weber mods

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LT72884

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I have noticed that with my 22.5 weber grill, as soon as a put the lid on and have top an dbottom vents open. I lose a ton of heat. I have been watching alot of youtube videos on using a weber grill and it whenever they take the lid of the coals are still nice and red hot and have there firey glow about them. With me they turn gray and ash out. I am wondering if it has anything to do with my 4700 foot elevation. A wonder if a few mods will help me out.

I want to put a thermometer in the lid. Should it be grate level?
Maybe add another vent or somehow make something that will hold the lid up off the grill a 1/8th inch or so and have it removable so that i can shut it down when needed.

any one have some cool mods

thanx guys
 
Definitely put the thermometer as close to grate level as you can. I want to know what the temp is at the meat, not 12 inches above or below it.
 
Maybe you could try a small fan somehow to see if you can get temps you want. My kettle (Performer wirth one touch type vents) will usually run along real nice at 350* for a couple hours with bottom about 3/4 open and top about 3/4 open. 400* wide open. Can run minion pretty good down around 250* for 5-6 hours at about 1/2 open on top and bottom.
I made some salmon jerky a couple years ago on the kettle and durring the drying time I hooked up a fan through a piece of dryer vent hose for the top just for circulation while the salmon dried. maybe something simple through the bottom vents with an old computer fan may work? I'm pretty sure Norco has somekind of blower/heat regualtor mod on one of his contraptions...maybe he'll weigh in.
May also want to check out the Kettle Appreciation thread...
 
LT, you sure got weird BBQ things going on there.

I'm at 6,700 ft and have no problems with my 22.5 weber kettle like you describe. Unless the bottom holes get clogged up with chunks of charcoal on longer cooks.

I bought a used weber which has the ash handle to remove the ash while cooking and I have to use it about once an hour to keep the temp stable. I am making a smaller opening charcoal grid to let the charcoal burn longer before it drops down to the bottom holes. I did this already for my Smokey joe weber and it works much better on long smokes.

Check your ash holes.
To be sure they are not clogging when you are cooking.

Did you get your UDS problem solved yet?
 
Last edited:
BigAl said:
LT, you sure got weird BBQ things going on there.

I'm at 6,700 ft and have no problems with my 22.5 weber kettle like you describe. Unless the bottom holes get clogged up with chunks of charcoal on longer cooks.

I bought a used weber which has the ash handle to remove the ash while cooking and I have to use it about once an hour to keep the temp stable. I am making a smaller opening charcoal grid to let the charcoal burn longer before it drops down to the bottom holes. I did this already for my Smokey joe weber and it works much better on long smokes.

Check your ash holes.
To be sure they are not clogging when you are cooking.

Did you get your UDS problem solved yet?
Click to expand...

No my UDS is still not gettin to the temps i want. wide open i get to about 300 on a windy day and 325 on a calm day.

I move the bottom vent thing every so often to clear it of any possible ash. Maybe i have a vacuum around my house. Its weird because the coals jusy go gray and literally no glow to em. See if i can find a recent pic.

No cell phones work with in a 75 foot radius of our house. Wondering if i have the same issue with grills and the such. Maybe i should move to the street. haha. No joke, cell phones dont work at my house and i am half a block from the tower. I think it is our aluminum roof. Kinda like a faraday cage. :icon_sleepy
 
can you be more specific at what yer doing, what yer cooking and what you want to be happening ? also how the vents etc are positioned to each other and to the wind ? you should be able to get great temps, yer not that high.

LT72884 said:
I have noticed that with my 22.5 weber grill, as soon as a put the lid on and have top an dbottom vents open. I lose a ton of heat. I have been watching alot of youtube videos on using a weber grill and it whenever they take the lid of the coals are still nice and red hot and have there firey glow about them. With me they turn gray and ash out. I am wondering if it has anything to do with my 4700 foot elevation. A wonder if a few mods will help me out.

I want to put a thermometer in the lid. Should it be grate level?
Maybe add another vent or somehow make something that will hold the lid up off the grill a 1/8th inch or so and have it removable so that i can shut it down when needed.

any one have some cool mods

thanx guys
Click to expand...
 
BigAl said:
I am making a smaller opening charcoal grid to let the charcoal burn longer before it drops down to the bottom holes.

Check your ash holes. To be sure they are not clogging when you are cooking.
Click to expand...

Try getting another grate, same size and place it at 90 degrees on top of the one already in place. This solved the issue addressed in the first quote of Big Al's, and is simpler than designing a new grate...

Al's second recommendation is always a wise idea.
 
