Recommend me a BBQ

[boyse7en]

Looking for advice on a BBQ.

I've got a decent large gas fired grill BBQ already - three burners, grille one side, hotplate the other.
It works well for steaks, fish and burgers, but because it hasn't got a lid I can't try doing the slow-cooked chickens, belly pork or lamb joint that I'd like to try.

So I think I'm looking for a charcoal BBQ, but a quick visit to Homebase slightly befuddled me with all sorts of shapes, sizes and types (and prices)

Anything i should look for? or avoid?

[Craikeybaby]

Weber kettle. 57cm if you want to do beer car chicken etc.

[J8 SVG]

Got one of these for this summer, it's fantastic. For smoking and for direct coal cooking

http://www.souschef.co.uk/proq-frontier-smoker.htm...

[_Neal_]

Agreed - 57cm Weber of some kind should give you enough space to do all the indirect cooking (with smoke etc) you need. It's possible on a 47cm but a bit tight with larger joints. Should be able to get one online for about £100-125.

I really recommend Weber's charcoal dividers too - they're really cheap, and make the two-zone/indirect cooking very straightforward.

[prand]

Craikeybaby said:

Weber kettle. 57cm if you want to do beer car chicken etc.

It's the one I have too, and I recommend it. Good for direct grilling and indirect roasting. It's big enough to roast large joints, racks of ribs & chickens, (and do smoking in, but not very controllable). I usually put coals in half the base, so there is a cool spot for putting food once it's cooked. Plus its easy then to put the lid on and cook stuff thoroughlyonce it's done on the outside (or vice versa for true reverse seer.

I've had mine for nearly 8 years and it's still going very strong. I've had cheaper homebase equivalents which have rusted or fallen apart in a couple.

I fancy treating mine sometime soon and investing in a replacement cast iron grill.

[Rick101]

Again, Weber 57cm.

Well made bit of kit. Mine is left outside all year uncovered and still looks in great condition. Only slight issue I've had is that the temperature gauge has a bit of condensation in it.
Dropped Weber UK a message and they sent me a replacement out. Unit must me 5 or 6 years old now so great after service too.

[craig1912]

Yep Weber 57" and get a lighter chimney

[_Neal_]

craig1912 said:

Yep Weber 57" and get a lighter chimney

Agree with this too - lighter chimney a great accessory.

I've also had good experience with my Weber (47cm Kettle) in terms of build quality. It's been used regularly and has lived outdoors under a cover for 11 years, and it's still going strong. I treated it to a replacement charcoal grate last year (old one had become misshapen with use) but that was it.

In terms of a dedicated smoker I have a 47cm Weber Smokey Mountain too, which is also really good (cost c.£325). I've read good things about the Frontier smoker linked above as well.

[21TonyK]

prand said:

I fancy treating mine sometime soon and investing in a replacement cast iron grill.

Well worth the upgrade, I picked one up of amazon for about £40

And another vote for Webber. I only use mine as a basic grill but purely on how long it has lasted its worth the premium over cheaper ones the "look" the same.

[Dan_1981]

Guess what?

Yup - 57cm Weber.

[hman]

same.

[RichS]

Same! With the lighter chimney.

[ladderino]

And another. Weber Kettle, chimney, and some smoking chips.

[85Carrera]

Another vote for the Weber

Get a slown'sear and a pizza stone (if GBS) and you can do everything you can do on a Green Big Egg without the hype - and being ripped off

[CardinalFang]

8574th vote for weber 57cm with charcoal dividers, chimney starter & warming rack.

Charcoal dividers give you direct (fast, searing) cooking &/or indirect (slow & low) heat
Chimney starter halves the warm up time
Warming rack saves you running back to the oven to keep things warm. Ok an indulgence compared to the other two accessories.

Yes they are expensive, but mine's stood outside for 8 years, mostly uncovered, gets a full scrub down once a year; has zero rust & nothing is bent, twisted, stuck or wonky.

Top tip - if you want to use a water tray, don't use their disposable aluminium foil jobbies: use a good quality le creuset/mermaid/enamel roasting tin. Again, they last forever.
Top tip 2 - steel wool & hot water to clean the racks when they're still warm & sticky, not baked with 3 month old sugary-meat-concrete.

Also there's a whole universe of sites & forums for upgrades, tweaks, add-ons etc, for temperature regulation, smoking, recipes as well as their own website for cookbooks & accessories like woks, pizza stones & god knows what else...Honestly, its the absolute definition of buy cheap, pay twice.