Is Porcelain Enamel damage common?

[colin.p]

In a forum of dedicated kettle owners, I thought I would ask y'all what your take is on this. It seems to be that reasonably often, I have read that banking coals on the side of a kettle, can over time cause the porcelain coating to crack and blister. Is that really a common occurrence or is it the usual forum fact that most people post complaints and less so accolades?

The reason I ask is I will be using the kettle for more L&S cooking using firebricks and of course banking the coals to the side. At the moment, Weber appears to be replacing the damaged kettles but I would imagine that sooner or later, they may balk and say it isn't covered. Even though Weber recommends banking and  says so in their documentation as well as selling the rails in order to do so.

I don't have the baskets and really can't see a need for them as the firebricks would of course hold the briquets well enough. I suppose I could try and cobble some sort of shield for the inside surface of the kettle, but if it's not really a common problem then I would rather not. Or is the porcelain cracking, other than cosmetic, not a serious issue?

[bob hope]

Our good friend Hogsy has had this same thought and has addressed it. Although you might not like the manor by witch he solved it for himself. If I remember he simply cut a section of a old junk Weber (if such a thing truly exists ) and made a side basket from it!

[addicted-to-smoke]

FWIW I bought a book published by Weber ( the "cooking with live fire" one ) and it specifically shows a 2-heat-zone/indirect heat example without using the charcoal holders, with coals up on the side.

Look at this way: when they make the kettles and lids the enamel is baked on at a zillion degrees.

[zavod44]

It will for sure over time ruin the enamel.  There have been many examples here of very badly pitted and ruined enamel from repeated banking of coals.  I would personally get a set of baskets.  They are pretty cheap and they will save your kettle in the long run.  Look at it like a little preventative maintenance.... You could cobble something but why bother if it is already out there.  I believe at this point Weber says to use the baskets to prevent damage... If you're really bent on banking with the bricks, go find some old clunker on craigslist and use that.  Then if it gets ruined so what....

Sent from my XT1080MAX using Tapatalk 2

[Hogsy]

Our good friend Hogsy has had this same thought and has addressed it. Although you might not like the manor by witch he solved it for himself. If I remember he simply cut a section of a old junk Weber (if such a thing truly exists ) and made a side basket from it!

It's funny you should mention that Bob
I was only looking at the bastardized bowl basket yesterday and after only 10 or 15 uses it has some serious crazing going on.
I'm over the fact that I cut up an old bowl now and just think to myself that thank God it's not the side of my sage performer that has all the crazing, there's not a mark on it
In fact it's working so well that I made the same setup for my 18's , I'm even thinking about making one up for my SJ
So yeah I think the combination of high heat and banked coals does cause the crazing

[DoppelBock]

'

[Bbqmiller]

I have it on both my performer and 26 in kettle from banking coals on one side. Plan on making some larger baskets from expanded metal for use on the 26 and recently acquired RK to minimize.

[colin.p]

Thanks guys. It was the answer I was expecting. However, that would make using the kettle for L&S cooking rather difficult as minion and especially ring of fire almost impossible. I guess the baskets could be used, albeit rather cramped, for minion.

The thing is, that would make the rails useless and unfortunately, that's what I bought not to mention I was planning on the fire brick method as well. I wonder if Weber started to make the kettles with cheaper materials, not only to sell more replacement parts, but also, maybe unintentionally, to discourage slow smoking in effect steering people to the WSM instead thereby using new kettles for quick grilling.

I sent off an inquiring email to Weber support on what their take is on it, and if direct contact with the kettle sides was now causing external damage, how the rails were to be used. Hey maybe, they will send me a set of baskets in exchange for the rails I bought? Nah, I didn't think so either.

[1buckie]

You could make a double ring of expanded metal, maybe bolted together & that would keep it just away from the metal of the bowl........

This pic I put up elsewhere yesterday is of "Bob" ....my main smoker.....




This is one of only two high heat cooks I've done on him in years & he has one tiny chip at these points being disscussed.....which was there when I got him......


Personally, I think the problem stems from huge piles of screamin' hot coals, piled against the side, folks tryin' to replicate  a pizza oven or 1100 degree steak sear on a gasser............

For hi-heat, yes, baskets, expanded, some other (yet to be invented) method of keeping the coals off the side is a good thing.....235 deg. smoking, I'm not going to worry myself sick about it.......