I have been using a grate from a XL BGE in my kettle, fits perfect and holds heat very well. It solved my problem of the charcoal or lump falling to the bottom and I get much longer burns from my fuel..or......you can double up the grate at 90* like Desert D suggested.
 
LT72884 said:
No cell phones work with in a 75 foot radius of our house. Wondering if i have the same issue with grills and the such. Maybe i should move to the street. haha. No joke, cell phones dont work at my house and i am half a block from the tower. I think it is our aluminum roof. Kinda like a faraday cage. :icon_sleepy
Click to expand...

I just noticed that you live in Draper! My parents live there and I was raised in Riverton. It must be a draper thing cause they have issues with cell phones at their house too. We should have a utah brethren gathering (it may be just me and you?) and figure out your uds problem.
 
Im here in Texas and have no problems with my 22.5. Mine gets so hot I use a welding glove to take the lid off. How much coal are u putting in it? What kind of coal are u using? lump briqs? Mine ash over as well but it is still hot as hell.
 
Yes, what charcoal are you using? I am in the salt lake valley as well and I get 550+ in my kettles using kingsford or RO lump. And that is with coal on one side only. But, that one side is really lit up. (temp measured in exhaust vent on opposite side).
 
When you live in a vacuum it is void of air, and since air consist of oxygen and nitrogen, and oxygen is a key ingredient in the fire triangle perhaps you should go electric!:biggrin:
 
can you be more specific at what yer doing, what yer cooking and what you want to be happening ? also how the vents etc are positioned to each other and to the wind ? you should be able to get great temps, yer not that high.
Click to expand...

Ok just old school grilling here. Not indirect method. I use one chimney full of good ole kingsford and wait bout 30 minutes or so till they are mostly covered with white ash and hot. I pour them into the weber. The bottom vent is wide open. It is the propeller style looking vent. One touch clean up i think is the correct name for it. I out the lid on and have the top vent open all the way. I take the lid of after a few minutes and all the heat is gone. I held my hand over it for about 8-9 seconds before i needed to move it away.

I am using the same bag of charcoal that i used for me UDS. Could be bad bag of coal.

I wanna do a beer can chicken but i need a thermo first so i can what temps im gettin.

I just noticed that you live in Draper! My parents live there and I was raised in Riverton. It must be a draper thing cause they have issues with cell phones at their house too. We should have a utah brethren gathering (it may be just me and you?) and figure out your uds problem.
Click to expand...

heck ya. i bet i know em. well maybe. I drive threw riverton every night along the riverbottoms and 13th west. My cousins waarehouse for OGIO is right along 13th west and 142 south

Im trying to get my UDS fixed right now. Im gettin a new charcoal grate and ring then i am going to ask some one if the pipe nipples are to long. Its an idea.

I know of one other who has family here in utah that are on this forum

thanx guys
 
I use my kettle all the time and with the lid off the temps are very high because the charcoal has tons of oxygen. When I put the lid on with all vents wide open the temps come down some but that's just because the air flow is not as much as no lid but the fire does not turn off it keeps it pretty steady. I'd buy a new bag of charcoal and try it again but just know the temps won't be as high with the lid off as they are with the lid on due to not as much air flow. But I think it might be your charcoal.
 
Smokey Al Gold said:
I use my kettle all the time and with the lid off the temps are very high because the charcoal has tons of oxygen. When I put the lid on with all vents wide open the temps come down some but that's just because the air flow is not as much as no lid but the fire does not turn off it keeps it pretty steady. I'd buy a new bag of charcoal and try it again but just know the temps won't be as high with the lid off as they are with the lid on due to not as much air flow. But I think it might be your charcoal.
Click to expand...

Good thing i used the coupon for this bag of kingsford. With lid off i can cook hamburgers in about 15 minutes or so. Took almost 1.5 hours to cook a stuffed top round steak the other night directly over the coals. After 1.5 hours on the grill. I cut it open and still raw in the middle. So i had to microwave it for a few minutes. GRRR
 
im runnin to the store in about 10 minutes. Im gonna get one of those long turkey fryer thermos like mu uds has. Im guessing center grate is where i should have my temps read at.
 
I very seldom ever use just one chimney of coals to try and cook any thing in the kettle. maybe in the 18.5" if your spreading em out. I will usually use 1-2 chimneys worth in the 22.5" and make a hot-medium-cool zones in the grill. I have tried just one chimney in the kettle and its not alot of heat at all. unless u bank em to one side.
Hell growing up i normally used half a bag of charcoal and bout half a bottle of lighter fluid to get it going lol. That was a lot of fun squirting lighterfluid onto a raging inferno.
 
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