Hi all,
Just joined the forum. What a great place!
I'd like to share my experience using my new Smokey Joe Gold. Lots of people have commented, both here and elsewhere, about how the side vents can be problematic. I only used my SJG once because I got it late in the season and so I haven't experimented too much ... but here it goes anyway.
One full chimney of lump was ignited and poured into the SJG. With the cover open, the heat was intense and remained so for while I seared pork chops. The coals were sort of spread out evenly across the lower grate. With both side vents and the cover vent wide open, I noticed after a couple of minutes that the coals were beginning to die out. This was cause for concern and so I finished via direct grilling only.
As I say, I haven't used the grill since October (that darn thing called winter has been a problem...) but I was intrigued by something I read here in another post: to use the SJG for indirect grilling, one may need to bank the coals next to one of the side vents, close that side vent while leaving the other one open, and then putting the cover down so that its vent is directly over the banked coals. This sounds like it might create a non-linear, but ultimately workable airflow inside the kettle.
Alternatively - and this is where I'd love to hear others' experiences - I suppose you could bank the coals perpendicular to both side vents, and leave them both open for maximum "side-&-down" draw. Is this likely to give a better temperature for indirect grilling?
I'll try all that out this season and will report back, but thought it would be fun to share some ideas already now.
What definitely doesn't work, in my experience, is having the coals evenly spread out across the bottom grate and trying to grill indirectly: the proper airflow doesn't happen.
Just joined the forum. What a great place!
I'd like to share my experience using my new Smokey Joe Gold. Lots of people have commented, both here and elsewhere, about how the side vents can be problematic. I only used my SJG once because I got it late in the season and so I haven't experimented too much ... but here it goes anyway.
One full chimney of lump was ignited and poured into the SJG. With the cover open, the heat was intense and remained so for while I seared pork chops. The coals were sort of spread out evenly across the lower grate. With both side vents and the cover vent wide open, I noticed after a couple of minutes that the coals were beginning to die out. This was cause for concern and so I finished via direct grilling only.
As I say, I haven't used the grill since October (that darn thing called winter has been a problem...) but I was intrigued by something I read here in another post: to use the SJG for indirect grilling, one may need to bank the coals next to one of the side vents, close that side vent while leaving the other one open, and then putting the cover down so that its vent is directly over the banked coals. This sounds like it might create a non-linear, but ultimately workable airflow inside the kettle.
Alternatively - and this is where I'd love to hear others' experiences - I suppose you could bank the coals perpendicular to both side vents, and leave them both open for maximum "side-&-down" draw. Is this likely to give a better temperature for indirect grilling?
I'll try all that out this season and will report back, but thought it would be fun to share some ideas already now.
What definitely doesn't work, in my experience, is having the coals evenly spread out across the bottom grate and trying to grill indirectly: the proper airflow doesn't happen.