[Craig]

In the event I use charcoal rails, I try to tong the coals off and away from the bowl wall as much as possible. Otherwise I use the fuel baskets. I'm confident that both my brown 22 and my 79 red 22 had coals banked a lot. Theres crazing at the back of one bowl and the side on the brown.

[colin.p]

Personally, I think the problem stems from huge piles of screamin' hot coals, piled against the side, folks tryin' to replicate  a pizza oven or 1100 degree steak sear on a gasser............

For hi-heat, yes, baskets, expanded, some other (yet to be invented) method of keeping the coals off the side is a good thing.....235 deg. smoking, I'm not going to worry myself sick about it.......

That makes perfect sense, as I was mainly worried about slow cooking, as in 50 or so unlit coals on the side with 6 or so lit to get it going. Now if I was wanting to do a quick/hot fire, piled to the side, then yes I can see that causing a problem to the enamel. Anyway, even if the enamel starts to crack, it's still only a BBQ and I shouldn't be too horrified as long as it doesn't cause anything untoward to the stuff I'm cooking.
Thanks for everyone's take on the matter. I now won't lie awake at night trembling with porcelain/enamel cracking fears.

[One Touch Platinum]

You could make a double ring of expanded metal, maybe bolted together & that would keep it just away from the metal of the bowl........

This pic I put up elsewhere yesterday is of "Bob" ....my main smoker.....




This is one of only two high heat cooks I've done on him in years & he has one tiny chip at these points being disscussed.....which was there when I got him......


Personally, I think the problem stems from huge piles of screamin' hot coals, piled against the side, folks tryin' to replicate  a pizza oven or 1100 degree steak sear on a gasser............

For hi-heat, yes, baskets, expanded, some other (yet to be invented) method of keeping the coals off the side is a good thing.....235 deg. smoking, I'm not going to worry myself sick about it.......

I totally agree, The extreme heat is probably more to blame than anything. I have done at least one low and slow cook a week since last December on my kettle and have had no signs of the issue you are concerned with. My wife does not like the taste if I use wood to add smoke so I do everything with just charcoal. I do not use just wood or any wood on the Weber....I do not get the high heat from burning wood. I have seen many pics and videos of Weber's where the coal grate is all deformed from heat.....mine is as straight as the day I bought it. As was mentioned before, when they put the enamel on they do it under high heat conditions to insure a long lasting surface. On my smoker that has a fire box, the first time I cooked with wood I burned the coating right down to bare metal on the firebox. So even though I have no proof that very high temps are the real issue, I would say it is at the least the major factor in this problem. By the way , when I low and slow I bank the coals on the one side.....the same side for every cook I have done low and slow....so going by by usage and results so far I don't see any issues. Using baskets or other devices can be useful but if you MUST use them then you take away some of the versatility of the Weber kettle. The thing to think about is, the Weber kettle was designed to be able to do many things but wood burning HIGH heat cooking was not one of them....even though it will do it great ,but expect some wear and tear that is exclusive to these cooking conditions.  If you have ever seen the "Weber's" they use at the Weber grill restaurants.....notice that they are stainless steel or some other non-enamel coated surface as they do use VERY high heat cooking.

[pbe gummi bear]

I think the colored kettles are more prone to chipping and craze because the coating is thicker. They first put a coating of black and then the color on top. I don't know If there are adherence issues between the two layers.

[colin.p]

As an addendum, I got a reply from Weber support and was told that the rails are a Weber product and they were designed to be used to bank coals onto the side for indirect heating. I was also reminded that the warranty would also cover damage from using said rails and indirect cooking.

Now granted, I wasn't told that there wouldn't be any damage, but from what I interpreted, the warranty would cover the damage. We may read whatever from that answer, but I should think that at the moment, they would honour the warranty. For how long, who knows, but there is certainly enough posters who have noticed porcelain damage from banking coals, but again, I won't lose anymore sleep over it.

[colin.p]

An addendum to the addendum (actually a veiled attempt to get my post count up). I just wanted to say that I intend to get a set of baskets, or even better make a large basket out of EM, on the somewhat likely chance that some sort of palling may occur. I have quite literally, spent hours on reading up on kettle mods, baskets among them, so I have the necessary info to do the deed.