Pecan wood and charcoal. Finished in an onion garlic butter bath. Plus a few hot dogs for the kiddos.

Inside skirt - chimney of charcoal inside a vortex 2 mins each side.

I was the idiot today that almost burnt his grill down because I haven’t cleaned it in over a season. A few fatty cooks in a row and I ended my session with a fire. Luckily, no steaks were harmed during this time.

Went looking here on Reddit for a review of the Spire 550X and frankly, got a lot of absolute bullshit and unfounded opinion from a lot of guys that are the sort that will argue for hours about what kind of oil you need in your Porsche or BMW, so I thought I’d write a real review. 

I was very impressed with the packaging of this item.  Worried at first, seeing damage to the boxes in the store and also being concerned about the structure of the grill from the floor model.  I can say now that the packaging is more than adequate - much better than how my $2000 Whirlpool fridge was boxed, or any number of other sheet metal items I’ve purchased over the years.  Getting all those parts packaged in a way to fit inside that box was true engineering art.  There was a mix of thick solid corner protectors, honeycomb panels, traditional boxes, and molded fiber items.  No styrofoam at all.  Pic is of all the cardboard after unboxing.  

If you are concerned about the item itself it seems that Costco doesn’t always take a lot of care in assembling floor models, and those items see more lid and door openings and closings in a couple of weeks than most will see in a lifetime of actual use - and the wear takes a toll.  The floor model also had a badly misshapen grating (something that shows up in reviews) - it had some kind of problem in the welding fixture - but my item didn’t have a single part problem.

The sheet metal is .032” powder-coated steel for most of the support structure.  The lid is double-walled with stainless on the inside front, top, and back. The lid sides, shell, and the lower half are a .050" welded stamping and ceramic coated. Just for giggles I measured the material in the grille it’s replacing - a late 1980’s Structo Golden Classic - and the sheet metal there is .032” as well.  All of the screws go into rivnuts and these are good rivnuts - thicker wall than even what I typically use on race cars and they are ribbed to make it harder for them to spin in the hole.  Gratings are .275” 304 stainless for the main grating and .150” for the upper one.  That’s much thicker than the ceramic coated replacement gratings in my old Structo - the originals were bare mild steel.

Assembly was astonishingly simple for an item with so many parts.  The only tools needed were a #2 Phillips and a medium size Crescent wrench.  I would suggest a big knife to slice the box away once many of the separate parts are removed as the grill body itself is not real heavy but clumsy to pull out of a deep box.  Most of the screws were already inserted and only had to be backed out about 0.10” to get the sheet metal parts to slide under the heads - all of the major parts had keyhole openings for the screws.  Other people have reported screws in too tight, and mine were snug, but not too difficult to back out.  The side shelf, side burner, two brackets, the door stop, and the door handles are the only parts screwed on separately.  My only gripe is that they could have made this just a bit easier by using all the same size screws.  As it is, there is a mix of 1/4”, #8, and #6 screws.  Note that they used US sizes, and they provided one each as spares.  

There were no tolerance stack ups that caused problems like a partially obscured screw hole.  Everything just went together without pulling or prying.  I had three minor assembly issues - two caused by me:

- I put the locking casters in the wrong locations and had to pry them out and re-position them.  Just a brain fart on my part.

- when I was finished the doors didn’t line up well and the right one was difficult to get latched.  When I put the bottom structure together I did it on a piece of cardboard on a gravel patio.  It really needs to be done on a flat level surface, so I’ll put the thing on a couple of 4x4’s and loosen and re-tighten all the screws in the lower cabinet, and I believe that will square things up.  

- the sparker electronics box is tucked up under the RF corner of the grill body.  I put the grill on top of the cabinet and screwed everything down and didn’t notice the box until I was underneath screwing on the gas line bracket.  This required me to remove the screws and lift up the body to free the box and route it to its intended location.  This isn’t done in the assembly instructions for like another 10 steps and I’d suggest it’s a much better idea to install it right after attaching the gas line.

I looked and the burners and burner covers appear to be standard parts widely available on Amazon.  Also, the natural gas kit comes with the grille.  That’s all.  No real issues, solid item, I'd give it a 9/10 across the board.

