Anyone have a Weber Summit charcoal kamado grill?

[passedpawn]

This is not a gas grill, it's their entry into the kamado-style charcoal market. I've got both the Weber Smokey Mountain, and the Weber Performer - both are showing their age. I was thinking about replacing both with one of these. I have a brisket on the WSM right now

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01JN0YYKO/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_48KJXSN5TQR33G1EVN7Y

 

[FromZwolle]

hefty price tag. i'm way too cheap to spend that much on a grill/smoker.

 

[Transamguy77]

My brother in law has one and loves it! Anything Weber is always pricy but I think the quality is top notch.

I made a UDS probably 10 years ago and I love it, I’ve looked at all kinds of smokers and I just like mine.

 

[bkboiler]

Very cool! I love my old Weber kettle and my new Weber Spirit II (wife bought on labor day sale last year...she's a keeper)...
Please let me know if you get and like it!

 

[passedpawn]

hefty price tag. i'm way too cheap to spend that much on a grill/smoker.

It's a lot considering I paid $350 for my Performer. But if I replace the performer and the WSM, I'm looking at close to $900. I'm going to make the ASSumption that this can do both functions
I've got the bread, I think I'm going to get it.

 

[Transamguy77]

It's a lot considering I paid $350 for my Performer. But if I replace the performer and the WSM, I'm looking at close to $900. I'm going to make the ASSumption that this can do both functions
I've got the bread, I think I'm going to get it.

They make a ton of accessories for smoking on your Weber, a coworker of mine started smoking meat on his Weber kettle, he went to a local grill shop and bought all kinds of accessories and his stuff turns out awesome!

 

[shelly_belly]

If I were spending that much money I would want ceramic. I have a steel Akorn grill and don't see the ash box making it past 10 years even though I've cleaned it diligently after every use.

 

[passedpawn]

I ended up keeping my Weber Performer and replacing the Weber Smokey Mountain with a pellet grill. Instead of one grill ruling them all, I'll continue to have two.

Not sure I like it. Made some very good wings tonight, but I could have made them on the Performer kettle. Pellet grill makes very little smoke. The test will be a brisket, which I have ready.

 

[TwistedGray]

I absolutely love mine!! Akorn

I've had it since we bought the house back in 2015, and I'm pretty neglectful. It's holding up well. I know a couple other HBT members have them.

I always recommend it to anyone with a little coin to spend. You shouldn't use charcoal though. I use wood from a cherry that I chopped down a few years ago.

 

[ITV]

I own the Weber performers (both old and new style), smokey mountain, and kettle grills along with a Vision ceramic grill.

I am a diehard charcoal fan and nothing can replace my Weber smokey mountain. I like the Vision ceramic grill in freezing temperatures and that I can crank up the temperature and do pizza's, but for that charcoal wood smoked flavor I'll stick with my Weber smokey mountain.

 

[passedpawn]

I own the Weber performers (both old and new style), smokey mountain, and kettle grills along with a Vision ceramic grill.

I am a diehard charcoal fan and nothing can replace my Weber smokey mountain. I like the Vision ceramic grill in freezing temperatures and that I can crank up the temperature and do pizza's, but for that charcoal wood smoked flavor I'll stick with my Weber smokey mountain.

My performer is about 10 yrs old. Is that the old style? If so, how is the new style different?

 

[ITV]

My performer is about 10 yrs old. Is that the old style? If so, how is the new style different?

I should state "newer" style since it is at least 8 years old. The old style is the ones with the stainless steel top that you had to remove anything on the top to open. The "newer" style had a swing out bin that didn't require you to remove anything from the top and also raised it a few inches which made it easier for me to cook on.

Older Style:


Generation 3 Style:

 

[GoeHaarden]

replacing the Weber Smokey Mountain with a pellet grill.

That Traeger sure is pretty!

I've had my WSM for close to 10 years now and it's still going strong, but these new pellet smokers are oh so tempting. Curious to see what you think after the brisket. I just love the flavor charcoal brings.

