The integrated water reservoir holds a quart of water and provides a humid cooking environment. The Napoleon Freestanding Charcoal Kettle Grill took the longest to set up, clocking in at an hour and five minutes of build time. 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.
The fuel door is removable so that adding charcoal and wood is easy, and the dampers allow you to be in control of the heat for tender, fall-off-the-bone meat. Toast to the authenticity of charcoal grilling, classic design, and taste loved around the world—the Original Kettle. Its ultra-durable, porcelain-enameled lid and bowl retain heat, while the portable bbq dampers can be easily adjusted for precise temperature control. The premium version of the original kettle measures 22 inches wide and comes in three colors. The premium version also includes Weber’s One-Touch cleaning system, meaning that it comes with a large enclosed ash pan for easy cleanup, and it also boasts a built-in thermometer and lid hook.
Built to Last- Charcoal Weber Grills feature a tried and true design and solid engineering. Weber believes in the quality and craftsmanship of their grills, and offer the warranty to back it up. If you want a charcoal grill to last decades, then this is the brand for you. The Weber Kettle is capable of searing steak, grilling hamburgers and hotdogs, vegetables, etc. It can also be easily transformed into a smoker through the strategic arrangement of charcoal. The last Weber kettle I owned was given to me by my father and lasted 10+ years; The grill is so old that it doesn’t have newer features like a lid thermometer, handle heat shield, or lid hanger.
Updated the last year 2021, the $139 Nexgrill Cart-Style Charcoal Grill is a compelling alternative to the Weber, especially if you prefer a cart-style backyard cooker. That design gives you a handy side tray and more cooking surface room. In fact, at 572 square inches, this updated larger grill has even more cooking space than the previous version, which offered 390 square inches. It’s weber genesis 2 also a lot compared with the Weber’s 363-square-inch cooking area. Grilling with charcoal takes a little more time and attention than grilling with gas, but the payoff is that delicious smokey flavor you just can’t get from a propane flame. After spending two days cooking 40 pounds of burgers, BBQ, and whole chickens, we recommend the Weber Original Kettle Premium Charcoal Grill 22″.
A couple of downsides discovered during testing were that the lid can detach while cooking and the lack of a built-in thermometer means you’ll need to have your own. Lifting the meat a few inches further from the heat source makes temperature maintenance less of a pain. Speaking of Slow ‘N Sear, this company was built on their innovative charcoal insert, mentioned above.
The new spring-loaded hood design is a significant improvement over earlier models. Simply light a charcoal chimney of charcoal, arrange your briquettes or lump charcoal based on what you’re grilling/smoking, adjust your vents, and you’re off to the races. In the case of kettle models, we arrange coals in a semicircle around the grill’s inner wall. The charcoal briquettes form a line two coals wide and two coals deep.
The Weber grills were the only grills that didn’t come with a hardware pack. You can easily set up either Weber grill by yourself and it only requires you to use a hammer or screwdriver portable bbq for attaching the handle and wheels. The rest ranged in setup time from 27 minutes to over an hour, with varying levels of difficulty and number of persons needed to complete the task.
Charcoal grills also tend to be less expensive than gas or pellet grills, so you can cook outdoors, even if you’re on a budget. It’s a three-probe temperature tracker and ventilation control system that feeds all the grilling data you could want to your phone. If your fire is gaining too much heat on a low-and-slow pork shoulder, the Tempmaster will cut back airflow to cut the heat down.