foundation. Naturally, this isn’t going to give you the same results as a dedicated pizza oven, but it’s still a fun and affordable way to cook a pizza outdoors. Broadrick says that consistency has elevated the charcoal grill into something more. “At this point, the Weber Kettle is more of a platform than a stand-alone product,” he says.
Combustion by-products produced when using this product contain chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm. Small buttons inside tubes create indentations in soft aluminum of legs as you insert them, ensuring tight fit. Twisting, rocking, or removing and reinserting can lead to too-wide grooves and loose legs. If you’re someone who doesn’t smoke meat and has no interest in doing so, I wouldn’t even consider buying the SNS Kettle.
Plus, the size-to-weight ratio is fabulous; there’s a lot of grate space, but it’s light enough to move it around to wherever I feel like grilling. Although it’s not a purpose-built smoker, it is certainly possible to do some smoking on your charcoal grill with the help of the charcoal snake method and some good temp control via the vents. A heat shield just beneath the heat-resistant glass-reinforced nylon lid handle prevents you from burning yourself. The enclosed ash catcher below the grill body is a major upgrade in this version and makes cleanup much easier (more on that later). The circular cooking surface area is relatively petite, with a 22-inch diameter, but testers noted that when set up as a smoker, it can still handle two to three racks of ribs. In our smoking test, the ribs had a quarter-inch pale pink smoke ring, and a nicely glossy, caramelized exterior.
After dinner, fold down the side table, push together your chairs, and toast to the Performer charcoal grill. As you can see, there is a lot to like about the Weber Kettle. It’s relatively inexpensive as far as grills/smokers go and it will essentially last a decade or longer. For over 15+ years I simply used the minion method or charcoal snake to smoke (pictured below) with and that still works perfectly fine. I mean I didn’t even have the fancy lid thermometer that I have now and did everything with a old meat probes hanging from exhaust vent near the meat.