Equipment switcharoo (warning, stupidly long and likely boring!)

Smoked&Baked

Knows what a fatty is.
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TL;DR I gave both my Yoder YS640S and my Weber Genesis E-330 to my son (to refurb and sell) and replaced them both with a Weber Summit Kamado (WSK).

I haven't posted in awhile but wanted to share, hope that's cool :)

I spent thousands of hours, over months and months, trying to figure out how I could consolidate equipment while simultaneously upgrading. Of course I have my own space limitations, budget, personal/family tastes, my constraints due to my disability, and other equipment that will remain (e.g. the wood fired oven is mandatory). I’ve read more specs and watched more YouTube videos than you can imagine. Finally after all that I made the change.

I tried to love my Yoder YS640S, I really did. It's a rock solid, reliable piece of equipment that never once ruined a cook on me, however the excessive rust that mine developed, and lack of smoke flavor (for my taste), made me decide it was time to move on.

My Weber Genesis was a great grill, it cooked many a fine meal for my family when I was working and the kids were younger and time was more precious. Now though, since I retired, I never use it. I got all the time in the world to use charcoal, so instead of using the gas grill I'll get a little kettle out of the shed, or on a nice day I'll burn down logs to coals in the Santa Maria. So it's like watching another one of my kids move out, seeing the grill get loaded into some other guy's truck... But at least the grill isn't going to call in two weeks and ask for money lol

This may sound odd but my decision came down between the M1/36-S and the WSK. I went with the WSK because I think it'll be easier with my physical limitations and if not I can easily sell it and buy a MOAG after. I'm not going to live long enough to wear either one out lol.

I absolutely love the WSK. It grills better than my Genesis did, it smokes better than my YS640S did, it's bigger and far more insulated than any kettle I’ve personally ever owned. It's a little more physical work up front than the YS640S, but just as set and forget (with the fan), and a lot less clean up and maintenance.

I've already made some tweaks to make it work better for my disabilities. First my son put it on blocks like this:

gGSLtm1b.jpg


This does a couple important things for me. Mostly it stops it from wiggling around on its turnable wheels. All three wheels have locking casters that stop the wheels from spinning inside the wheel housing but they don't stop the wheel and housing from rotating around a little if you can’t lift the cover handle straight up. Since I can barely stand on some days, this was a danger to me, easy for me to fall over if the grill moves. Second, being about an inch and a half taller made just the difference that I don't have to put my knee down to adjust the bottom vents or take the ash can out. That's huge because if I put a knee down I'm not getting back up until I crawl to, and up, the picnic table.

I also added a FireBoard/drive/fan. The WSK does a great job and I don't really need the fan, however I'm disabled and getting up in the middle of the night to check a fire ain't happening anymore. Plus I'm a geek and like to play with toys. I occasionally thoroughly enjoy doing a whole cook with just my hand and time but on my bad health days its nice to look at my phone and make adjustments, even if I’m typically sitting next to the grill. So probes everywhere if I'm in the mood :)

I bought another charcoal grate. Yeah, I two zone at times of course, but sometimes I want the full grate smoke and then a super hot sear so instead of moving the hot coal filled grate from the bottom to the top and then adding more hot charcoal to go from full smoker to full sear I can just set the second grate on, put the readied charcoal on, and sear. Then shut all the vents before Vesuvius destroys my gazebo :) I love how quick the WSK shuts it down and I can save charcoal.

Well, that's where I'm at. If anyone read all this, thanks for hearing me, just one more crazy hobbyist out here in bbq land :)
 
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Sounds like a great fit for your needs and as much as I’ve always been tempted to get an M1 (or likely 36), I think some form of Kamado would fit my needs better as well
 
I also own the WSK, it’s the best Weber product that I’ve ever owned. When I first got it I was kicking myself in a** wondering why I waited so long to get one. I have other smokers but the WSK can truly do it all, smoke or grill. I’ve been eyeing the Joetisserie lately but can’t really justify the cost, enjoy your new cooker!
 
I thought your WSK was a Weber SmokeFire King (no such thing as King!!) I was very impressed and thought it would make me happy. After seeing it was a Weber Sumit Kamado, I was glad I looked at the SmokeFire first. I would much rather have all the selling points of this one!
Ed
 
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