Slow'N'Sear Review

[ramsfan]

I wished they made one of these for a 26" kettle. I know, you can place this 22.5 unit in a 26" kettle, but to me it's not the same. I rarely smoke on a 22" kettle. I do most of my smoking on a 26" kettle.

The Slow 'N Sear has been extensively tested in the 26" and it works great.  For many applications I even prefer cooking with my 26" over my 22" (steaks and burgers come to mind).

That said, we're considering creating one that's a little bigger for the 26", but due to the quantities we'd order these in they'll likely cost well over $100.

I would definitely purchase a SnS for a 26" kettle if it were available, regardless of the cost. I wouldn't even think twice about it. It looks like an excellent, durable product that will easily outlive me. Currently I am using a Smokenator for a 26" kettle because it's the only product being offered for 26" kettles.

[ABCbarbecue]

@ramsfan our very first customer owns a 26" kettle and had a Smokenator before he got the SnS. After a few weeks of SnS ownership he shipped me his Smokenator and said he didn't want it anymore.  The SnS works great in the 26.

[Troy]

i'll do some test cooks in one of my 26" grills

[Jon]

People buy a 26 because of capacity. Real estate needed. Abcbarbeqcue tells us that "the 22 version is enough, it really works good in a 26." Sorry, we bought the 26 for capacity - if we buy an accessory for the 26, we don't want to see it curving away from the walls of the 26 wasting space where there could be a lot more charcoal. Scale it up, take advantage of what we use.

And many of us are just pissy enough to NOT buy the SNS because of this. Yes, it is more trouble to build a snake. But I can burn a snake in my 26 for a lot longer than the SNS can burn. And actually have more grill space. Because most of us are capable of putting on gloves or grabbing a couple of pairs of pliers and rotating the cooking grate after eight or ten hours. Buying the SNS would be to buy convenience, and a cool product, not the ability to do something new.

I don't doubt it is a great product. I know that it is, I recommended it to my sister when she wanted to follow me by buying a Smokenator. ( I bought a Smokenator one week before the SNS was announced. Talk about PO'd ) But give us the product we want. A great 26er version. Not just "Good enough."

[MeatAndPotatos]

Curious what the volume of the charcoal chamber is, particularly compared to the standard weber charcoal basket (is it the same amount of charcoal as two full baskets?)... But I'll take it any way I can get it, infact... ABC if you know the cubic inches, that would be amazing...

[ABCbarbecue]

People buy a 26 because of capacity. Real estate needed. Abcbarbeqcue tells us that "the 22 version is enough, it really works good in a 26." Sorry, we bought the 26 for capacity - if we buy an accessory for the 26, we don't want to see it curving away from the walls of the 26 wasting space where there could be a lot more charcoal. Scale it up, take advantage of what we use.

And many of us are just pissy enough to NOT buy the SNS because of this. Yes, it is more trouble to build a snake. But I can burn a snake in my 26 for a lot longer than the SNS can burn. And actually have more grill space. Because most of us are capable of putting on gloves or grabbing a couple of pairs of pliers and rotating the cooking grate after eight or ten hours. Buying the SNS would be to buy convenience, and a cool product, not the ability to do something new.

I don't doubt it is a great product. I know that it is, I recommended it to my sister when she wanted to follow me by buying a Smokenator. ( I bought a Smokenator one week before the SNS was announced. Talk about PO'd ) But give us the product we want. A great 26er version. Not just "Good enough."

The SnS still gives you 8 hours of smoking time and 5 hours of water (steam) off the initial load of fuel (~80 briquettes and 1 quart of water) in a 26" kettle.  We're working on a larger SnS for folks that want a larger sear zone, but it will be expensive as we won't be able to order them in the same quantities as we order the standard SnS.  If I order 200 units from the manufacturer the tool up costs cause the per unit price to be twice what they would be if I'm ordering 2,000.  We have many happy SnS owners that use 26" kettles.  Myself included.

