Santa Maria Grill for Kettles


 
R

r benash

TVWBB Emerald Member
Was curious if anyone has tried any of the Santa Maria type Grill inserts out on the market recently for use on Weber kettles. Been using my Performer and WSM for years and really like the versatility. Always wanted a solution to easily adjust grill height and the round style SMG accessories look like a great idea. Thing is I would want something made with all SS if I can get one or at minimum with SS grate. Most true SMG grills are speedy since they are generally big. I know Jim Lampe posted awhile back showing one that he got from Costco which was a smaller but classic rectangular style.

I'd like to have the insert to throw on top rather than have to dedicate space to a separate piece of gear. It would be nice to throw some sticks/hardwood chunks on and grill a steak or two without having to fire up large hunks of wood and lots of fuel.

Anyone try the ones out there on Ebay, etc? Would be nice if there was something out there that was of high quality.
 
r benash said:
... I know Jim Lampe posted awhile back showing one that he got from Costco which was a smaller but classic rectangular style...
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Correction Ray.... I did not get the Santa Maria from Costco....
Bob Correll got the Santa Maria from Costco and sold one to me.

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the Maiden Cook... October of 2013

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I see them being sold on craigslist here. Looong ago I was planning on building one myself very similar to the one being sold. Due to metal prices I sorta gave up. The one being sold is priced well and if I grilled more I would just buy that one.
 
I have this...https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B01M9975SO/tvwb-20

I'm a member over at the WKC and was given the opportunity to test market this attachment. It's the same principle as a Santa Maria attachment. The coal grate lowers to about 1 inch above the normal charcoal grate position and raises to about 3 inches from the cooking grate. In the lowered position the charcoal grate is 12.5" below the cooking grate. It's all SS and really heavy duty. I What I really like about it that I've also used it while smoking in my kettle. It gives you 2 more racks to smoke on. You use your own charcoal and cooking grates with this attachment. The charcoal grate raises 1.5" with every turn of the handle so there's many different height choices.

Here's a pic on my European Master Touch (DI)


Charcoal grate in lowered position


and raised
 
Wasn't getting response notices, this is the first time I had a chance to look on line. Thanks!! I'll have a look and update if I make move on something.
 
Thanks folks. Although I like the idea of a standalone SM grill like Jim Lampe shared I just don't have the space for a 4th piece of gear. Picked up a copy of the Caliente accessory Scott shows. Should have it next week! Really like the build on it.
 
I purchased mine from a company called Gabby's Grills. I love it and I use it everyday.
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RE the Caliente Tuscan in Scott Zee's post.

Finally getting around to using mine. Have it assembled and ready to go. Going to make a ton of roadsde chicken for a large part this Sunday. Very solid build. The stacked WSM18 will be in play loaded with ribs and beans.

Does anyone know the contact to get spare parts? During assembly I found that one of the cable clamps on the crank shaft has a stripped thread, couldn't totally tighten the one screw. Would like to purchase a couple pairs to have on hand just in case something happens in the future. Maybe a set of cables too.

Amazon won't let me ask a question and cant find the info or contact on the distributor.




r benash said:
Thanks folks. Although I like the idea of a standalone SM grill like Jim Lampe shared I just don't have the space for a 4th piece of gear. Picked up a copy of the Caliente accessory Scott shows. Should have it next week! Really like the build on it.
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Big roadside chicken cook using the Caliente yesterday. Unfortunately the E-ring holding the end of the crankshaft in place popped off during use, dropping that side of the shaft making the elevation function unusable. Upon assembly I noticed that the E-Ring seemed undersized and only partially fit in the groove on the shaft. This E-Ring comes factory installed. I pulled things apart today and found the E-ring on the ground. Crank shaft had pulled loose and dropped the fire grate at an angle on one side also causing the grate holder elevation tube to bind on it's shaft/guide on that side.

Luckily all was not lost as it was high temp cook and didn't need the full elevation for most of the cook.

