Bought my first real Weber Kettle

[Bear]

I love Gumtree, $20 bargain!

I bought this a few weeks ago but haven't been able to clean it up until today. It cleaned up really nice. I have had a kettle for many years but since I needed an upgrade, I went for the real thing.


I replaced the old wooden handles and installed a brand new ash catcher.

It also came with the charcoal baskets & now I have 4. Since I don't use them I am considering putting 3 of them together to make a charcoal basket for a UDS. My question is: Before I alter or destroy them, does anyone actually use their baskets for anything?

[Nath]

I love Gumtree, $20 bargain!

I bought this a few weeks ago but haven't been able to clean it up until today. It cleaned up really nice. I have had a kettle for many years but since I needed an upgrade, I went for the real thing.


I replaced the old wooden handles and installed a brand new ash catcher.

It also came with the charcoal baskets & now I have 4. Since I don't use them I am considering putting 3 of them together to make a charcoal basket for a use. My question is: Before I alter or destroy them, does anyone actually use their baskets for anything?

Wow, that almost looks new!
Personally I would have left the wooden handles, I much rather them over the plastic, much nicer feel and like to look of them better, but that is entirely a personal opinion. (don't throw out the wooden handles, a bit of a clean up and oil brings them back to life)
With the charcoal baskets, they are good to use rather than piling up your charcoal either side against the bowl, they help to protect the enamel of the bowl from blistering etc with the high heat.
It also makes the charcoal easy to shift around if necessary.

[urbangriller]

Good work Bear.

The clips for the dust pan go under the pan, no need to clip onto the pan, you'll find it hard to remove like that.

Cheers
Chris

[Bear]

Thanks Nath, Yeah looks great now, wish I took a before photo, it was filthy took 2 hours to clean of the grime with a brass brush drill attachment from the inside! I considered the wooden handles however, one of them had a split & a small chip missing. I could have rotated the handle upside down to hide the split/ missing chip but the missus told me they were ugly.

Thanks Chris, I'd forgotten - it's been 12+ years since I had a proper functioning ash catcher.

I'm going to fire it up tomorrow with a hot smoked pastrami - it's a Reuben Sandwich Sunday!

[Zorba]

wow, that cleaned up real good. the grates are in top nick.

[Gumb]

What Nath said about the baskets...spot on. Keep them.

[Bear]

Probably should've mentioned, I don't use the kettle for anything other than smoking or grilling on the grill grates. All my roasting gets done in the wood oven or on the spit, which is why I don't use the charcoal baskets.

[titch]

That's one clean looking kettle

[Bear]

Cheers titch,

I was surprised when I cleaned it, I think the former owners only cooked on it once every 2 years for 10 years & never cleaned it, and the grime preserved everything.

[chrisg]

Something I can comment on

My first Weber came to me in a similar manner, picked up for $10 in a yard sale. Took several hours of scrubbing to clean it up, but same deal, it was essentially preserved by neglect

It actually lasted me years, never had to replace a thing on it, just kept it clean and well oiled (olive oil - does get a bit gummy after a few burns but then a good sudsing and rinse and start again )

I've actually never cooked without the baskets, they are sort of sacrificial I suppose, but last ages, a mate never used his and had a burn through in the end.

One of my family now has that old girl and she is still cooking along

Nice find!!

Cheers

[Bear]

Sacrificial indeed, I have converted one of my superfluous baskets into a coal rake for the pizza oven. Good news is, I can convert back to a functional charcoal basket if needed.

[Junior]

Hi guys,
Thought this thread may be a good place to bob up.
Wanting to learn this Ancient Art of BBQ, I have been lurking & learning a lot on this forum, so thanks everyone for the great advice here.
After a patient waiting game watching gumtree, ebay, etc. I finally picked up my first BBQ about 2 weeks ago.
Here she is...



$70 on Gumtree, thought that was a reasonable deal for both parties.
Drove straight to AP Fuel with the kettle in the back then drove home & started cooking

[titch]

That's a clean and neat unit.
AP fuel , must be near Clayton?

[kendoll]

Hi guys,
Thought this thread may be a good place to bob up.
Wanting to learn this Ancient Art of BBQ, I have been lurking & learning a lot on this forum, so thanks everyone for the great advice here.
After a patient waiting game watching gumtree, ebay, etc. I finally picked up my first BBQ about 2 weeks ago.
Here she is...



$70 on Gumtree, thought that was a reasonable deal for both parties.
Drove straight to AP Fuel with the kettle in the back then drove home & started cooking

Mmmmm....a MasterTouch, very nice.

As for the charcoal baskets, I use them primarily for grilling and roasting so if you are convinced you won't use the kettle for that then yeah, repurpose them.

Ken

[Junior]

That's a clean and neat unit.
AP fuel , must be near Clayton?

Hey titch, yeah I picked the kettle up in Cheltenham so Dingley wasn't too far away.
Ome at APFuel sorted me out with a bag of stick & branch and some good advice.

btw it's in great condition, just needed some soap & water outside & in and plenty of elbow grease for the cooking grill as it was rusted.
The baskets aren't in terrific shape but good enough.