So I finally got to use a one touch kettle. What are my impressions?

[dbhost]

So over the weekend, my wife and I went to spend time with extended family at a rented beach house in Galveston Texas. There is a fairly recent Original kettle 22". Some items of note on this kettle compared to my Jumbo Joe Premium, and my 3 wheel kettle.

#1. The one touch system leaves a lot to be desired. The kettle we used was left with ash in the pan (prior user must have been too lazy to empty it, gee thanks) and with the humid beach air, the ash was next to impossible to sweep out. This required dumping the bowl into the dumpster.

#2. The one touch system is painfully hard to move if not used often enough. Next to this kettle is a rusted out 3 wheeler (not work saving, big rust holes etc...) I tried it, the 3 wheeler had no issues moving the vents, the one touch though, ugh, I was afraid I was going to break it by all the force required to get the one touch system to move... Yuck.

#3. The 3 wheeler and the JJP both are easy to control air flow. The One Touch, not so much.

#4. The taco handle on the One Touch is the same as on my JJP. But for some reason the nuts fell off of it, and the  handle has since been lost. I would have replaced it for them had I been able to find one. Grips are easy to find, but entire handle assemblies not so much...

Long story short. And this is MY opinion, you are free to decide your own preferences.

I personally am finding that while I was initially interested in the One Touch ssytem, I find in actual use that is is not a real improvement in functionality. and quite converseley, I find that a 3 wheel, or in the case of my JJP that a single daisywheel is FAR simpler to actually use and the advertised advantage of the one touch cleaning (easily sweep ash into the tray or can below) really does not work all that well in a humid environment.

The newer models with the non welded handles I am sure are supposed to make it simpler and less expensive to manufacture, but with the junk hardware they give you to assemble them, cause reliability issues. (Jam nut or all stainless lock nut the things and you should be fine).

So that's my take on them. I am definately sticking with the daisy wheel design instead.... What about other folks?

[Jules V.]

I have zero interest in using kettles with daisy wheels no matter how nice or rare it may be. That includes wsm.

[toolhead]

id use whichever grill was on front of me

tip on one touch blades...prior cooks will gunk up the blades..

hopefully lighting up chimney on the kettle will soften the mess so the blades turn...if not ..have a plastic scraper available to scrape the mess off the blades

[dbhost]

id use whichever grill was on front of me

tip on one touch blades...prior cooks will gunk up the blades..

hopefully lighting up chimney on the kettle will soften the mess so the blades turn...if not ..have a plastic scraper available to scrape the mess off the blades

Yeah, this one was crudded up really bad...

We are likely to end up at the same beach house again. Any suggestions for getting / keeping the one touch moving?

Not saying One Touch is a bad thing, but my experience with it so far is less than stellar...

[HoosierKettle]

An abused one touch at a rental isn't a fair comparison. I have 3 one touch grills and they work flawlessly. The stainless sweeps probably last forever. Those are on my oldest one touch. Gen 2 performer. The aluminized steel sweeps last at least ten years. They are infinitely more convenient in my opinion so if I need to replace sweeps once in a great while, that's no big deal.

The sugary sauces will seize sweeps but as long as you know what your doing and use a drip pan if indirect or do not over apply cooking direct then there's never a problem. I pretty much never have to remove my charcoal grate on any of my one touch grills.

I like daisy wheels too but the one touch is one of the best upgrades Weber ever made. A couple swipes of the handle and you ash free and ready to cook. Also controlling temps is more convenient than messing with three individual wheels. The jjp would be a little better in that regard but would also clog more than a three wheeler.


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[dbhost]

An abused one touch at a rental isn't a fair comparison. I have 3 one touch grills and they work flawlessly. The stainless sweeps probably last forever. Those are on my oldest one touch. Gen 2 performer. The aluminized steel sweeps last at least ten years. They are infinitely more convenient in my opinion so if I need to replace sweeps once in a great while, that's no big deal.

The sugary sauces will seize sweeps but as long as you know what your doing and use a drip pan if indirect or do not over apply cooking direct then there's never a problem. I pretty much never have to remove my charcoal grate on any of my one touch grills.

I like daisy wheels too but the one touch is one of the best upgrades Weber ever made. A couple swipes of the handle and you ash free and ready to cook. Also controlling temps is more convenient than messing with three individual wheels. The jjp would be a little better in that regard but would also clog more than a three wheeler.


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True that, but honestly, I've used plenty of abused daisy wheels at rentals over the years.... Although I never considered sugary sauces being problematic...

Makes perfect sense... And yeah, stainless steel one touch setups would be a HUGE improvement. This one was plenty rusty... And I did give the caveat that the issue was more or less with the environment.... Trying to be fair... And if someone wanted to be generous and donate a one touch kettle my way I sure wouldn't turn it down...

[kettlebb]

I've seen OT and daisy wheels seized up so that is a wash.

Grilling, it doesn't matter as the vents are open and lid is usually off unless you need to take care of some flare ups.

