This eliminates the temptation to put the lid on the ground, which can singe a circle in your lawn. Small hooks on the grill’s side handle are ideal for hanging tongs, spatulas, or a towel. The lightweight construction and wheels on two of the three legs made the Weber reasonably easy to move or reposition on pavement. While the Weber is nearly perfect in its simplicity, I do wish they had given this premium model bigger, better wheels. As is, it requires some effort to roll the grill through the grass into storage or when the kids need the yard for a soccer game or water fight.
The pan is not as deep as the Weber Premium’s pan, so it requires more frequent cleaning, which can only be done when the grill is entirely cooled off. The lid sets this grill apart from a traditional Weber kettle, which features an unattached kettle top. We enjoyed the ease of being able to hinge open the lid on the Blackjack for a quick flip of our meat during our tests.
When you invert the assembly to screw it to the grill, the inner collar can slip down unnoticed and prevent the screws from attaching to the grill body. That happened to us twice before we figured out what was going on. If it had been full of hot ash, we would have had a real problem.
There’s the elevated ash catcher, which makes dumping the remnants easier than with the original model . I set up the grill in under 15 minutes, and three or four of those were spent taking it out of the box. It is an absurdly simple process that requires a hammer and a Phillips-head screwdriver. In the box, you’ll find 16 pieces including portable bbq a plastic wrench only used to attach the handle to the lid. The pill-shaped Smokey Mountain drops the coalbed down a foot or two, adds a door to throw new coals on and comes with a porcelain-enameled water rack to keep things nice and humid. If you want food closer to the fire, there’s a grate beneath the top grate for charring.
If you prefer meat that’s more well done, you can extend the cooking time, or sear and finish cooking in an oven. They’re bulkier, the assembly is more involved and you’ll likely need more fuel to weber charcoal grill keep the larger space at a high temperature. Our results, however, were almost as good as with the kettle-style Weber, so if you’re interested in a cart-style charcoal BBQ, this is your best bet.
It’s certainly true that the Weber Kettle’s fire can be tricky to control, especially when compared to pellet grills and kamado smokers. It’s simply not as fuel efficient and heat insulated as fancier grill styles like those. Still, you can buy plenty of aftermarket products designed to make life easier. First, I filled a charcoal chimney 75% full with briquettes and ignited them. Then I replaced the grill grate and dropped my spatchcooked bird on the cooler side . One downside to this grill is the ash pan, which can only be emptied by reaching into the grill and lifting it up and out of the kettle.