Happy with overall build of this unit but can't give it high ratings after use until I resolve what appears to be a couple production defects. If I can't get hold of the mfg I'll probably drill a whole in the shaft on that end and add a SS washer and cotter pin for a more positive fit. I think on my crankshaft the groove cut to accept the E-ring is over sized.

I've posted a 2 start on Amazon as a result but plan to bump it to 5 star after I get this resolved and do another cook.

r benash said:
RE the Caliente Tuscan in Scott Zee's post.

Finally getting around to using mine. Have it assembled and ready to go. Going to make a ton of roadsde chicken for a large part this Sunday. Very solid build. The stacked WSM18 will be in play loaded with ribs and beans.

Does anyone know the contact to get spare parts? During assembly I found that one of the cable clamps on the crank shaft has a stripped thread, couldn't totally tighten the one screw. Would like to purchase a couple pairs to have on hand just in case something happens in the future. Maybe a set of cables too.

Amazon won't let me ask a question and cant find the info or contact on the distributor.
Click to expand...
 
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Hey folks - as mentioned before I really like the build of the Caliente Tuscan Grill kit for the Weber Kettle. Except for a few production issues.

1. My unit had an undersized E-Ring that came off during my first cook allowing one side of the fuel grate to drop. Lucky for me it was fully lowered as I was doing a high temp roadside chicken cook. The unit failed as I was trying to crank the fuel grate up. A properly sized E-Ring would have prevented the problem and you can see the issue in my photos. My ultimate solution was to roach out a SS washer to fit the shaft (7/16") and go with a properly sized circlip which gave so much more support and should prevent any future failure.

2. The cables provided to link the fuel grate carrier to the crank shaft are too short IMHO to properly set up and tighten into the clamps. I ended up tossing the stock cables after the one slipped out during the failure above with longer versions that would allow me to more easily position through the clamps on the crankshaft. I used ferrules from big box along with 1/16 inch cable (rope) I happened to have from a marine supplier. Do not use the 1/16 cable from big box as it really doesn't have enough strands to be flexible for wrapping around the crankshaft. Look for 1/16th cable "rope" from a marine supply house.

3. The cable clamps on the crank shaft had 4.0mm cap head screws that were just a little short. This creates a problem while trying to feed the suspension cables into the clamps. By using new SS screws that were just a couple mm longer it gave me the ability to open the clamps up much more and allow me to feed the now longer cables through the clamps and set things so the fuel great carrier was level when lowering/raising. I did have to chase the threads with a 4mm x .7 tapered tap to cut the threads all the way though to accommodate full use of the longer cap head screws. Once I pulled through the new cables and made the leveling adjustments I clamp things down permanently. I then installed ferrules on that end as well and cut off the excess. The ferrule on the clamp end creates a "fail safe" that will not allow the cables to slip through the clamps should they expand during use.

These improvements makes this kit a keeper for me. I plan to keep it installed on the Performer for all my cooks. It is removable by simply lifting of the assembly though. It creates a 3"-12" range of distance between the fuel greate to the food grate. Awesome. To me this is a LONG awaited "fix" of a key deficiency in the Weber kettle that is IMHO better than the multi - level fuel grate in the $$ Weber Summit Charcoal Grill.

As a final note - I'm going to trial this improved version for a while. I do not like that the very solid shafts provided to guide the fuel grate carrier are only attached by 1/4 x 1" or so carriage bolts. I would prefer to drill into them about 3 inches or so to accept thicker carriage bolts say 3/8" x 3" that in my view would prevent any flex during heating that could allow the guide shafts to move around and bind. But until that problem actually happens I'll leave things as they are.

Here's a share of photos to see some before and after:

Caliente Kit Tweeks
 
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Sorry for being late to the party, but I have an SMG from a company called Gabby's grills. Very simple design, but it's all steel and cast iron. It works beautifully and I just love it! I have some grill grates that were cut for my 22.5 Performer that I use on the cooking surface of the SMG adapter, and it is a match made in heaven! Complete temp. control with easy clean up and everything else grill grates are known for.

Al
 
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