I get it, you want a custom product for your 26" kettle, but it already is a custom product.  The curve of the charcoal basket, the angles, the V-Shape of the water reservoir, are all designed to make the water and charcoal work in harmony to give you low and slow heat/steam output for a long period of time or a high temp sear zone when you give the SnS some air for a few minutes. 

I don't know how long your snakes work in a 26", but I bet it takes you longer than a minute to refuel.  The SnS can be refueled easily in a minute, 30 seconds if you're hustling.  Try this... Go to the SnS review page at AmazingRibs.com and pose the question "Hey 26" kettle owners, how does the SnS work in your kettle?"   Or just peruse the comments.  There are several photos buried in there from 26" owners.

[ABCbarbecue]

Curious what the volume of the charcoal chamber is, particularly compared to the standard weber charcoal basket (is it the same amount of charcoal as two full baskets?)... But I'll take it any way I can get it, infact... ABC if you know the cubic inches, that would be amazing...

MnP I don't have that readily available.  What I can tell you is it's designed to hold a Weber Chimney full (~80) briquettes and three chunks of wood.

[MikeRocksTheRed]

The Slow 'N Sear has been extensively tested in the 26" and it works great.  For many applications I even prefer cooking with my 26" over my 22" (steaks and burgers come to mind).

That said, we're considering creating one that's a little bigger for the 26", but due to the quantities we'd order these in they'll likely cost well over $100.

I would think that most 26 owners are used to the toys for the 26er being more expensive and would be willing to pay more.  I understand from one of your other posts, the cost of retooling to create a SNS for a 26 is quite high, especially for a product that will sell in much lower number.  I'm thinking this is a matter of time telling how much demand there really is for a SNS specifically for the 26er.  I myself use my 26er mainly for smoking and have no problems using the snake method.  Most of my faster direct/indirect cooks are done on my 22's in which case I can see the need for the SNS, as well as the times that I need to use my 22's for smoking.  So while I see people with 26er's wanting a SNS just for that sized grill, I'm not sure if it would be as much of a game changer as it is for the 22's since space isn't as much of an issue.  If you are smoking on a 26er and running out of room chances are you need to upgrade to a WSM anyway.

[LightningBoldtz]

I think @ABCbarbecue is right to be reluctant to want to manufacture a version for the 26.  The volume of sales would be so low compared to the 22.  Unlike the smokenator, you can use the SnS in a 26. I had a 26 and put it in there is not a huge loss of "real estate" by putting it in.

I don't have numbers but I would guess that some 80 % of kettles are 22" the fact that it can still be used in a 26 is the icing on the cake.

[apt323]

Nice review

I absolutely love it!  I get good run times with!  When the temps strated to drop i dropped some more charcoal on top and went about my business.  Would recommend it to anyone.

@ABCbarbecue - Thank you,  Christmas swap was awesome (wild guess it was you)!  Love it!!!

[ABCbarbecue]

Nice review

I absolutely love it!  I get good run times with!  When the temps strated to drop i dropped some more charcoal on top and went about my business.  Would recommend it to anyone.

@ABCbarbecue - Thank you,  Christmas swap was awesome (wild guess it was you)!  Love it!!!

Awesome!  Very glad you're liking it @apt323!

[ABCbarbecue]

Here's a pic of steaks I cooked on the 26" over the weekend:

[ABCbarbecue]

Here's a pork butt cook on the 26"

[mcgolden]

It certainly doesn't look like there's much wasted space using the current unit on a 26".  Honestly, I would have a hard time justifying paying a lot more for a 26" unit, over the 22".  If it works well on both I would rather have a unit that's versatile enough to work in both.

Thanks for the pics.

[ABCbarbecue]

Curious what the volume of the charcoal chamber is, particularly compared to the standard weber charcoal basket (is it the same amount of charcoal as two full baskets?)... But I'll take it any way I can get it, infact... ABC if you know the cubic inches, that would be amazing...

CAD software came back with 333 in^3