Question & Advice

[brianhale]

First-time Weber kettle griller/owner here (just bought the thing yesterday, but my family have cooked on them for years when I was a kid, until the gas craze hit and they switched to char-broils)

I'm 5'10 and the kettle seems a bit..short.. for me - does Weber make taller legs? (3-4 inches?)

And secondly - what advice do y'all have for 'breaking in' and taking care of my new grill? (I read the instruction book, but that can't replace years of experienced know-how and tricks..)

I seriously thought about getting a Performer Gold, but where I live, the sun and heat would break down the plastics on the table and char-bin pretty much overnight - even with no sun shining, so I'll build a nice wood table for it at some point..

Thanks!

[jdefran]

Well if you build that table sooner than later you will resolve the height issue. I recently finished a table I built to drop my kettle in and put the cooking surface just around 36" off the ground.

For seasoning the grill I have no advice..I purchased my used and just try to cook on it every opportunity.

[mike.stavlund]

Congrats on the new grill, and welcome!

I'm 6'1'', and feel like the height of Weber products is pretty good (I cooked on a newer Performer I picked up for a friend recently, though, and it was kinda nice).  If you want a quick-and-easy height adjustment, park your grill on some concrete pavers or something to boost the height... cheap and easy-- and fireproof for any embers that might fall down below.  Unfortunately, lengthening the legs means the triangle won't be the right size, so that doesn't really work.

In terms of breaking it in, I would encourage you to cook whatever you like!  Get a feel for things, eat some great food, impress your family and friends.  I always tell people starting out on the Weber to 'let it teach you'-- think of that grill as a 60-year old sage (it's had the same design for about that long) who is going to show you all kinds of wonderful things.  And as soon as you are able, do a simple roast chicken with indirect heat-- that's the thing that opens people's eyes to a world of possibilities.  If you can roast a chicken (and you can!), you can cook the Thanksgiving turkey, and do pulled pork, and ribs, and beef roast, and whole fish, and potatoes, and vegetables, and tofu, and fruit, and cakes, and....

[Winz]

I'm 5'10 and the kettle seems a bit..short.. for me - does Weber make taller legs? (3-4 inches?)

One mod you can do to increase the height is to put bigger wheels on the kettle.  For example, by replacing the 6" wheels of an OTS or OTG with 8" wheels from a Performer or 26.75 kettle, you get another inch in height.  Of course, you will will have to replace the front leg with one that is commensurately longer.  You can use shower curtain rod and drill the necessary hole for mounting the triangle.  This approach lets you keep the existing triangle geometry while increasing the height of the grill.  To get even more height, just increase the size of the wheels.

Winz

[1buckie]

I'm 5'10 and the kettle seems a bit..short.. for me - does Weber make taller legs? (3-4 inches?)

One mod you can do to increase the height is to put bigger wheels on the kettle.  For example, by replacing the 6" wheels of an OTS or OTG with 8" wheels from a Performer or 26.75 kettle, you get another inch in height.  Of course, you will will have to replace the front leg with one that is commensurately longer.  You can use shower curtain rod and drill the necessary hole for mounting the triangle.  This approach lets you keep the existing triangle geometry while increasing the height of the grill.  To get even more height, just increase the size of the wheels.

Winz

MacEggs is 6'4" , I think & he's added in some longer stuff......don't have pics........

Yeah, like Mike says:  " impress your family and friends."

......baffle your enemies, woo wild women, start social upheaval, etc., etc., etc.



Winz's idea is good, using shower rod, you could actually build a pretty tall one, if you happen to be the handy type & have a few tools around..........
I went looking for a real tall one I remembered & Duke's moved the pictures, so nothing there.......

[pbe gummi bear]

I hope this isn't a stupid suggestion but have you looked at using longer grill tools? I'm not that tall but I have long tongs and spatulas that work well for my grills- even my midget 18's.

[saxart]

I've always wondered if it would work to build a small "pallet" out of 2X6's that was like a mini deck you could put the grill up onto to increase it's height.