Tough colour choice

[Chris F (UK)]

Hi

Having been limited on space in the old house, I have been using a Q100 for 6 or so years, and love it.

Reason for gas in the first place (apart from limited space) was we dont get great summers in the North of England so shifts and 2 kid young daughters permitting it was easy to just to wheel the Q out of the shed when the weather was good (more often than not though I have grilled in the rain).

Anyways, new house has a garage and I have allocated a small space for a SJ.

Been years since I used charcoal, is a chimney starter an essential item?

Toughest choice though is what colour to go

About the cheapest in the UK

See how much more we pay in the UK

 

[Shaun R]

I hope you aren't expecting us to feel sorry for you!

I like the blue wave myself. If you get it please post a picture of it so we can see what it really looks like. Cheers Mate!

 

[Bob Correll]

Welcome Chris!

A chimney starter is not essential, but they sure are nice to have.
For my camping SJ I use a tin can, with holes in the bottom edge, with Weber starter cubes.

 

[Chris F (UK)]

Thanks Bob, doing the math I reckon somewhere around 2/3rds of a chimney should be enough briquettes for the SJ, is that your experience?

 

[Bob Correll]

Chris,
It will depend on what you're cooking and the coal setup.
For the 14 inch SJ a half chimney might be plenty for indirect.

Hopefully a member who uses the SJ more often than I do will have better info on this, but trial and error works too

 

[Gerald Raucamp]

Well, so far I've done a couple of things with the smokey joe (silver in this case, with bottom vents).

a) 3/4 chimney, full spread on the grate
good direct heat, with a big hotspot in the centre. With the lid on, still awesome cooker, less chance of overcharring

I still had 1/2 chimney left after cooking for an hour (direct heat, lid on)

b) 1/2 chimney indirect, shoveled everything into a pile on one side and put a firestone as seperator, covered the rest of the grate with tinfoil. So it was kind of getting like a smoker kinda setup.

Great for well, indirect heat, plenty hot. Nice direct grill/sear whatchamacallit. Cooked for more than an hour, still plenty of coals left (whole chicken, pics here:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/545095_10151710812005704_641680703_24146546_808508199_n.jpg[/img
rubbed in with simple paprika powder, tumaric, salt, pepper, oliveoil, garlic.

[img]https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/536686_10151711938205704_641680703_24152026_619775288_n.jpg
finished product. Darn juicy'n'tasty

even had some room left to make these (direct over the coals area)

And still plenty of coals left at the end of the session (chicken was on there for about an hour).

Now all this is for a SJS, so not too sure about the SJP or current SJ's with the side vents instead of the bottom vent

Try to find a post on this site with some configuration ideas for the current SJ's with side vents.

Found a repost of the image I'm referring to here:
http://tvwbb.com/eve/forums/a/...40039023/m/215100066

 

[Theo Bedania]

Those choice of colors are really nice. Can't wait to see what color you pick.

 

[Jeff Kolodziejski]

Oh comon now Chris...I think the choice is pretty easy!! I say all of the above!! But dont let me be the one to help you decide, I might take you down the wrong path...