Grilling on a weber bullet


 
B

Brian Silvey

TVWBB Member
Hi All,

I have a CharGriller offset that I use for grilling and BBQ. I just attended my first BBQ competition and I saw one other offset and lots of Bullets. What I like about my chargriller is that it does a great job with grilling and a decent job at BBQ. I do more grilling than BBQ so it has served me well. I am now interested in BBQ'ing larger cuts, pork butt and brisket. The CharGriller requires too much fiddling to maintain temp for the long cooks these cuts require, which is why I'm considering the Bullet, but I don't want to lose the ability to grill. I would also rather not have two cookers on the deck. Can you grill on a bullet? And I mean grill well?

Thanks,
B
 
from what I've read and my limited experience is with no water in the pan(so it's hotter) and all vents open 100% you'll be hard pressed to get the temp over 375 at the most. I've done a few chickens with it wide open and stayed around 350.

you can remove the center cooking section and place the grate right over the coals as shown in the "crisp the skin" section of this recipe

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/chicken6.html

I have done that recipe and found I got serious flair ups that close but with less coal it may work ok for grilling.

I moved from a chargriller to a WSM and couldn't be happier! that said I do my actual grilling on gas and use the WSM for smoking only.
 
This is what I was afraid of. I'm going to get a bullet as I need it if I'm going to advance in the competitions. I'll just figure out how to juggle them on the deck and in storage.

Thanks,
Brian
 
you won't regret it! I found ribs and chickens very easy on the chargriller. long cooks were a whole other story. overnight butts on the wsm are just too easy! I'm actually able to get a good nights sleep and no real babysitting the smoker
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You can use the WSM to grill and do a great job. Check out the mods here:
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/grilling.html

I don't know what size you're buying, but you basically buy a grate that will fit into the middle of your middle section, and drop your charcoal grate and ring on top of it. It should bring the charcoal to within a few inches of the cooking grate. Makes for a well-seared steak.

One warning: As you smoke over time, a grease/creosote layer will build up in your WSM middle section & lid. If you're one of those people who don't clean the WSM regularly
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, and you then jack the temp up to 550 with lump charcoal, you're going to get a "burn off" that will look something like a Kuwait oilfield on fire. So a wise man would pre-heat first to allow the burn off, THEN put the steak on.

Good luck!
 
from what i understand, the lid and bottom don't actually fit together on a WSM.


you could always go for a weber 22" kettle and a smoker conversion like the cajun bandit or the Smoke EZ. Best of both worlds, AND its cheaper.

The kettle will grill the pants off that chargriller too (although you'll miss the cast iron grates)
 
with no water in the pan(so it's hotter) and all vents open 100% you'll be hard pressed to get the temp over 375
Click to expand...

This sounds about right on, as I've used this set-up to roast a turkey and hit about 375. You can get a few more degrees by tilting the lid & cracking the door. Great for roasting but not quite there for grilling.

you can remove the center cooking section and place the grate right over the coals as shown in the "crisp the skin" section . . . . found I got serious flair ups
Click to expand...

I agree, this mod got a little too close for ideal grilling w/ too much flare-up, at least for me.
 
Originally posted by TroyRedington:
from what i understand, the lid and bottom don't actually fit together on a WSM.


you could always go for a weber 22" kettle and a smoker conversion like the cajun bandit or the Smoke EZ. Best of both worlds, AND its cheaper.

The kettle will grill the pants off that chargriller too (although you'll miss the cast iron grates)
Click to expand...

I have a 22 inch weber kettle that hasn't been out of the garage since I bought the CG. They deffinitely have differences. The CG has more room and does a better job of indirect cooking, but it took me a while before I discovered how to grill a steak on it as well as the kettle. CG steaks while tasty had an odd greasy characteristic. Hard to describe really, but they were somehow overly moist. I then read about a technique where you salt an hour or 2 before and then start them on indirect heat and finsh them with a sear. Backwards from the way you usually see. What this did was allow the fat to soften and when it went over the direct heat it carmelized really nicely. I love me some crispy fat.

The mods don't look overly complicated and when I get my bullet I'll take a look, but I still think I'll use both.

Thanks,
Brian
 
Originally posted by Brian Silvey:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by TroyRedington:
from what i understand, the lid and bottom don't actually fit together on a WSM.


you could always go for a weber 22" kettle and a smoker conversion like the cajun bandit or the Smoke EZ. Best of both worlds, AND its cheaper.

The kettle will grill the pants off that chargriller too (although you'll miss the cast iron grates)
Click to expand...

I have a 22 inch weber kettle that hasn't been out of the garage since I bought the CG. They deffinitely have differences. The CG has more room and does a better job of indirect cooking, but it took me a while before I discovered how to grill a steak on it as well as the kettle. CG steaks while tasty had an odd greasy characteristic. Hard to describe really, but they were somehow overly moist. I then read about a technique where you salt an hour or 2 before and then start them on indirect heat and finsh them with a sear. Backwards from the way you usually see. What this did was allow the fat to soften and when it went over the direct heat it carmelized really nicely. I love me some crispy fat.

The mods don't look overly complicated and when I get my bullet I'll take a look, but I still think I'll use both.

Thanks,
Brian </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Interesting.
I've always felt that the chargriller's strongpoint was direct, but failed at indirect.

I LOVED the grates, and it was SO easy to adjust the height of the charcoal grate too. I really miss those 2 features.

The kettle, in my experience, cooks much more evenly.
 
I should clarify. When I say indirect I'm refering to cooking in the main chamber, not using the offset, which I realize would also be indirect, but I'd call that BBQ. Just my silly wording. The CG's larger area gives me more options for building a fire on one side and placing the meats a bit further away than the kettle allows.

B
 
I use my 18" WSM for grilling almost all the time. Just remove the water pan and place the charcoal grate and charcoal ring on the water pan brackets. It works great.
 
I use to have a Chargriller w/sfb as my smoker but didn't care for the burn time I would get even with the mods.It was a great rib cooker though. I sold it so I could get the WSM but kept my Chargriller pro for my direct and indirect grilling or very small quick smokes. I think having both gives great coverage for about everything you need.
 
Originally posted by Mike_G:
I use my 18" WSM for grilling almost all the time. Just remove the water pan and place the charcoal grate and charcoal ring on the water pan brackets. It works great.
Click to expand...

Problem is it won't work on my 22.5 WSM as the charcoal grate is too small to fit on the water pan brackets.

If I'm grilling meat subject to flare ups (like chicken leg quarters or pork steaks) I remove the water pan and lay the charcoal grate at a right angle on top of the bottom cooking grate then place the charcoal ring, moved to one side, on top of the charcoal grate. This gives me some indirect room if I need it. I use the top cooking grate to grill on. Use about 3/4 chimney of KB and get about 400 degrees with hardly any flare ups. Chicken skin will get cripsy but not burn.

For a thick ribeye I set the charcoal ring on top of the bottom cooking grate then put the charcoal grate on the charcoal ring and grill on the top cooking grate. This will provide temps plenty hot enough to put a good sear on the steaks.

When I bought my 22.5 WSM in June I fully intended to use it to grill as well as a smoker and I haven't been disappointed.

Scotty W.
 
Brian, I have CG w/SFB also for 7 1/2 years now, I have resolved myself to smoking only on the CG as I am interested in getting into comps. I have done some mods to it that make it difficult to grill on it. Any way, I am going to get an OTG 22 for my grilling and smaller smoking projects. I use Stubbs and get about 8 hours with a full bag, 15lbs. using the Minion method. Just add what i need to when I need too. Hope this helps.
 
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