Modifying a Weber Smokey Joe

[smack]

I found some yank who modified his Weber Smokey Joe to turn it into a smoker, which he said works rather well. I tried something simular to roast meat in mine, which worked!

He cut a grate so you can add charcoal while cooking, and shields to keep the fuel away from the meat and reduce the radiant heat:


A good idea:




In action - cooking some "butt"! God bless those wacky Americans


Linky:
http://tvwbb.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/1840039...

[smack]

So on Sunday, after picking up 10kg of heat beads - hmmm I want to roast some meat. Mad dash into town before the last supermarket shuts and pick any meat I could find (lucky there was some pork left) to give it a go.

Get back home, try and find something to make a divider/shield with. Find a 28,000 mile old rear motorcycle sprocket, that is in my pile of meat junk to take to the tip. I cleaned it up, open a beer, and get the angle grinder out. 20 minutes later, one divider:



Rear sprocket in the cooker (day after). I should placed it more to the left, but it was fine for a first run. Going to make something better in the next few weeks. I had a tray made out of foil under the meat on the right hand side:



I found a tempature probe in one of my kitchen drawers, and clip it to the handle with the probe going into one of the vent holes (crappy camera phot picture). It's reading about 175 deg C, in a sub 10 deg windy night:



3 hours later, the end result:

[Cotty]

Perhaps a hinged grate would be good to add coal while cooking.
£14.09 or you could take the angle grinder to yours

http://www.wowbbq.co.uk/submenu/Weber%20Spare%20Pa...

They have a hinge both sides as Webber suggest that you place the coals both sides with a drip tray in the middle. I suppose it creates even heat but I suppose as long as you can maintain the internal temp without lifting the lid too much it should be fine.

[Cotty]

Oh and the meat looks great

[escargot]

Cotty said:

Perhaps a hinged grate would be good to add coal while cooking.

now that's a good idea!

[smack]

Cotty said:

Perhaps a hinged grate would be good to add coal while cooking.
£14.09 or you could take the angle grinder to yours

http://www.wowbbq.co.uk/submenu/Weber%20Spare%20Pa...

They have a hinge both sides as Webber suggest that you place the coals both sides with a drip tray in the middle. I suppose it creates even heat but I suppose as long as you can maintain the internal temp without lifting the lid too much it should be fine.

That is a 47cm grate, the Smokey Joe is 37cm. A spare grate is about £7, So it is a angle grinder job

Cotty said:

Oh and the meat looks great

Cheers mate!

[zakelwe]

Are Weber BBq's really that good, they seem to be very popular on here ( sort of like the MX-5 of the FDR section of this forum)! Is it that they are robust, good heating properties or just everything?

Currently we have an Outback 2000 which actually was made in Ashford Kent (avoid kangaroo's whilst going past junction 10 of the M20 .. ) but it is falling apart.

Regards
Andy

[escargot]

zakelwe said:

Are Weber BBq's really that good, they seem to be very popular on here ( sort of like the MX-5 of the FDR section of this forum)! Is it that they are robust, good heating properties or just everything?

Currently we have an Outback 2000 which actually was made in Ashford Kent (avoid kangaroo's whilst going past junction 10 of the M20 .. ) but it is falling apart.

Regards
Andy

I've got 2 webers

A one touch silver for when we've got friends or family around and a go anywhere for when it's just the missus and I.

They are pretty robust and they have excellent heating properties. You can buy cheaper kettle bbqs but I probably wouldn't.

[smack]

escargot said:

zakelwe said:

Are Weber BBq's really that good, they seem to be very popular on here ( sort of like the MX-5 of the FDR section of this forum)! Is it that they are robust, good heating properties or just everything?

Currently we have an Outback 2000 which actually was made in Ashford Kent (avoid kangaroo's whilst going past junction 10 of the M20 .. ) but it is falling apart.

Regards
Andy

I've got 2 webers

A one touch silver for when we've got friends or family around and a go anywhere for when it's just the missus and I.

They are pretty robust and they have excellent heating properties. You can buy cheaper kettle bbqs but I probably wouldn't.

My dad bought one of the larger Weber kettles in the 80's, and would be used for occasions when cooking big cuts of meat, or anything that is going to make a mess of mums oven. Used during the winter, and things like the Christmas ham. It gets left outside all year round, and going strong after some 25 years of service!

There is a smaller one at one of their other properties, bought in the last few years, and the Smokey Joe I recently bought. So 3 in the family....
Oh, and I think dad's gas bbq is a Webber too - what ever it is, it cost a fortune, and caused a big arguement at the time. Works great though!

[Cotty]

I have had a smoky Joe for three years and lives outside. Still looks good and not rusted to death.

I have a gas BBQ but still prefer cooking on the Webber

[zakelwe]

Thanks guys for the summaries, I think I will buy one for next year. The ability to smoke things and also roast to one side of device at a lower temp than grilling as a proper BBQ seems worthwhile pursuing.

I had seen proper BBQing rather than grilling before but had assumed in the UK we'd be stuck with the latter without a Ford F150 on the driveway.

