If you’re looking for the fanciest kettle grill out there, this one might just be it. We tested the 22-inch weber genesis 2 in black, but Weber also offers an 18-inch version of its original kettle design. There are certainly fancier and more expensive grills to use for cooking, but for a balance of affordability and quality, you can’t go wrong with this classic. But what really sets the Premium version apart from the standard 22-inch kettleis the enclosed ash catcher, which makes cleanup easy and eliminates concerns about stray embers. Assembly is dead simple, and the construction and materials are sturdy.
Energy at the food level reduces rapidly as the coals move away, so this is a very effective temperature controller. And if you want that great dark mahogany steakhouse sear, crank the coals to right below your steak. This arrangement is better than the Santa Maria-style grill where the food moves up and down and the coals are stationary because the head room above the food isn’t reduced.
The wood does impart flavor to the meat, like charcoal, and you can substitute different types of wood to adjust the taste — but the flavor level is “medium to light,” according to Horsman. While this grill is more budget friendly, it is still a high performer, according to Consumer Reports, which gave the grill “Very Good” ratings in all of their cooking tests. It has a main cooking space that’s 391 square inches, and a charcoal pan that can adjust to six different height levels and hold up to 4.5 pounds of charcoal. To add more coals, you can use the charcoal door instead of opening the lid. Enjoy the great outdoors and barbecue to your heart’s content with charcoal grills from the brands you trust like Masterbuilt, Char-Broil, and Weber.
Some of the ash will fall through to the ash catcher a few inches below the bowl. For the rest, Weber has equipped the Original Kettle with its “One-touch” ash removal system. It’s a rotating portable bbq group of three blades you turn with a handle projecting from near the bottom of the bowl. There are several ways to light a charcoal grill, but the best option is to use a chimney starter.
Tim Heffernan is a senior staff writer at Wirecutter and a former writer-editor for The Atlantic, Esquire, and others. He has anchored our unequaled coverage of air purifiers and water filters since 2015. In 2018, he established Wirecutter’s ongoing collaboration with The New York Times’s Smarter Living. Add the extra money you pay for the Napoleon grill over the Weber kettle that it emulates, and the Weber model’s superiority is even starker. We also interviewed senior product managers from almost every major grill maker at the 2017 Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Expo in Atlanta in early March 2017, including representatives from Weber and Napoleon.
Light the charcoal with a Rapidfire® Chimney Starter, watch as the coals transform into a glowing heat source, practice controlling the temperature, and enjoy the process as the food cooks. This is pure meditation after a busy week – and precisely what the charcoal grill weber q provides. To my knowledge, nobody else does this full time, and nobody else has cooked on as many grills and smokers as I have. I assemble products, measure temperatures, slam lids, turn dials, kick casters, study warranties, take pictures, and cook a lot of food.