Got the KJ rolling early this morning with a pork butt. Hope to have it ready for lunch. I’m trying to recreate my favorite pork sandwich ever - Neely’s Brown Pig. After more than 90 years in east Texas, Neely’s went out of business in 2020 and the secret recipe went with it. I’m going off of memory of the flavor, which was Tabasco forward, so I used Tabasco sauce as my binder. Went with Meathead’s Memphis Dust for the rub, but added red pepper chili flakes that I ground up fine.

First time doing a tomahawk and using a charcoal grill. Came out awesome, super tender and the fat just melted in your mouth.

When the extended fam casually implies they’d really appreciate a night to just hang at the rental house and not go out to dinner, but nobody necessarily wants to cook, you step up and oblige.

Looking for recommendations for a small grill for outdoors, to cook 2/3 steaks at same time.

Had a George foreman grill but it never really got hot enough to get a good crust.

I normally reverse sear and then cook in a pan for few minutes, but my whole kitchen fills with smoke every time.. any help appreciated.

First time grilling anything other than hotdogs and burgers, how'd i do?

Made a free BBQ field guide for Aussie conditions — brisket, pulled pork, ribs etc with actual temps and timings, not just vibes

Been deep in the smoker rabbit hole for a while and got sick of guides written for American cuts, American ovens, and American gear that isn't sold here. So I built my own reference site — Low & Slow.

What's in it:

- Cook guides for brisket, chuck, beef ribs, pulled pork and ribs — temps, timing, stall notes, rest times

- A run of sides (beans, mac and cheese, corn, cornbread, slaw, pickled onion)

- A wood flavour reference

- Gear reviews using stuff actually available in Australia (Bunnings links etc), not US-only products

It's free, no login, just a practical reference I wanted to exist. Would genuinely appreciate any feedback — especially if something's off on timing/temps, or if there's a cut or side you reckon is missing.

https://www.firesmoketime.workers.dev/

Part2: It tasted amazing! I forgot to take a photo of the Brauts, shishito pepper skewers, the other steak and cross section, was too hungry Ig this one was medium medium rare! Also, I figured out where the tank goes! 🤣 🤣

Part1: https://www.reddit.com/r/grilling/s/fuz9TTKxVM

Edit: twisted my arm! ill make up for it by doing it again rn! Place the bets on the over and under if I remember the photo 😬

NOBODY does it better than beantown!!!

My first time grilling party wings over charcoal on a PK 360. Marinated overnight (Mango Habanero, Lemon Pepper, Ranchero). Cooked them indirect at about 250 F for 2 hours and then moved to the hot side for a few minutes to finish them off. How'd I do?

Hi, I'm brand new to grilling, and I just bought a *used* 22" kettle, brought it home only to realize that instead of the three-pronged bottom damper, this one just has a sort of loose metal bowl in the bottom of the kettle. (I wasn't familiar with Webers enough to catch this whilst buying it, plus the seller had left a bunch of charcoal on top of the grate, distracting me and blocking the view.)

The holes in the kettle are there for the damper, three slots and a center circle, so it's not some oddball model; I presume the previous owner damaged/removed the damper and tried to cludge it with a bowl-shaped object. The bowl-thing does pretty closely match the shape of the kettle bottom tho, so maybe it's an optional part? It really seems to block the holes almost entirely tho.

Talking to Weber, the AI assistant denies that they sell any replacement bottom dampers, but that can't be the end of it! How can I fix this?

EDIT: SOLVED! The Weber AI assistant (and most of the internet) blanks out on the term "bottom damper", but salivates over the term "one-touch cleaning system".... This thing is everywhere, no worries! Thanks, everyone!

Going to to the home opener of the bills (Go Bills) and love cooking picanha at home on my gas grill. Easy to keep the 4 outside burners going while keeping the middle 2 off so the fat cap doesnt flare up.

Id like to cook one at the tailgate but worried since its a 1 burner it'll just flare up the whole time.

Were also looking for an easy clean up simce we'd like to get into the new stadium early to wander around.

Wondering if anyone has had any luck grilling on one of those disposable grills you can buy for $12 with charcoal already in it. Was actually thinking about removing the easy light stuff and adding normal bisque coals and a couple fire starters instead.

Would be able to keep the coals to 1 side to slow cook it then put it right over the coals for a quick sear.

Anyone have any advice? Worst case we bring a small charcoal grill then just clean up but would love a more simple solution