Smokey Joe historical question


 
Brad Olson

Brad Olson

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Today I saw what looked like a 14" Smokey Joe but it had the Bar-B-Kettle 3-vent setup instead of the single Silver-style vent, and didn't have an ashpan.

Did Weber ever make a Joe like this? If so, when? Thanks!

Brad
 
I picked up one of these grills today (a $5 CL find) and everything about it says "Weber". The bowl has 3 3-hole vents and the lid has a 3-hole vent, and the standard WSM/18" B-B-K daisywheel fits. However, because the 3-hole wheels weren't stamped with any kind of name or date code I have no way of telling how old this SJ actually is. Maybe an email to Weber is in order...

Brad
 
Brad, that looks very familiar - including the rust on ends of the legs & wing nuts which eventually killed my grill.

I used to do what I now recognize as low and slow indirect chicken. Although I know that low and slow is not necessary for chicken, it was GREAT!
 
It definitely needs a good cleaning and when I put it back together I'm going to use stainless steel nuts (including acorn nuts) on the legs. I honestly don't know how much I'll use it as I have a current-design SJ, but I still want to get it into decent shape.

This is how it starts, isn't it. I managed to accumulate 1 of each general kettle design and now I'm branching off into the subspecies...
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Brad
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Brad Olson:
Today I saw what looked like a 14" Smokey Joe but it had the Bar-B-Kettle 3-vent setup instead of the single Silver-style vent, and didn't have an ashpan.

Did Weber ever make a Joe like this? If so, when? Thanks!

Brad </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Weber made that at least 20 years ago! I left one at my parents house at least that long ago! the other day I was visiting my mother and i took a look in the garage and there it was! I brought it home and gave it a good cleaning and it's ready to go. BTW it's 13.5 inches not 14.5 inches.
 
Anybody who uses a Smokey Joe for high-heat grilling might want to pick up one of the older ones. My experience has been that the single center vent of the current style leads to a hot spot while the fire in an older model seems to be a little more even and I found this out awhile back; I hadn't used my SJ for a big steak for awhile and it wound up with an uneven level of doneness because of the hot spot. The next one I grilled was on the older model and the results were better.

Brad

Brad
 
I agree .. normally I only use my SJ for grillin a couple of small filets ...this morning I did three larger breakfast ribeyes ...and noticed the trend you described
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I worked around it my shuffling the steaks around a bit
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I do wish I still had my "three lower vent" model from the 70s...
 
Brad
That is definitely a smokey joe. I would venture a guess its an early 70's grill. I had a red one just like it, but it had the offset handle. When you mentioned "we should pick one of the older ones up" I'm sure we all would if we could. They just aren't laying around all over the place. They are very hard to find! Nice job. Take care of yours.
 
I just threw one away just like that when I moved in a hurry.
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I definatly regret leaving it behind as it was the grill my dad taught me how to grill on 25 years ago. I left a lot of stuff behind that I would have held onto if I wasn't in such a hurry moving due to an earlier apt fire. Now that I think about it did you buy it from a Latino junk collector? I let a Latino guy with a large Ford diesel truck take a lot of my stuff if he took a broken Civic for me. That would be kind of cool to know it went to a good home. Good find either way.
 
It was a $5 CL find from a guy out in Middleton; he had a couple of larger Webers as well but they were pretty worn. I'd never seen one before until I noticed a few in use in the Miller Park parking lot and since I have 18" and 22" versions of the Bar-B-Kettle I decided I needed one of these as well.

The only downside is that it has no ash pan so it needs to sit on dirt or something fireproof.

Brad
 
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