Whatever you decide, you’ll be able to whip up your favorite foods in no time at all. The 357 PRO wouldn’t be a Hasty-Bake without their classic adjustable-height charcoal tray that can be raised and lowered with a crank. The coals can move from 14.5 inches to 2.5 inches away from the cooking surface for serious direct infrared searing, a lot like a classic Santa Maria-style grill.
Spider Grills Pella manages to make the charcoal-fueled Weber a wood-pellet grill in an elegant and weirdly easy way. It’s the most-automated path to low-heat smoking possible while remaining perfectly capable of high-heat grilling. For one, the screws are not much bigger than those that portable bbq hold eyeglass frames together. When you think about the ash catcher’s job—to capture hot ashes and embers—the tiny screws don’t inspire much confidence. For the same reason, don’t let your charcoal grill sit out in the rain, as the resulting lye will quickly corrode any metal it touches.
With charcoal grills, I test for effective air control by smoking low and slow at 225°F, roasting in the mid-range around 350°F, and letting ‘er rip with a blazing, red hot fire. Leaky grills are harder to control and get rated accordingly. To dial in my target cooking temperatures accurately, I use multi-channel digital thermometers with temperature probes clipped to the cooking surface. Charcoal grills usually don’t have as many bells and whistles as gassers, but I assess whatever goodies are included, particularly ash removal systems. Many condo and apartment dwellers want a small grill that fits on their modest patio, but they often encounter restrictions on using charcoal and likely need to look at alternative fuels.
The 18 inch grate on the Jumbo is an impressive size for a small grill and the locking lid latch truly makes this grill portable. The lid lock mechanism also doubles as a “Slide A Side” lid holder. You will find that the best way to get the ashes out of this grill is to take weber genesis 2 out the grates, turn the grill upside down and then pull out a shop vac to clean up the mess. The first problem is that while it looks like a full size grill it is actually a little too small. This kettle has the same general dimensions as the portable 18 inch Jumbo Joe.
While this grill does come with an included cart, which added to setup time, we also found the instructions hard to follow, and the amount of hardware included felt a bit overwhelming. If you’re going to purchase this grill, then we’d advise looking into having your local hardware store build and deliver it to you. We loved the stability of this grill for manipulating the coal bed.