 

[passedpawn]

I should state "newer" style since it is at least 8 years old. The old style is the ones with the stainless steel top that you had to remove anything on the top to open. The "newer" style had a swing out bin that didn't require you to remove anything from the top and also raised it a few inches which made it easier for me to cook on.

Older Style:
View attachment 723655

Generation 3 Style:
View attachment 723657

Ah I see. I already have the newer style. Love the gas starter.

That Traeger sure is pretty!

I've had my WSM for close to 10 years now and it's still going strong, but these new pellet smokers are oh so tempting. Curious to see what you think after the brisket. I just love the flavor charcoal brings.

Yea, we'll see. I noticed a lot of smoke produced when I first started the Traeger, then none after (and no way, that I can see, to add a chunk of anything). So maybe if I add meat before starting it. Dunno yet.

Though, of course, it's burning wood all the time to produce the heat, so there must be some smoke happening. I'll post back here when do the first real smoke. I've got a brisket, several pork butts, and a couple of racks of baby backs, so I'm ready for war.

 

[eric19312]

Hey guys I ended up pulling trigger on the Weber Summit® Kamado E6 Charcoal Grill about two weeks ago. Got the lower price version without the integrated table or propane charcoal ignition system.

Really happy with it so far. I also have a Weber Smokey Mountain and pretty sure that guy is going to be retired in favor of this. So far I've done 3 smoke cooks and 5 grill cooks and think weber really nailed the dual/multi purpose target due to variety of locations available for placement of the charcoal.

Smoking it held 230-250 for hours using very little fuel and only moderate vent adjustment. I'm thinking to add a Thermoworks Smoke X2 or X4 and Billows to control for overnight cooks because I do love gadgets but not sure it really needs it. Pretty sure with the Smoke and Billows I could get the WSM to even out and hold temps for overnight cooks but with higher fuel consumption and without that awesome ash management system.

I'm equally happy with how it performs as a grill. The design makes it simple to put a blistering hot bed of coals immediately under the cooking grate in part of the kettle while maintaining a hot indirect fire zone in another area of the grill. I'm playing around with what works best, have tried the hot direct zone in the middle of the circle and at the edge or at either edge and all work well and cook intuitively. For grilling fish and steaks I was able to position the surface of the burning coals about 1" below the cooking grate and seared the steaks over the direct heat before moving them to the indirect zone. Am thinking this will work really well for sous vide searing too. For grilling hamburgers I used the lower rack about 6" lower and grilled them over direct heat until done.

If you check out some youtube videos you will see they have gone through a couple iterations on the design. The smoke damper plate is no longer double walled or hinged. The old design looked cooler than what is included now but really what is included now seems to work just fine. The casters and legs are sturdy and the unit doesn't wobble like was reported with earlier generations.

 

[ITV]

Hey guys probably I ended up pulling trigger on the Weber Summit® Kamado E6 Charcoal Grill about two weeks ago. Got the lower price version without the integrated table or propane charcoal ignition system. View attachment 731765

Really happy with it so far. I also have a Weber Smokey Mountain and pretty sure that guy is going to be retired in favor of this. So far I've done 3 smoke cooks and 5 grill cooks and think weber really nailed the dual/multi purpose target due to variety of locations available for placement of the charcoal.

Smoking it held 230-250 for hours using very little fuel and only moderate vent adjustment. I'm thinking to add a Thermoworks Smoke X2 or X4 and Billows to control for overnight cooks because I do love gadgets but not sure it really needs it. Pretty sure with the Smoke and Billows I could get the WSM to even out and hold temps for overnight cooks but with higher fuel consumption and without that awesome ash management system.

