New Performer Platinum


 
Scott C.

Scott C.

TVWBB Super Fan
I just brought on board our 4th Weber, adding to the Summit, Q320, and the WSM, a Performer Platinum and I have a few questions.

I gave up on charcoal back in the 80's with my first gasser, and I do quite well with gas. However, after my first shot last night, charcoal sure is more involved.

I started with a full chimney, centered right over the gas lighter. I let that go for about 5 minutes, then turned off the gas. I then let the charcoal go for another ~15 minutes and then tried to dump them in the charcoal baskets, but when I added the top grate, the charcoals were blazing just over an inch away from the grates, and it seemed that would be a problem. So I dumped them both out on the charcoal grate and spread them around a bit. I did notice while dumping that the charcoal grate is a little undersized for the kettle, as a couple of briquets were able to fall past. Oh well. I'll have to look and see if I can get the grate top fit under the tabs for a better seal against the wall.

Well, I tried to spread them as out as evenly as possible, and at first, with the top and bottom vents open fully, it got cranked up to ~500 pretty quickly. I thought great! When I opened it about 10 minutes later, readying to add the food, I noticed the coals were considerably hotter in the center, and the outside was definitely cooler. I tried to adjust that a bit, but only with some degree of success. I did however notice very quickly that the doggone handle gets darned HOT. I noticed a post here somewhere about a heat shield, but can't seem to find any evidence of such a thing in the manual or on the Weber site. Does anyone know what that is?

Anyway, getting back to the cook, due to the considerably uneven temps across the grate, I found myself opening the cover and adjusting around the food to syncronize cook times, much more often that I would like. I guess figuring out how to more evenly spread out the coal comes with time, but I still can't fathom how anyone can cook directly with those baskets? They seem to be the the hot ticket for indirect, but far too tall for direct. I would think that if they were shorter but wider, would be much more helpful at least for direct cooking.

Lastly, while at first the full chimney was able to push the temps in the 500 range pretty easily, towards the end of of the cook, only doing a few kabobs, chicken breasts, burgers and a steak, towards the end, I was having problems getting it up near 375. I wonder if I should have used more coals? Seems like a lot of charcoal for a relatively short cook?

Anyway, I was hoping for a few pointers as a search through this section for Performer tips. Things are quite different than the old days when you just filled the bottom grate of the kettle, doused it with lighter fluid, set off a glorious blaze and once everything settled down, you got a pretty even coverage but the food always seemed to reek fo LF. That propane starter seems to be the hot ticket, but getting a good volume of charcoals all started consistently seems to be a trick.

Also, where does the match holder thingie go?
 
Last edited:
A full chimney loosely packed filled the two backets almost exactly? Seems to be pretty much the same volume?
 
Scott,
I use the baskets about 90% of the time, and light the coals in the baskets on my Performer.
For indirect cooking I'll pretty well fill them, and for direct, fill only about half way, you'll get plenty of heat for a short cook.

I cook steaks indirect, with full baskets, until about 10 degrees below desired temp, then go direct for a reverse sear.
But I cook most chicken and pork indirect, at least to start.

Some don't care for the baskets, some love them, I'm in the latter category.

Good luck, practice makes perfect!
 
Sounds like you have something set up wrong on that bottom charcoal grate. There is no way any coals can slip past the sides of the grate, only though it if they have burned long enough. Sounds like you have the charcoal grate under the bottom tabs? It should rest on top of those...

x2 on what Bob said. I almost always use the baskets, and I just light the coals right inside the basket. I've never used a full chimney of new coals in mine. Generally I'm about half new, half used coals. I almost always set up for indirect cooking now.

The match holder is only used for manual lighting of the gas assist. No real need for it if you are using the electric start.
 
Last edited:
Thanks guys. I'm going to take a hard look at the charcoal grate, but as I was putting it together, I noticed that sitting on top of the tabs, there was about a good inch gap to the wall all the way around. The gap with the grate to the wall in between two tabs, I could clear the far tab. I thought at first it might be intended to be installed under the tabs, and the tabs are there to merely prevent the grate from tipping, but I couldn't get it under all three. I wonder if the tabs were welded on too high on mine? Again, this kind of dovetails my other concern of the baskets being so darned close to the top grate? I'll have to look at this closely.

That said, I've never really thought about cooking steaks, sausages, or burgers indirectly. On the Summit it would always be direct, until you start thinking about a whole chicken, or turkey kind of thing. I guess I'm in for some retraining.
 
Last edited:
Scott C. said:
Thanks guys. I'm going to take a hard look at the charcoal grate, but as I was putitng it together, I noticed that sitting on top of the tabs, there was about a good inch gap to the wall all the way around. The gap was grate to the wall in between two tabs, I could clear the far tab. I thought at first it might be intended to be installed under the tabs, and the tabs are there to merely prevent the grate from tipping, but I couldn't get it under all three. I wonder if the tabs were welded on too high on mine? Again, this kind of dovetails my other concern of the baskets being so darned close to the top grate? I'll have to look at this closely.

That said, I've never really thought about cooking steaks, sausages, or burgers indirectly. On the Summit it would always be direct, until you start thinking about a whole chicken, or turkey kind of thing. I guess I'm in for some retraining.
Click to expand...

