The Venom Adapter from Spider Grills attaches to the air inlets at the bottom of your kettle and electronically controls the temperature of the grill by precisely regulating air flow. You can control the temperature within the kettle from the primary control panel on the venom or through an app on your phone. When grilling things like hot dogs and hamburgers, you don’t need to put the lid on. At a certain moment, Dad would decide that the charcoal was ready for cooking. On would go the grate, and an assortment of burger patties, hot dogs, and sausages were laid upon this culinary altar. A few twists of the knobs, and I can have a high-heat zone, medium-heat zone, and low-heat zone at the ready.
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Assembling each grill also allowed us to assess the quality of the materials. When it was time to cook, we filled a charcoal chimney starter with Kingsford Professional Competition Briquettes. When coals were ready we dumped the coals to cover exactly half of each grill’s charcoal grate . We replaced or unfolded the cooking portable bbq grate, depending on the grill, put the lid on, and let each grill warm up for 15 minutes. Simple construction means there aren’t too many parts to assemble or too many features to handle while cooking. A vent on the lid controls airflow and a well-designed ash tray beneath the Weber grill facilitates easy cleanup.
This grill has enough room for a three-zone charcoal fire—and a handful of beer-can chickens, multiple racks of ribs, or 20 burgers. It’s also a great grill for slow cooking a whole pork shoulder and then some with or without Char-Griller’s optional side fire box. Compared to gas grills, the anatomy of charcoal grills is quite simple. They’re essentially containers for coal with racks and lids.
Our favorite bird from this batch was the one cooked on the Weber, though it was a tough call. The bird cooked on the Nexgrill cart-style grill came in right behind, a close second in terms of flavor and texture. From Bluetooth speakers to patio furniture to gas and charcoal grills, here’s what we think you need for backyard entertaining and cooking. Weber kettles combine traditional design with an innovative production. Made of steel and coated with porcelain enamel, the bowl and lid are formed exactly right to allow heat to circulate around the inside of the grill for even cooking.
Here are some of the best accessories to help you mange the fire in your grill. The Art of Manliness participates in affiliate marketing programs, which means we get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our weber charcoal grill links. We only recommend products we genuinely like, and purchases made through our links support our mission and the free content we publish here on AoM. The Weber Charcoal Kettle has been the king of the backyard BBQ since the 1950s.
The enamel is baked on at 1,500F – which is enough to hold up to any heat you throw at the grill as well as potential rust and burn through problems. Typically, prices drop in the Winter months when demand is low and increases in the Summer when demand is high – If you’re in the market for a new grill, always wait till Winter. The only thing extra that you need for assembly is a mallet or hammer to tap the wheel hub caps on. Everything else that you need to assemble the grill comes packaged.
Between them, I’d say it largely depends on your budget and what style of grill you prefer for other meats like burgers or steak. We fired up models from Weber, Nexgrill, Napoleon, KitchenAid, Char-Griller and others to find out which charcoal grill is king of the cookout. 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. Instead, bring your grill into a garage, put it under an awning, or tent it with a grill cover . The Weber grill has three legs—an inherently stable design, because having three points of contact means the legs will automatically “find their level” even on bumpy ground.