I'm equally happy with how it performs as a grill. The design makes it simple to put a blistering hot bed of coals immediately under the cooking grate in part of the kettle while maintaining a hot indirect fire zone in another area of the grill. I'm playing around with what works best, have tried the hot direct zone in the middle of the circle and at the edge or at either edge and all work well and cook intuitively. For grilling fish and steaks I was able to position the surface of the burning coals about 1" below the cooking grate and seared the steaks over the direct heat before moving them to the indirect zone. Am thinking this will work really well for sous vide searing too. For grilling hamburgers I used the lower rack about 6" lower and grilled them over direct heat until done.

If you check out some youtube videos you will see they have gone through a couple iterations on the design. The smoke damper plate is no longer double walled or hinged. The old design looked cooler than what is included now but really what is included now seems to work just fine. The casters and legs are sturdy and the unit doesn't wobble like was reported with earlier generations.

Thanks for sharing your review, looks great!

 

[passedpawn]

Hey guys I ended up pulling trigger on the Weber Summit® Kamado E6 Charcoal Grill about two weeks ago. Got the lower price version without the integrated table or propane charcoal ignition system. View attachment 731765

Really happy with it so far. I also have a Weber Smokey Mountain and pretty sure that guy is going to be retired in favor of this. So far I've done 3 smoke cooks and 5 grill cooks and think weber really nailed the dual/multi purpose target due to variety of locations available for placement of the charcoal.

Smoking it held 230-250 for hours using very little fuel and only moderate vent adjustment. I'm thinking to add a Thermoworks Smoke X2 or X4 and Billows to control for overnight cooks because I do love gadgets but not sure it really needs it. Pretty sure with the Smoke and Billows I could get the WSM to even out and hold temps for overnight cooks but with higher fuel consumption and without that awesome ash management system.

I'm equally happy with how it performs as a grill. The design makes it simple to put a blistering hot bed of coals immediately under the cooking grate in part of the kettle while maintaining a hot indirect fire zone in another area of the grill. I'm playing around with what works best, have tried the hot direct zone in the middle of the circle and at the edge or at either edge and all work well and cook intuitively. For grilling fish and steaks I was able to position the surface of the burning coals about 1" below the cooking grate and seared the steaks over the direct heat before moving them to the indirect zone. Am thinking this will work really well for sous vide searing too. For grilling hamburgers I used the lower rack about 6" lower and grilled them over direct heat until done.

If you check out some youtube videos you will see they have gone through a couple iterations on the design. The smoke damper plate is no longer double walled or hinged. The old design looked cooler than what is included now but really what is included now seems to work just fine. The casters and legs are sturdy and the unit doesn't wobble like was reported with earlier generations.

Aw man, I'm a little jealous. Though, I think I'd have to pay the $$$ for the table and gas start.

Were you able to find it on the floor somewhere, or did you order it. Where from?

 

[eric19312]

Jeff Bezos took my money again. Looked at my local guys first but not on the floor and that two day delivery...

edited to add: yeah get the table. Lighting the charcoal is no big deal with a chimney but it does need a table.

 

[passedpawn]

Jeff Bezos took my money again. Looked at my local guys first but not on the floor and that two day delivery...

edited to add: yeah get the table. Lighting the charcoal is no big deal with a chimney but it does need a table.

It's been a month... any cooks on it yet?

 

[eric19312]

It's been a month... any cooks on it yet?

about 3 a week lol. Smoking I've done brisket a couple times, once a whole packer and once a hunk of flat. Also did a pork butt overnight. Pork belly burnt ends a couple times...I've done chickens, whole/beercan and cut up, wings, pork ribs, beef short ribs (dino bones)... I've also used it as a grill for steaks (my sous vide is getting lonely), burgers, fish and vegetables.

I added the Thermoworks X4 smoke and billows. Holds temps for hours once it settles in. Pretty sure I could get 24 hours out of a full load of fuel at 225.

Should of spent the money on the cart version. My patio is a mess everytime I'm cooking would be nice to have the storage that is integrated into the cart.

No issues with quality or function though.

