which weber one touch?


 
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brady martin

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i have a chimney starter and that ruled out the performer for me. plus i have a table. i am not cheap but thats $330 for the performer with stuff on it i dont need. i am trying to be practical here.

i am an occasional griller, i have the lil old smokey joe. id like something a little bigger for the occasional slow smoked turkey or ribs etc. as well as something not so big as im going to waste charcoal because i dont cook that much at a time. i am looking at the 18.5 inch as long as it can hold a turkey, ribs, whole chicken. not sure i need the 22.5 size.

also, the one touch silver is like half the price of the gold so i am aiming for the silver. but.... can i just put a a small drip pan on top of the one touch silver ash tray and make it as effective as the ash tray catcher on the gold?

so basically, i have a chimney starter, cook for 3 to 4 people tops, mainly grilled meats, but would like to slow cook bigger meats for longer hours. is the one touch silver my best fit?

also, i read somewhere that the one touch gold is now made in China. that right there is a no for me.
 
The 18.5 is a handy grill, but you are limited to the size of turkey you can grill on it. Therefore, I would go for the 22.5 OTG. The 22.5 OTS is okay too, but getting rid of the ash is a PITA, so I would go with the gold model.
 
Brady, as a practical matter, your plan to smoke the occasional turkey eliminates the 18.5" kettle as a viable option. Successfully cooking a turkey in a kettle requires the indirect method, which requires far more surface area. While you could probably cook a roasting chicken in an 18.5" indirect, there just isn't enough real estate under the lid of an 18.5" to cook a turkey indirect.

If you want to buy new, a 22.5" OTS at about $90 might be your best bet; however, with a only a little bit of patience, I am sure you can find on Craigslist terrific deals in your area on a perfectly good OTG, or perhaps an OTP, or even a performer. This past March, I found a 1970's-vintage 22.5" Bar-B-Que kettle in excellent condition for less than $7.

I also wouldn't reject the idea of a used Performer out-of-hand. Earlier this year, I scored an 18-year-old red Performer (without gas assist) in very good condition for $75. I use a chimney starter just like you, but I have really come to appreciate the Performer's other features you did not mention - lid-mounted thermometer, storage space under the table top, and perhaps most important, the higher grill surface. Given the kettle's proven durability, a nice used OTG, OTP or Performer at a reasonable price is worth a hard look, even if you have to spend $15 - $20 on a new cooking grate.

As to potential modifications to the OTS' ash-pan to more closely approximate the OTG's enclosed ash-catcher, rather than a small drip-pan, you might want to consider an empty extra-large coffee can (or an empty large can of vegetables/beans from a warehouse club) set on the ash-pan and centered below the vents at the bottom of the kettle bowl.

Good luck.
 
ok the 18.5 size is off the list thanks to your posts and the searches ive done here. too small it seems for turkey which i love.

one touch gold 22.5 or the performer are my only choices now.

what do you think about this? instead of the one touch gold 22.5, i get the performer since it does have a thermometer etc.

can i sell the performer propane ignition system on ebay or craigslist? not sure if thats feasable. have people done that before? would people buy it? i really dont need it, the chimney starter is just too much of a good thing, i dont want to give that up.
 
brady, i constantly see great deals on craigs list in l.a.. so go look and you will find great deals. go for the 22.5 for sure. as to the rest its up to you. the silver is one amazing machine for sure.
 
I just picked up a brand new performer with over 150.00 of accessories with it. How much did I pay... 100.00. Keep looking it took awhile for me to finally get a steal but it affords you the right to brag and make others jealous.
icon_smile.gif
So the cherry on top was I got 150 dollars worth of accessories for a 100.00 and a new performer for free. All depends on how you look at it. Either way craigslist is great!
 
Where are going to be grilling? Reason I asked is that if you are going to be grilling out on your deck then a OTG or Performer would be a better choice than the OTS. If you're grilling out on your deck,spending the extra 60 or so $$$ for a OTG vs the OTS is worth it for safety reasons.
 
