How does the 18" kettle work for smaller meals?

[TracyBallard]

Hello everyone. I'm thinking of getting a new grill because my old ones are either rusted out (non-weber) or corroded from cooking (weber 22 inch kettle). I mainly use the Weber for smoking now and it has a slow and sear in it, but I recently had to start grilling with it again when I messed up the porcelain coated grill on my newer walmart 22 inch kettle (also, it's pretty rusted out, I've had it like 3 years and only paid $20 for it). With the slow n sear in the weber it seems to cook super hot when I use direct heat, and I'm thinking a new grill would be good for steaks and burgers. Normally now I usually cook maybe 3 or 4 steaks or 6 or 7 burgers for family meals. Do you think an 18 inch would work better for that much than using half a 22 inch grill? Is there any problems with the smaller grills other than the cooking surface size, heat retention, too hot or too cool, etc? I've seen some 18" webers on sale lately and I'm thinking about it, or maybe just trying out that 18" Kingsford that Academy sports has on sale for $25 right now before I invest in a weber. I would probably grill 3 or 4 times a week if it was convenient enough, so easy cleanup also plays into the picture. Any thoughts?

 

[timothy]

I have the 18" SJP and it's fine for two steaks or four burgers, but for what you need I would get another 22.5 " kettle.
The extra room to go indirect / direct is a plus and something you'll appreciate.

Tim

 

[Brad Olson]

If you're cooking over direct heat the 18 will be fine for steaks and burgers; I use mine more than my 22 and 26, but it hits its limitations when indirect grilling's involved.

Keep an eye on Craigslist and you can probably find both an 18 and a 26 for less than the cost of either one new.

 

[Kyle in Woodstock]

Yeah pickup a used 18" off Facebook Marketplace. They are really cheap, can usually find them for $20. I would not bother buying a Kingsford grill.

 

[TracyBallard]

I would not bother buying a Kingsford grill.

I can see why you would say that. I picked up one of the $25 kingsford 18 inch kettles at Academy and I'm trying it right now, but it is pretty small. The quality is not terrible, but the grill itself is very thin and the metal in general is pretty thin, although it should suffice for a summer or so. The engineering is horrible, fortunately I'm a mechanic so I put it together pretty easily, but it took a long time to get all the parts together and the assembly is very awkward. And one of the washers was missing. I'll probably be getting another 22 inch weber before long.

 

[George Curtis]

I use my 18 kettle now for basically direct grilling. The coal grate is closer to the cooking grate. Also just easier to handle for me. But i have slightly veered towards gas with my q220 and my 22 inch griddle. For small smoking i use my 14 inch tamale pot conversion. Bigger i use my 22 kettle.