Andfall Williams
New member
Greetings all - just joined the forum.
For anyone who is interested, I've got another story about the SJ SILVER, and we're just interested in knowing who is particularly happy with their mod and where to buy miniature/curved vent covers. Sorry, but our post is a bit long... here goes...
We have a Smokey Joe SILVER with the four small vent holes in bottom. We've read many of the posts here and we understand that some people have no problems and others do, however with our SJ SILVER we have experienced an extreme perpetual "cool down" temperature drop-off problem. (We were wondering if is it possible that many folks who don't experience a problem are quickly searing steaks? We need good, high heat for as much as an hour and more to properly roast bone-in chicken breasts)
Last night fired up less than 1/2 chimney of briquettes blistering/glowing orange, poured into SJ SILVER, whole unit was so hot could almost not stand next to it, put two chicken breasts on to indirect cook, closed lid, twenty minutes later the SJ SILVER was so cold I could rest my finger on it. And yes, bottom vent holes are always attended to and kept absolutely totally clear of obstruction. Lifted lid, allowed more air in, got coals going, closed lid, five minutes later no more heat. Almost two hours later my wife and I are waiting to eat and the SJ SILVER is barely staying warm. We've tried every arrangement/type/amount/placement of coals and can't cook with lid askew because we like indirect cooked chicken. Also, we happily cook in the winter so we really need a grill to be able to maintain it's heat.
Did Weber do any design analysis before producing any of these little grills? We've read about the obvious problems with the "GOLD" and "PLATINUM" designs, but our SILVER can't stay more than warm. On a well designed grill shouldn't bottom vent holes be capable of delivering at least as much air as top vents can exhaust? If so, why are the top holes so much larger than the four little bottom holes on the SJ SILVER? We own other grills where the ratio of bottom to top vent is something like 3:1 - so, successful grill designs seem to feature bigger bottom vents capable of delivering all the air top vents can handle - with overall total flow being controlled from the top. Correct us if we're wrong, but wouldn't that be how a grill would work best?
The mod: We're thinking about doing what several others have done and drilling sets of new vent holes, something like a total of six holes around the perimeter of the bottom of the grill about an inch below the coal grate and installing vent covers.
Q: Anybody done such a mod that they were particularly happy with?
Beyond just cutting holes in the side which would clearly work well, we're hoping to do a mod that includes vent covers giving gives us ability to shut off air flow when we're finished cooking to get the unit cooled back down and in the garage as soon as possible.
Q: Any suggestions on where to buy vent covers that would match the curvature of the lower side of the SJ SILVER?
Thanks very much one and all,
For anyone who is interested, I've got another story about the SJ SILVER, and we're just interested in knowing who is particularly happy with their mod and where to buy miniature/curved vent covers. Sorry, but our post is a bit long... here goes...
We have a Smokey Joe SILVER with the four small vent holes in bottom. We've read many of the posts here and we understand that some people have no problems and others do, however with our SJ SILVER we have experienced an extreme perpetual "cool down" temperature drop-off problem. (We were wondering if is it possible that many folks who don't experience a problem are quickly searing steaks? We need good, high heat for as much as an hour and more to properly roast bone-in chicken breasts)
Last night fired up less than 1/2 chimney of briquettes blistering/glowing orange, poured into SJ SILVER, whole unit was so hot could almost not stand next to it, put two chicken breasts on to indirect cook, closed lid, twenty minutes later the SJ SILVER was so cold I could rest my finger on it. And yes, bottom vent holes are always attended to and kept absolutely totally clear of obstruction. Lifted lid, allowed more air in, got coals going, closed lid, five minutes later no more heat. Almost two hours later my wife and I are waiting to eat and the SJ SILVER is barely staying warm. We've tried every arrangement/type/amount/placement of coals and can't cook with lid askew because we like indirect cooked chicken. Also, we happily cook in the winter so we really need a grill to be able to maintain it's heat.
Did Weber do any design analysis before producing any of these little grills? We've read about the obvious problems with the "GOLD" and "PLATINUM" designs, but our SILVER can't stay more than warm. On a well designed grill shouldn't bottom vent holes be capable of delivering at least as much air as top vents can exhaust? If so, why are the top holes so much larger than the four little bottom holes on the SJ SILVER? We own other grills where the ratio of bottom to top vent is something like 3:1 - so, successful grill designs seem to feature bigger bottom vents capable of delivering all the air top vents can handle - with overall total flow being controlled from the top. Correct us if we're wrong, but wouldn't that be how a grill would work best?
The mod: We're thinking about doing what several others have done and drilling sets of new vent holes, something like a total of six holes around the perimeter of the bottom of the grill about an inch below the coal grate and installing vent covers.
Q: Anybody done such a mod that they were particularly happy with?
Beyond just cutting holes in the side which would clearly work well, we're hoping to do a mod that includes vent covers giving gives us ability to shut off air flow when we're finished cooking to get the unit cooled back down and in the garage as soon as possible.
Q: Any suggestions on where to buy vent covers that would match the curvature of the lower side of the SJ SILVER?
Thanks very much one and all,