Review - The 22-inch Weber Kettle Grill

I don't know if a marketing guru has already come up with this, but if not, the Weber kettle grill should be called the Swiss Army knife of the barbecue World. I've used hibachi, gas grills, Offset smokers, ugly drum smokers and a variety of other outdoor cooking equipment but in all my years I've never had the opportunity to try an authentic Weber Kettle grill (I know, right? Have I been living under a rock?). Since me and the missus recently downsized our living arraignments, I had the bite the bullet and unload most of my outdoor cooking equipment. It was a sad day, but I do believe I may have discovered a suitable replacement. 

Chicken Pot Pie on the Weber Grill

 I like to smoke meat a lot, but I also like to grill and just generally cook outdoors. In a 3-bedroom home w/ a couple of acres for a back yard, it's easy to have a little arsenal of BBQ cooking weaponry to choose from. In a 2-bedroom apartment complex, not so much. I needed the most versatile cooker I could get. I opted for the classic Weber 22-inch kettle grill. I went with copper color because it was different than the traditional black, but that'd be my 2nd choice, were I to get another one (wink, wink).  

The grill comes packaged quite nice & secure and only has a handful of parts and requires only basic tools to assemble (screwdriver, hammer and the little wrench doohickey that comes with the grill). Me and the missus had it together on the kitchen floor in about 30 minutes. 

KFC=Kettle Fried Chicken! 

                           

There’s a couple of things to watch out for. Well, one really. Make sure the legs are set so that the front leg is under the grill handle and the two legs with wheels are to the back. I’ve seen a few videos where folks have missed this little detail. It won’t affect your BBQ, but it will certainly make moving the grill around a LOT more complicated!  

Snake Method on the 22-inch Weber Grill

The versatility of the Weber Kettle Grill is amazing. Using the coal baskets together or a Vortex insert you can achieve super-hot temps for searing or direct grilling. Moving the baskets to one side of the kettle allows for a large amount of indirect grilling area on the grate. Heck, I’ve even used the snake method with my charcoal briquettes and smoked pork butts for 8 to 10 hours with ease. A few weeks ago, we added a few fire bricks & a pizza stone to the grill and was able to make fantastic pizzas & calzones at around 600F!  

The Weber Kettle 22-inch kettle grill has damper controls below the kettle and on the lid. I’m still learning the ins and outs of the lid vent, but I am able to control my temperatures pretty easily with just the lower damper. The lower damper also does an excellent job of clearing ash from the kettle into the ash catching bowl mounted below the kettle. A quick squeeze of the ash bowl handle and the ash bowl un-clips from the kettle so you can easily empty ash from the grill.  

Texas Twinkies & Chicken wings on the Weber Kettle w/ the Vortex 

The cooking grate is stainless & high quality. The grate I got has the two wing doors on either side that lift and allow easy access to your heat source without having to remove a hot, loaded grill grate.  The lid fits well and, while it does leak a bit when smoking low & slow, it hasn’t really affected the outcome.  

Sesame Ginger Roasted Chicken on the Weber.

Hopefully someday soon I can get back to a place where I can have my whole arsenal on display again, but for now the Weber 22-inch Kettle Grill has become an outstanding substitute. So much that I don’t even like the term “substitute”.  Whether I get the Pit back together or not, the Weber is now a permanent member of the BBQ team. If you’re considering a grill purchase, I’d highly recommend this unit.  Two thumbs up for the Weber 22-inch Kettle Grill!  

The Vortex from Owens BBQ (more about this little monster later!)