Regards
Andy

Edited by zakelwe on Wednesday 14th October 21:26

[Papoo]

They are a great piece of kit. Simple, robust, and a known quantity. They are diverse, in that you can smoke/cook indirect on them, and have good heating properties. Short of spending a lot more money on something with more insulation, my money is always on the Weber kettle, and a wind-break of some description.

You can get a designated smoker for less money, but frankly, I don't think they work as well as a properly set up WK.

They also make what's called the Weber Ranch Kettle, which is about 36" accross; this is awesome, allowing 2-3 different zones of direct heat, and a mass of indirect space, too. Also great for cooking in a skillet while doing meat on the grate.

Their gas grills are very well built, and heavy duty. The heavy duty aspect is very important, as it ensures more even heat distribution. Cheap gas grills basically heat the grate directly above the flames and can be notoriously 'hot-spotty'. I'm all about charcoal, though, so my knowledge of them isn't expansive.

For the ultimate charcoal experience, heats up to 1300f and as low as 150f, more accurate temp control than an oven, almost zero convection (therefore almost perfect moisture retention), hilarious efficiency (I can get over 24hrs coninuous burn per fill), and the ability to set the temp and walk away for 8 hours without it moving....May I introduce the world of ceramic bbqs and grills...

I shall be doing 3 slabs of 5 hour ribs this weekend, and shall be photo documenting the process for someone, so I'll be posting something similar up here.

[Cotty]

Papoo said:

I shall be doing 3 slabs of 5 hour ribs this weekend, and shall be photo documenting the process for someone, so I'll be posting something similar up here.

[Papoo]

Cotty said:

Papoo said:

I shall be doing 3 slabs of 5 hour ribs this weekend, and shall be photo documenting the process for someone, so I'll be posting something similar up here.

Alternatively, I could have said that I'll be doing 1 and a quarter Cotty servings...

Not that you'll be remotely interested, but I shall be experimenting, as it's not often I get to do a load of ribs side-by-side. All three are going to be cooked over hickory. Two of them have a rub that my BBQ store harp on about, it is very good - "secret" recipe of a champion, he says.. The third, one of my rubs. The difference being, one of the slabs with the shop-bought rub will be foiled at the 2 hour mark - wrapped in heavy duty foil with a bit of apple cider vinegar and worcestershire sauce, for 2 hours, before returning to the smoker, uncovered, for one hour. This is the way I've always done it, fairly commonly used method. The other rack (with the same rub) will be cooked with no foiling.

Ceramic grill gurus say that using this kind of cooker, given the noticable moisture retention properties of them, there's no need to do the foil part, in fact, just cook them for 4.5 hours. So, I shall try this, side by side, and see. I'm not convinced, I must say. I like unfoiled ribs, but in my opinion, I don't think that anything other than the light braise they get in the foil will achieve that kind of tenderness..

Watch this space. Or, given that I've totally hijacked someone's ace thread about using a motorbike to smoke meat, I'll post the commentary in a new thread.

[zakelwe]

Ok, after a lot of reading when I should have been working it seems that the Weber smokers can do smoking, but can they grill? Or is that a pain or not even possible?

I'd like the option of both.

Regards
Andy

[smack]

zakelwe said:

Ok, after a lot of reading when I should have been working it seems that the Weber smokers can do smoking, but can they grill? Or is that a pain or not even possible?

I'd like the option of both.

One of the smokers that looks like a great big water heater?

With the kettles, you have the option of direct cooking (grilling over coals), indirect (roasting or smoking with heat), depending on how you set them up.

[Papoo]

zakelwe said:

Ok, after a lot of reading when I should have been working it seems that the Weber smokers can do smoking, but can they grill? Or is that a pain or not even possible?

I'd like the option of both.

Regards
Andy

Yes sir, that's their primary purpose (assuming you're referring to the kettle). All you're doing to grill is placing the meat over the coals. You'll have more coals in when you grill, due to the hotter temperatures needed. What I do to grill on the 18 inch Weber, is load 1/2 or 2/3 of the kettle with charcoal, and have the remaining space to move meat out of the way in case of a flare-up, or to finish cooking after the sear. Same on the ceramic. I know that for a 1.5 inch thich ribeye steak, I'll give it 90 seconds a side over the coals at 1000f, and a couple of minutes over on the indirect side for a delicious medium rare.. the 90 seconds thing is a standard for me, and then the meat is finished off indirect using the finger prod to determine doneness..

[smack]

Cotty said:

Papoo said:

I shall be doing 3 slabs of 5 hour ribs this weekend, and shall be photo documenting the process for someone, so I'll be posting something similar up here.

Sounds great! Yes, photos please, I have much to learn!

[Papoo]

smack said:

Cotty said:

Papoo said:

I shall be doing 3 slabs of 5 hour ribs this weekend, and shall be photo documenting the process for someone, so I'll be posting something similar up here.

Sounds great! Yes, photos please, I have much to learn!

Ask and you shall recieve..