First cook on my new (to me) Weber OTS

[Alvin129]

Today we decided to try out the grill so we cooked up a little bit of everything.



Wings, a little skirt steak, a little bit of eye round, some shrimp and salmon for my wife and son (I'm not a seafood lover), a baked potato, and a couple of peppers and onions.

We cooked it all over Stubbs charcoal with some mesquite smoker chips soaked in red wine.



It all tasted great.  I am happy with the kettle purchase and I see that it is easy to control the temperature in this unit.

I did go and drill a hole in the top to add a thermometer as I like to know what is going on in the kettle without opening the lid.  It's probably not accurate, but at least I can tell if it's gaining or losing temperature.





Tomorrow we are cooking a 5 lb. pork butt in the kettle.  I'm planning on an 8 hour cook at around 250F. 

[1buckie]

Great lookin' Cookup !!!!

....and the youngster's saying: "Is that ALL you GOT?"

[Aawa]

Great looking cook. 

I use my thermo's on the top on the performers.  I have been able to reliably guesstimate what grate temperature is with what my dome temperature is.  I did this by using a thermo on the grate, and looked at the differences in temps between the grate thermo and dome thermo's during different cooks and different temps.  After a while you can do the same.

[Alvin129]

That's what I was thinking.  Can I use a standard oven thermometer to get the grate temperature, or would it be too hot?

[Aawa]

That's what I was thinking.  Can I use a standard oven thermometer to get the grate temperature, or would it be too hot?

That will work fine.  It might get a little black after a few cooks though.  But you can wash it off without any issue.

[1buckie]

That's what I was thinking.  Can I use a standard oven thermometer to get the grate temperature, or would it be too hot?

All Day Long...........................




Most of them go to 550 or 600f, good enough for anything but very hi-heat pizzas...............

A lot of people use the Maverick or similar that has a temp probe for the grate & one for the food.....me, I'd get tangled up in the wires............................

[1buckie]

See also this article from a bit ago on the main page:

http://weberkettleclub.com/blog/2014/05/16/wkc-guide-to-bbq-grill-thermometers/

[argentflame]

Beautiful varieties of cook. Looks yummy. I see future grill master of pic number 3.