Weber Charcoal Holders / Baskets


 
Rusty James

Rusty James

TVWBB Emerald Member
Hi all,

How well do these work for an 18.5" kettle grill? Any good for smoking in this size grill? Seems like there wouldn't be much room for a water pan.
 
Currently, I am using two stacked rectangular lasagna pans (Dollar Tree), and placing coals on the sides for indirect heating / smoking. There isn't much room for charcoal with this arrangement, so if I went with charcoal holders, I may need to find a slightly smaller pan.

I used to have a 22.5" kettle, and it gave plenty of room for stacking coals on the sides, but I was going through charcoal at a quick pace. The 18.5" kettle gives better coal economy.

Thanks for the link!
 
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I've got a spare set of the charcoal baskets, and have used a single one in the 18.5" and in the Smokey Joe. In those cases I managed to fit a drip pan by manhandling a smaller square foil pan, loaf pan, or pie pan. It's a tight squeeze, but works well enough, especially as an option for camping with the Smokey Joe. I think with some heavy-duty foil you could probably do even better.

Both baskets definitely don't have enough space between them to count as a 3-zone fire, but that setup can also be useful for bringing the coals closer to the grill to put a serious-hot sear on a steak.

If I were trying to smoke something on one of these smaller grills, I'd use the snake method with a pie pan in the middle to hold water, and I'd probably do a practice burn or two to see if I could hold temp before putting anything expensive on a 18.5" to smoke.

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I've got a spare set of the charcoal baskets, and have used a single one in the 18.5" and in the Smokey Joe. In those cases I managed to fit a drip pan by manhandling a smaller square foil pan, loaf pan, or pie pan. It's a tight squeeze, but works well enough, especially as an option for camping with the Smokey Joe. I think with some heavy-duty foil you could probably do even better.

Both baskets definitely don't have enough space between them to count as a 3-zone fire, but that setup can also be useful for bringing the coals closer to the grill to put a serious-hot sear on a steak.

If I were trying to smoke something on one of these smaller grills, I'd use the snake method with a pie pan in the middle to hold water, and I'd probably do a practice burn or two to see if I could hold temp before putting anything expensive on a 18.5" to smoke.
 
I think the charcoal basket works fine for smoking. I just load the basket up with kbb and a couple wood chunks. I bury a weber starter cube in one corner of the basket and light it. Once it's burned out, it's good to go for low and slow. I don't have an 18" kettle, but I do have a jumbo Joe. Here's a pulled pork cook I did this way. I actually have an old post on here about it.

20140907_151435.jpg
r
 
Nate, you smoked a pork butt with a single holder of briquettes (no refills)? Sounds similar to the snake method.

How long did it take to smoke?
 
Rusty James said:
Nate, you smoked a pork butt with a single holder of briquettes (no refills)? Sounds similar to the snake method.

How long did it take to smoke?
Click to expand...

Here's the link to that post. http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?54745-Couple-of-today-s-cooks

I had to read it again to remember. This was an 11 1/2 hour cook. 1 full basket with 3 additional hand fills added throughout the cook. A hand full is appx 8-10 briquettes.

On my 22 & 26r, I use the snake. If I don't use those, I use my WSM. I also have a Smokey Joe smoker.

Hope this helps.
 
I found some round 9" tins with 2" high walls today, and their fit was such that a person may be able to do a snake smoke in an 18.5" kettle.

Thanks for the link, Nate.
 
Rusty James said:
I found some round 9" tins with 2" high walls today, and their fit was such that a person may be able to do a snake smoke in an 18.5" kettle.

Thanks for the link, Nate.
Click to expand...

Where did you find them? What are they called? All I can find are pie pans with a little over an inch depth.
 
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