Rotisserie Acquisition Questions

[Bearded]

Ok so....

I have what I think is a good problem to have....(maybe )

Out of my 5 cooks so far, the in-laws have joined us for and enjoyed two of them. After the first they jokingly (I thought) commented about smoking the Christmas turkey at their place. I laughed and said yea rotisserie turkeys smoked seem to be the way to go.

MIL looked at FIL and said we could split that with him. Not much else came of this until the next two times they joined us where they again made the comment that if I want they would split the cost of a rotisserie with me if I would want to do the turkey. They will even provide me a practice turkey ahead of time.



Which brings me here. I don't really know anything about rotisseries aside from what I have read here. I have seen mention of spits and motors and forks maybe.

I see Weber sells a rotisserie set, but then I see a bunch of people talk about Cajun Bandit. Some talk about upgrading motors.

So my questions:

Given the in-laws will be splitting this with me and I may be on the line for a good holiday meal, what should I buy?

Is the weber the one? Cajun Bandit? An upgraded motor. I don't imagine I will spin much over 14lbs   

I want one that fits well and seals well. I have heard some have gaps and need aluminum foil to help seal up (I want to avoid this if at all possible).

What does everyone think? What parts do I need? What should I do? What should I get?

Or do I kindly turn them down?

Thanks in advanced

[Filibuster]

   All the CB rotisserie's and modern weber rotisserie seal tight on the bottom and top. Weber makes only a 22" black version nowadays and it is corded, CB makes an 18" steel, 22" steel and 26" black version and comes battery operated with the option of cord, motor wise they all are robust. CB also makes a  rotisserie that will flip between a WSM and kettle that's where the extra holes need to be covered with foil. Price would be your deciding factor, good luck.

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[Mazz]

I have a Weber and recently purchased a Cajun Bandit. The Cajun Bandit is the better of the two in my opinion. Mine has the battery powered motor.

[ReanimatedRobot]

If you are buying new in box canjun bandit is the way to go.  If a weber roti can be purchased used and cheap it is worth grabbing though.

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[Lowbrass]

I have an 18 CB with the battery operated motor and a 2 Weber 22 rotisserie's.  Either is fine and you won't need to upgrade the CB motor if you go that route. Also, if you get the CB that can go on either a kettle or WSM, you don't need foil to cover the extra holes for poultry as you want to cook at a higher temp anyway and the smoke loss isn't that drastic.

If you are looking used, I am getting ready to sell one of my Webers for $100 + shipping. 


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[racedvl]

Here is my take.  I only have experience with a modern Weber rotisserie. A modern Weber rotisserie uses a "bump out" to sit on your kettle. Which is fine... if your kettle is perfectly round.... if it's not... it can be a little wobbly. I ended up drilling some holes in the bottom lip of the bump out and installing some SS bolts with sleeves to make it rock soild stable.  I've never had a problem with the motor, and I have spun a up to a 18 lb. turkey. As far as worrying any gaps, don't.  A rotisserie does not need to be perfectly air tight.

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[Stoneage]

I have the C/B 22" one & am totally happy with it. There are actually 2 versions,the difference is the motor. One is a/c powered so has to be plugged in, the other is battery powered & so needs no plug.

I've read many complaints about the other brands being "floppy" in the ring part & so trouble prone. The C/B is definitely not floppy!
Weight of the food isn't really the problem, balance is the concern. If you center as accurately as possible that helps but the C/B also has a sliding adjustable weight to help unbalanced loads its a weight on a rotating, sliding arm that you fiddle with at the beginning to balance the complete shaft & food assembly to ease the uneven weight on the motor & gears. You can see it on the far right in the bottom image, right next to the black handle.

[Bearded]

Thank you all for the information and recommendations.

This has led me to my next question.

On the CB. Why is the battery motor cheaper? This seems to be opposite of what I would have expected.

Is there a benefit to the corded AC unit?

I'm inclined to go the DC CB route unless I am missing something.

@lowbrass thank you for the offer. I think I may be leaning the CB route as of now but will keep this in mind if this changes.

[AmirMortal]

You didn't ask about the Onlyfire setup, but since I got one recently and have it going today, I thought I'd add a pic and a comment. The Onlyfire ring is a combination rotisserie/pizza oven/smoker expansion. I don't own the other 2 options you did list.

This one fits over and around the kettle bowl like the lid does. It's a pretty good fit on my standalone 22"kettle, but my performer is slightly out of round and it takes a little playing with to get it to lock on.

Right now I've got it in the smoker expansion setup with the bottom vents closed, top vent barely open, and there's still enough air coming in between the gaps to maintain 225F at the lid. No foil is in place anywhere either, but it's not unworkable at all.

The pizza oven door thing is what sold me on this one. The small gap left around that door is probably where most of my leakage is coming from. If the door is removed to do pizzas, the temps will soar as one would expect.

I've only used the rotisserie attachment a couple times and for about 5lbs of meat at a time, but the motor that came with it plugs into the wall and didn't appear to struggle while I was using it.

[Bearded]

Hmm. I was not familiar with this brand. Seems like it is nice with all of the features. I'm not seeing this setup on their website though.

[AmirMortal]

Hmm. I was not familiar with this brand. Seems like it is nice with all of the features. I'm not seeing this setup on their website though.

Amazon carries it, that's where i got my copy of it.

[Stoneage]

Thank you all for the information and recommendations.

This has led me to my next question.

On the CB. Why is the battery motor cheaper? This seems to be opposite of what I would have expected.

Is there a benefit to the corded AC unit?

I'm inclined to go the DC CB route unless I am missing something.

@Lowbrass thank you for the offer. I think I may be leaning the CB route as of now but will keep this in mind if this changes.

1: I don't know, maybe ask him?

2: You don't have to keep buying batteries? Personally depending on the amount of use, I'd probably go with rechargeable anyway as I have a bunch of them.

[Foster Dahlet]

No need to get a tight seal for rotisserie. I have 2 rotis, a spitfire grilling roti for the 26er and a a weber roti with tabs that rest on the bowl for the 22.  The Weber was a gift 17 years ago, is not a tight seal and I have been doing roti all these years with it, including the last 10 Thanksgivings.  It's not low and slow and therefore not necessary to monitor pit  temps like a low and slow cook.  The motor is better than battery imo, if only to not have to worry about batteries dying out during a cook or running last minute to a store to grab batteries before a cook.  Still using the original motor that came with the Weber. 

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[foshizzle]

The battery operated motor is simple to use especially if your setup is not near a plug or if you ever camp or want to cook away from home.  I have both but always use the battery. The batteries last forever it seems like. If you get the corded I think an extra battery operated motor was under $25.


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[Shanks Kop]

No need to get a tight seal for rotisserie. I have 2 rotis, a spitfire grilling roti for the 26er and a a weber roti with tabs that rest on the bowl for the 22.  The Weber was a gift 17 years ago, is not a tight seal and I have been doing roti all these years with it, including the last 10 Thanksgivings.  It's not low and slow and therefore not necessary to monitor pit  temps like a low and slow cook.  The motor is better than battery imo, if only to not have to worry about batteries dying out during a cook or running last minute to a store to grab batteries before a cook.  Still using the original motor that came with the Weber. 

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Do you have pics of set up and a link to what you use for the 26er?

Always fancied one, but the associated costs for a ring shipped to the UK have always been the stumbling block.

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