Need Help with Smokey Joe Silver


 

Lew

TVWBB All-Star
Cooked some Rib Eyes, burgers, and brats this weekend on my new Smokey Joe Silver. Everything came out great, but I'm still learning this grill.

Starting with 30 briquettes fired up in the chimney, it gets hot but when I put the lid on, the temperature goes down. Highest measured temp was 375. There is about a silver dollar sized area in the center that glows bright red while the outside coals don't glow at all.

I managed to move the food around and got great results. 1 1/2" thick rib eyes were perfect but took 20 minutes instead of 10. I had to fight a flare up in the center where the coals were glowing. Frozen Bubba Burgers for the kids took 20 minutes too.

I think I'm going to like this grill cooking for 2 or traveling, but I need to learn how to manage the fire on it. I'm open to any suggestions.
 
Lew,
Not sure witch Charcoal you are using.
On the Smokey Joe I like to use Lump Charcoal, Kingsford Competition Briquettes or Stubbs briquettes. They all burn very hot. When I use the charcoal briquettes I light 35 in a chimney until flaming and when using Lump, I use about a 1/4 to a 1/3 of a Weber chimney, I then bank the charcoal to one side of the Smokey Joe instead of spreading it out across the bottom. This always seems to produce higher heat and gives me different temp zones for grilling and will help eliminate your hot spot in the middle of the coals.

You should have no problems holding a higher heat in the silver model that way for a long time, but if its still struggling you can always crack the lid while cooking, that will help but you shouldn't need to. I have a Smokey Joe gold with a silver vent mod on the bottom and I can hold 450+ degrees for a long time with the lid shut (and all vents wide open) using the method I described above.
Good Luck, Todd.
 
I always just use Kingsford Blue in my SJS. I do not use a chimney to start it. What I use is Strike-A-Fire starters. Light one off and when flaming I pour on the Kingsford making a charcoal pyramid. Takes about 12-15 minutes to get going. Then I push the coals to one side of the grill so that I have a high heat area and a indirect area. Never takes me more than 5-7 minutes for burgers and sausages. Thick steaks can take longer.
 
i see the sj as a grilling machine. i use lump. i made a secong charcoal grate out of expanded metal so the lump doesn't fall through. i fill the sj up about three inches worth of lump and let it rip. i've done all kindsof stuff on it that way. if i get a flair i just put the lid on for a minute or so. the lump i use is royal oak. you can reuse some of the lump several times.
 

 

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