Low and slow, daisy wheels for me. Only need to control temp with one bottom vent and it's usually full open or half open.

Razor scrape the bowl next time before you start using it.


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[HoosierKettle]

I've seen OT and daisy wheels seized up so that is a wash.

Grilling, it doesn't matter as the vents are open and lid is usually off unless you need to take care of some flare ups.

Low and slow, daisy wheels for me. Only need to control temp with one bottom vent and it's usually full open or half open.

Razor scrape the bowl next time before you start using it.


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True on the low and slow. I do give the nod to the daisy wheels for that but it's a tight enough margin for me personally that I will use either one and be just as happy.


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[dbhost]

I've seen OT and daisy wheels seized up so that is a wash.

Grilling, it doesn't matter as the vents are open and lid is usually off unless you need to take care of some flare ups.

Low and slow, daisy wheels for me. Only need to control temp with one bottom vent and it's usually full open or half open.

Razor scrape the bowl next time before you start using it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

LOL, I have never seen a siezed daisy wheel. Sure it happens. Just haven't seen it...

Grilling I still keep the lid on, top vent 100% open, lower vent no more than 75% open... More than that results in very fast burn of the food.

I think the OT grill I was using could be made plenty nice with a good cleanup and repair.

#1. Clean the junk. I mean seriously this thing is NASTY.
#2. Lose the rusted steel OT blades and bar, replace with a stainless OT assembly kit...
#3. Find (not so easy) and replace the taco handle. Use 100% SS lock nuts to keep it from falling off again.
#4. Something I forgot to mention, the lid is out of round. Squeeze it back into shape. Not too far out, but obviously abusively dropped, used as  seat or whatever caused that...
#5. Flog the snot out of whomever abuses this poor grill. I mean seriously, Lose the handle? What gives? Not empty it after use? Ugh....

On the plus side. The legs on this thing are solid as a rock. Trying to get my daisy wheel that solid has been a challenge...

Mind you, I am not against the idea of, and this is totally voluntary, if someone wants to donate a OT grill to me to do a side by side, literally, with my daisy wheel kettle, or the JJP, I wouldn't say no...

[toolhead]

id use whichever grill was on front of me

tip on one touch blades...prior cooks will gunk up the blades..

hopefully lighting up chimney on the kettle will soften the mess so the blades turn...if not ..have a plastic scraper available to scrape the mess off the blades

Yeah, this one was crudded up really bad...

We are likely to end up at the same beach house again. Any suggestions for getting / keeping the one touch moving?

Not saying One Touch is a bad thing, but my experience with it so far is less than stellar...

heres what i do....i open up the sweeps to light chimney...if the blades work then business as usual.

if the sweeps are sticky...i simply grab a .99 plastic 2 inch scraper that i keep in my charcoal bin and scrap the bowl and sweeps...takes several mins...then back to chimney lighting.

btw..this isnt a restore type scrape...just scraping to take the general mess ouf of the bowl while im in there..scraping the blades.

summer house =prior guests not cleaning grill ever
..so if it were me..id plan om scraping the bowl during arrival and it should be fine for a while

one other note
since ive mostly switched over the kcomp ..stubbs and lump (for steaks n beef)...i rarely run into the blades stick8ng issue..

less ash means less mess buildup on bowl n blades.

[HoosierKettle]

For the record, I don't blame anyone for preferring the daisy wheels / wheel. They both work well.

One thing that will kill either grill is leaving the lid off and letting rain mix with the ash and cause a caustic mixture that that will seize moving parts and eventually rust the bowl out.


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[toolhead]

For the record, I don't blame anyone for preferring the daisy wheels / wheel. They both work well.

One thing that will kill either grill is leaving the lid off and letting rain mix with the ash and cause a caustic mixture that that will seize moving parts and eventually rust the bowl out.


Sent from my iPhone using Weber Kettle Club mobile app

that would also explain dented lids...(on the ground and getting kicked around lol)

[dbhost]

Agree on leaving the lid off in the elements with ash in the bowl. Or in the case of this poor grill, with a missing taco handle.... Seriously, who loses something so obviously important?

It is kept under the house (house is on stilts, again, beach house, hurricane area....) Not exposed to direct rain, but not exactly super protected either... Picture the middle of a car port if you will and you get the idea...

[dbhost]

Oh, for the record, the handle part # is Weber #80672

[YardBurner]

OK.  I don't care.  Warning, I'm gonna be rude.

Dude you are WAAY over thinking this stuff.
Your skillset makes or breaks the cook.
Not the grill. Rental house grills are the reason
we always BYOG.  A Q220 for the quick stuff
and an 18" or 22" depending on the mood.

Most of the guys here can turn out killer chow on a hot rock
in a campfire if they had to.

A working OT ain't so hard to use.
If it totally sucked customer response would have caused
Weber to abandon it tears ago.

To be fair for low and slow indirect,  I like my 3 wheelers
but a snake works just as well in a OT.

Mild rant over.  Time for a drink.

-Rob