Brady,
Just did a quick search on CL and saw these in the L.A. area...
Here's a Green SS Performer. The price is not outstanding but not bad either. The discontinued SS units are more sought after and the Green color makes it worth a little more.
http://inlandempire.craigslist.../for/1468959889.html

Here's a Red Kettle for $20.00. Red is the hot color for collectors. Super price and you can help this pour fellow out at the same time.
http://inlandempire.craigslist.../app/1458942450.html

A classic Blue 18.5 (photo looks like it's 22.5) for $30.00
http://losangeles.craigslist.o.../hsh/1468679096.html

And a older Brown one for $45.00
http://orangecounty.craigslist.../for/1463257739.html

Not to mention all the Black ones down your way. Be patient vigilant and you'll find yourself a good deal. Good luck,
 
I'd be willing to bet a beer that if you tried the gas assist on a Performer there would be no going back to the chimney, unless adding hot coals.

I can't remember the last time that I had the cook grate off mine.

Flip up the grate sides, fill the holders with charcoal, slide them, with tongs, over the burner, and push a button.
No ash or sparks flying around.

Any of the 22.5's will be great though.
Good luck!
 
If you can afford it, don't rule out the Performer because you use a chimney. I don't like the baskets and use a chimney to light the coals for all my grills...even the Performer. Besides the higher cooking surface (I'm 6'3"), the gas assist is the best feature on the Performer. No more messing with newspaper or oil soaked paper towels or starter cubes, etc. 5 minutes over the gas assist and the chimney is lit and you can turn the propane off. 10 minutes later the coals are ready to cook over.
 
Thanks for posting Don, since I wondered if the burner flames were high enough to start coals in a chimney.
I haven't tried this, but now I will.
 
Yes, the burner is able to ignight wahtever you place in the chimney starter. I was able to score an older gas assist stailess performer at a garage sale for $35.00 and been grillen and smoken on it ever since.

Just my .02 worth...

Happy trails
 
Originally posted by Bob Correll:
Thanks for posting Don, since I wondered if the burner flames were high enough to start coals in a chimney.
I haven't tried this, but now I will.
Click to expand...
No problem, Bob.

You said, "I can't remember the last time that I had the cook grate off mine." It's probably obvious but thought I'd post anyway just in case. To light the chimney with the gas assist the chimney has to sit on the charcoal grate and not the cooking grate.
 
I guess the question to yourself is how much are you going to use your grill? I didn't think I was going to use mine that much so I got the OTG instead of the Performer. Was I wrong. I now have added a Perfomer,WSM and Jumbo Joe, all found on Craigslist.
 
Originally posted by John Solak:
I used a Weber thermometer. Its cheap and seems to be accurate. I just used a cork from a wine bottle and poke it through one of the vent holes
Click to expand...

Me too...except I don't use a cork. I just put it in a vent hole. Sometimes it touches the food so the cork may be a good solution because you can slide the stem of the therm up and down the cork. Thanks for the suggestion, John!
 
I have owned the same 22.5" OTS since 1986 (smoked a turkey on it Thanksgiving) and is my go to grill. If I knew in 86' what I know now I would have invested the money in a OTG to get the upgraded ash catcher and the a much easier to use bottom air control.
But Of course I would have also upgraded to a Performer instead of buying a Genesis Silver Gasser.
If I could have but one grill, a Performer it would be, if I couldn't have that it would be a 22.5" OTG.
 
I realize it's an older thread and you've probably already bought a grill, but you had asked if it was possible to sit something on the silver's ash pan to collect the ashes. That answer is a definite yes. I have two silvers, one is a black 22.5 the other is a red 18.5. The red needs some TLC so I haven't experimented with it yet, but for the black one I use a disposable aluminum round casserole dish, and it works really well for getting rid of the ashes. I got both of my grills for free, so if you keep your eyes open, you should be able to get a Weber for a very good price indeed. Don't pass a good deal on a Silver, with that disposable casserole dish, the ash removal is NOT a PITA and you can actually check how open/closed the one-touch vent system is at a glance.

The one place (to me) where the gold model wins (and only if it is new) is the hinged grates it comes with. I never keep a used grate, unless it's darn near perfect, and so I buy the hinged grate, regardless of what it came with.

All that said, if I didn't have a grill at all, I woud probably choose the Performer, because of that gas assist... provided I could get one for a good deal used. IMO, they're way too expensive new. Whatever you go with, enjoy it. You really can't go wrong with Weber.
 
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