 

[FromZwolle]

not to hi-jack, but anyone have one of these:

https://www.menards.com/main/outdoo...mado-charcoal-grill/06620/p-1444423398425.htm
price is nice, but if it disintegrates in a year it's not worth it.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

not to hi-jack, but anyone have one of these:

https://www.menards.com/main/outdoo...mado-charcoal-grill/06620/p-1444423398425.htm
price is nice, but if it disintegrates in a year it's not worth it.

I don't, but I know many who have owned them. You should easily get 4-5 years out of one. As for performance, it's right up there with more expensive ceramic kamados in every way.

Almost everyone I know who has one recommends them.

 

[ITV]

While I do enjoy my Weber grills and the Weber Summit Kamado is built up to the Weber standards, however it is very pricy.

I noticed a few players that are making gravity feed charcoal grills. The Char-Griller 980 in my opionion is the leader, over the Mastergriller gravity series.

They appear to be going after the pellet grill market. They use coal/lump/wood as the fuel without the prone to fail auger and include a temperature controller.

Char-Griller link

 

[eric19312]

While I do enjoy my Weber grills and the Weber Summit Kamado is built up to the Weber standards, however it is very pricy.

I noticed a few players that are making gravity feed charcoal grills. The Char-Griller 980 in my opionion is the leader, over the Mastergriller gravity series.

They appear to be going after the pellet grill market. They use coal/lump/wood as the fuel without the prone to fail auger and include a temperature controller.

Char-Griller link

It's funny when I told my FIL I was thinking to buy the Summit Kamado that was same grill he was looking at. He bought one off e-bay but deal didn't work out and he cancelled. I went with the weber for a couple reasons. I wanted something that would do a good job both smoking and grilling. I was never happy grilling on my gas grill and setting up my weber smokey mountain for grilling was always a bit of a cludge. I also had good experience with weber products over the years.

To me the Char-Griller is a design to overcome one of the primary limitations of offset smokers...need to tend the fire. Gravity fed fuel with electronic controls and fans are to take care of this. I was a little leery of the proprietary electronic controls on that unit especially since I was looking at it at half price on ebay. Read a few reviews mentioning a switch that fails. Maybe they are great but seemed like a potential weak point.

The weber unit is designed to go after the egg market. Less fire tending effort. Much less fuel consumed vs offset smokers. Good for smoking, grilling, pizza oven, tandoor cooking. Price wise the weber is quite similar to same size XL egg. I did end up adding a fan and temperature controller for long cooks but there are lots of third party options and if that unit fails during a cook I can still drive it manually with probably only adjusting vents every 2 hours or so.

 

[ITV]

It's funny when I told my FIL I was thinking to buy the Summit Kamado that was same grill he was looking at. He bought one off e-bay but deal didn't work out and he cancelled. I went with the weber for a couple reasons. I wanted something that would do a good job both smoking and grilling. I was never happy grilling on my gas grill and setting up my weber smokey mountain for grilling was always a bit of a cludge. I also had good experience with weber products over the years.

To me the Char-Griller is a design to overcome one of the primary limitations of offset smokers...need to tend the fire. Gravity fed fuel with electronic controls and fans are to take care of this. I was a little leery of the proprietary electronic controls on that unit especially since I was looking at it at half price on ebay. Read a few reviews mentioning a switch that fails. Maybe they are great but seemed like a potential weak point.

The weber unit is designed to go after the egg market. Less fire tending effort. Much less fuel consumed vs offset smokers. Good for smoking, grilling, pizza oven, tandoor cooking. Price wise the weber is quite similar to same size XL egg. I did end up adding a fan and temperature controller for long cooks but there are lots of third party options and if that unit fails during a cook I can still drive it manually with probably only adjusting vents every 2 hours or so.

I agree with your comments. The switch can always be bypassed and I assume that the electronic can be swapped out with a third party unit. I didn't think about the high fuel consumption of the gravity feed grills but it makes sense. I do like the layout, putting ribs lengthwise rather than on a rib rack.

I still prefer to smoke on my WSM, I'm not sure if it's the water pan but my ribs turn out very moist and tasty. I don't mind the extra work with the WSM if the food turns out great..