Something sounds off there. On mine, my charcoal grate can't really move. From the top tab (where the cooking grate sits), to the edge of the bowl, the measurement is around 2 and 3/4".
 
My charcoal grates have about 1/4" of play. If you have an inch ---- I wonder if it's the wrong charcoal grate?
As a long time gas griller, I'll admit the charcoal way of life comes with a learning curve. But the rewards are so worth it.
I've recently gone back to using the gas grill for hot fast cooks, including steak. There's room in this world for both, so enjoy the ride. :)

My best advice --- study the photo gallery and see how people are using their charcoal for cooking. Then experiment.
 
I think we need a photo of your charcoal grate resting in the bowl... Charcoal isn't anything too complicated or mysterious. If you've had success with gas you can have even more with 'coal.
 
Scott like others here, when I use the baskets, I light the charcoal in them. If I’m looking at a longer cook say at 350F, I fill them half way and add to them every 45 minutes or so. If I’m going quick and hot, I’ll fill them up and place them directly under whatever I’m cooking. Good Luck!
 
Hi Scott, it looks like your questions have been answered so I would like to suggest if you really wont to have some fun and great food you must give a Rotisserie set-up for your Performer a shot. Once you start using a roto you'll be addicted to it. I have a Cajon Bandit Rotisserie with a OneGrill Performer basket and love them. I hope I've given you some food for thought. Good luck and good smoking.
 
Thanks guys. I didn't get a chance to check it out last night as I got called out of town, but I'm pretty well convinced that the tabs are set high on mine for some reason. I mean, with the grate sitting on the tabs and if when you dump the charcoal briquets, there's enough room on the sides to allow a couple to fall through, something's definitely going on. Like I said, it was so odd, that I first thought the grate was supposed to go under the tabs? It has to be the tabs, as I don't think they have a variety of charcoal grates within an inch or so together to accidently mix up. I'll have to sort that out, but you guys are saying that on yours, when sitting on the tabs, the perimeter of the grate is pretty well touching the sides of the kettle and the grate will not slide around?

Anyway, thanks for the tips on the baskets and the use. Still trying to get my head around indirect cooking meats you typically cook fast via direct on a gasser. Like I said, in the old days, you took the good old kettle, dumped most of the bag, doused the charcoal with lighter fluid, impressed everyone within a 1 mile radius when you lit it up, then gave it about 30 minutes to burn off [most of] the lighter fluid and ash over. You then just shook the kettle a bit to even out the charcoal over the entire grate, and cooked away. You never considered indirect strategies unless a turkey or something similar was involved. This new concept seems so very foreign.

Lastly, what was the verdict on the match holder thing? I search and found one thread where someone said they just left it in the bottom of the charcoal bin. I guess there's no official mounting spot? I just hung it on the I-Bolt on the bin so I guess it stays there.
 
Last edited:
Bob Correll said:
Scott,
I use the baskets about 90% of the time, and light the coals in the baskets on my Performer.
For indirect cooking I'll pretty well fill them, and for direct, fill only about half way, you'll get plenty of heat for a short cook.

I cook steaks indirect, with full baskets, until about 10 degrees below desired temp, then go direct for a reverse sear.
But I cook most chicken and pork indirect, at least to start.

Some don't care for the baskets, some love them, I'm in the latter category.

Good luck, practice makes perfect!
Click to expand...

I do exactly the same thing and it works out perfectly.
 
Scott C. said:
Lastly, while at first the full chimney was able to push the temps in the 500 range pretty easily, towards the end of of the cook, only doing a few kabobs, chicken breasts, burgers and a steak, towards the end, I was having problems getting it up near 375. I wonder if I should have used more coals? Seems like a lot of charcoal for a relatively short cook?
Click to expand...

I wonder if perhaps when starting you kept the coals in the chimney a bit too long?

I just got my first charcoal grill (also a Performer Platinum) this spring, and after a short while started to feel like my temps were dropping earlier than I thought they should. I started playing around with dumping the coals from my starter chimney earlier and I feel like that's done the trick to keep higher temps deeper into my cooks.

When I anticipate a cook going for an hour or so, I will dump coals out of the chimney once I start seeing flames jumping out through the top coals. They will have just started to show some ash, but are not anywhere near getting fully, or even half-ashed over. Half-ashed, heh.
 
Scott C.;482888 Also said:
Straight from Weber customer service.

Hi Elaine,

Thank you so much for contacting Weber!

There are a few places where you may store the match holder. The best place I would recommend it to be stored is right underneath the control panel, there is a slot where it can be rested on, so it is not exposed to any rain. Also, you may store it in the charcoal bin or hook it on the tool hook.

You may contact our customer service phone line at 800-446-1071. We are open 7 days a week from 7am to 10 pm CST.
Thanks,
Mohammad
Weber-Stephen Products LLC
90 West Hillcrest Boulevard, Suite 308
Schaumburg, IL 60195
800-446-1071

ETA: For info on the basics of fire management go to weber.com. Click on Weber Nation. Then, Grill Skills/Mastering the Basics. We do not all follow Weber's instructions, so looking at the TVWBB cooks can be a big help.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top