Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Food, Cooking, and Game Preparation TUTORIAL - The Weber Kettle

The frequency of questions regarding the Weber Kettle has been increasing. Fortunately for those that have questions, Flave learned to cook all formerly living things on a Weber Kettle at a young age. And, he is willing to type out some helpful hints. These hints are not based on some butt-fugk looking for a new way to rake in some dough on his monetized videos. These are just simple ways to address the pros and cons of the system, and an advisement of what works and what is a waste of your time.

First and foremost, if you do not have a grill or BBQ, and you do not want to take the plunge on a quality steel charcoal/wood grill, or a full ceramic like the BGE, or Kamado, you cannot go wrong with a Weber Kettle. They are relatively inexpensive, easily transported and/or stored, and they afford you the opportunity to truly learn how to grill, smoke, and BBQ in general. You could also go with a pellet, gas, or electric type but then you'd be using an oven outside and that's not what we are here to discuss.

So, how do we cook with a Weber Kettle? Here you go:

First thing you'll need beside a Weber Kettle, is two big bags of Kingsford Charcoal, two charcoal chimneys, a bottle of lighter fluid, and a box of Tumbleweed (or similar) firestarters. No you do not need lump charcoal made from Amazonian Redwood that was aged in the cellar of an Italian winery. You just need some fugkin' Kingsford. No, lighter fluid will not make your food taste like lighter fluid. People that say this don't know WTF they're talking about.

If you have an old Weber Kettle, you need to install a thermometer. It should be centered and on the opposite side of the vent on your lid. If you are unsure of the placement, google the image of a newer style and use that as your guide. This will require about $20, and a drill. It's not optional. It's essential for using a Weber Kettle to its full potential.

The first type of cooking is very straight forward but will end up being your least commonly used. This method is for what I refer to as Nebraska Style cooking. You're going to fill one of your charcoal chimneys about 10% full and pour lighter fluid on them. Then fill your charcoal chimney. Light the bottom. When the entire thing is gray, orange, and terrifying, pour it into the Weber Kettle, spread them around evenly with the implement of your choice, add the cooking grate, and start burning your hot dogs or whatever bullschit your wife got you "cooking" for the special occasion nobody gives a schit about.

This is also a great way to cook a frozen pizza. Note dispersion of the charcoal. Simple.


Now for the method you're going to use on 90% of your Weber Kettle needs. Some people call this the "indirect" method but that is a misnomer. It should be called the "how to use your Weber Kettle because the way your dad did it was fugking stupid" method.

Grab two charcoal chimneys. Fill to roughly 10%. Douse with lighter fluid. Fill to the top with charcoal. Put two Tumbleweeds on the charcoal grate of your Weber. Light them. Place one charcoal chimney over one Tumbleweed.







Now, after approximately 10-15 minutes, that Tumbleweed will be the vanished remains of its former self, and those bottom few coals will be good and orange/grey. Pick up the charcoal chimneys and dump one on each side of the charcoal grate. One on the left, one on the right. Leave a gap between them:



Now, put the cooking grate on, and keep your lower vent to an open position. Give it air:



Keep your top vent barely open, give it little to no air:



Now, figure out what temp you want your Weber at. If we are smoking a bird, brisket, or ribs our target is going to be 250ish. The temp is going to quickly climb to 200. Now bump your top vent just a smidge and watch it. It shouldn't take too long to get to your target temperature. If it's climbing too fast, close the vents on the bottom, it's getting too much air. If your target temp is 350, simply give it more air and monitor until it plateaus on the temp you want. This is where the Weber Kettle gets a "finicky" reputation but it's largely unwarranted. It is a little less than ideal, but with a bit of time and effort you'll see that you can get it to the temp you want (and keep it there) quickly. Your Weber can and will get to 450 or higher in short order. You have to watch it and bump incrementally at this stage.

If you have questions about the use of your Weber Kettle, it's important to stop and understand what we are doing here. You now have a small quantity of lit/hot briquettes butted up against a large quantity of unlit briquettes. All you need to do from here is establish the proper amount of airflow. The briquettes will take care of themselves. Give it all the air you can, and it will go full throttle in short order and burn through what you have in the Weber. Give it very little throttle and your gas tank is going to last a lot longer than you thought it could. You do not need to perform any special arrangement of the charcoal or count the fugking briquettes. The air is going to allow them to catch and use the amount needed for the temp you're after. The thermometer is your speedometer and the vents are your brake/throttle. This system is no different than a big ceramic. I do not need to measure the amount of lump charcoal I'm putting in the bowels of my Big Green Egg. I fill it, light it, and monitor air flow. The rest takes care of itself. Your Weber will do the exact same thing albeit not as efficiently as a ceramic because it does not have the capacity or insulating properties a ceramic does. Again, it is important you understand this if you want to learn to grill/BBQ, and if you can grill BBQ on a Weber Kettle, you will be able to grill/BBQ on anything.

Here is one example of using this method as efficiently as possible. We have water soaked corn directly over the heat. Pork tenderloin "baking" and being seared on one side as they are rotated, bratwurst getting direct heat and being seared, while the bake potatoes bake. Temp is being maintained around 350 and the temp stays there. Lid is on at all times. No flare ups. Lid is only removed for turning meat or taking it off when it's done.



Here's another example:

Ribs staying in the middle and cooking at 300. Wings stay over the direct portion and will be done for halftime. Ribs and baked potatoes will be for the Sunday Night Game. Get the idea?





That's your primer and this will be the basis for all your cooks. I will get into specifics regarding legit BBQ (ribs, shoulders, and brisket) tomorrow.