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We love Weber grills and have been using a Smokey Joe Silver and larger Weber grills for 30 years. We like to camp and always bring our Smokey Joe with us so I purchased the Smokey Joe Gold becasue of the locking top and carrying handle. However, this grill has vents on the side, not on the bottom, so the air flow does not circulate through the coals as Weber grills are usually designed. It took twice as long to cook our food in the Gold as opposed to the Silver. It is good for transporting but not as good as the Silver for cooking.
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This is the third little Weber I've had in the past 20 years I've never worn one out; the first two were stolen! I like the locking handle on the new model. One great feature of these grills is that when you are done cooking, you can close all the vents and the fire will go out in about 15-20 minutes, saving whatever's left of your charcoal for the next time. With the handle locked, it won't spill in the back of your pickup on the way home.It really does do a great job of cooking, as good as the larger Webers, just for a smaller crowd. We had a Mulberry tree trimmed in our yard and I saved all the chipped up wood to use for smoke flavoring. You still need a charcoal fire for heat; just throw in a handful of chips before you put the meat & corn on the cob in and close the top vent down to make it smoke. Mmmmm, Mmmmm!
You can eat like a gourmet anywhere you tote this to! Just add a cooler full of longnecks.....
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I got this grill on the advice of a friend when we were in grad school. She'd been trying to save money, and bought a similar type grill from a different manufacturer. It didn't vent right at all, and she was right, this one does. Brand matters.I've lugged it with me through something like 5 moves, and it's still fine. The grill has eventually accumulated rust, but it's nothing you can't scrape off at the beginning of the season, and besides they're always telling us we need more iron in our diets, right?
If I hadn't left it outside for a couple of winters the rust might not have happened. It doesn't look like it's going to wear out in my lifetime, so I guess I'll never have a chance to find out on a new one!
I like using the charcoal made of real wood chunks more than the compressed bricquettes (they don't last as long, but they taste WAY better).
Couple it with the Weber chimney starter, and you have a way of getting rid of junk mail, too! (Just don't burn paper with colored inks, *blech*.)
I fed 12 people on links and venison last Friday night with just one of these babies, started with the chimney (that part took only 30 min, honest to Gawd). Afterwards there were still enough coals left to roast marshmallows on fondue forks. (We didn't have real sticks available, OK? You use what you've got.)
I have a Diversitech grill pad under it to keep the heat and crud off my deck, and it works great.
Enjoy!
Honest reviews on Weber 40020 Smokey Joe Gold Charcoal Grill
As I was waiting for my smokey joe shipment to arrive, I decided to read the negative and positive reviews to see if I had made a good or bad purchase.In the negative reviews, I read about how there was insufficient air drafting because the air vents were not located at the bottom of the grill and therefore the grill would not become hot enough. This problem is completely false! My smokey joe grill gets red hot!
Secondly, there were complaints about how there were no vents on the bottom so the ash could not come out like in the Silver edition. However, the new feature of having a closed base is soooo much better because it is much cleaner! If you're grilling in an apartment or on a deck, you can just close up the top and close the vents and save the coals for another time. Forget the mess of having ash flying around on a windy day because of an ash catcher! Oh and by the way, cleanup/removal of coals is as easy as dumping it in a coal bucket or a dumpster!
Finally, the ability to lock the top of the lid is a great feature because it makes transportation so much easier than if you could not lock the top like in the Silver.
So, if you are like me and are reading all these complaints about a lack of good draft because there are no vents on the bottom and such, forget them. Those people are morons! THIS IS A GREAT SMOKEY JOE!
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I had one of the original Smokey Joe grills when I was single (a long time ago). I used it at my apartment and took it on camping trips. It worked well at home, but it was a pain to take camping. It was tippy and always fell over in the truck, sending the grates, lid and kettle all over the place. The Gold model remedied that shortcoming. The lid locks down tight for portability. The tripod leg system still isn't as stable as a four-leg system would be but the Gold model is not as tippy as the standard model I used to have. (I wonder whatever happened to my old Smokey Joe?)The Gold model also remedied the other shortcoming of the original Smokey Joe--that silly pan to catch the ashes and cinders. It never worked well, the vent in the bottom would clog up, the ashes blew all over the place in the wind and it was a royal pain to clean up. The Gold model holds the ashes in the belly of the kettle so there's less mess. I line the bottom of the kettle with aluminum foil, set fire to the charcoal and, after everything cools down, I just pick up the foil and dump the ashes with little left to clean up.
The Smokey Joe works great for indirect cooking of small roasts or other small, but thick, cuts of meat. Put the charcoal on a side of the kettle with a vent, put the meat on the other side. Close the vent on the kettle on the meat side, open the vent on the fire side, open the lid vent and put the vent holes over the side with the meat. It creates a draft inside the kettle that works extremely well. The size of the grill prevents true slow cooking but this modified indirect method works extremely well.
I have to disagree with a previous reviewer who said the venting system didn't work and the charcoal fire goes out. It just doesn't happen if you get the fire going properly to begin with. I love it that the vents are on the sides of the kettle instead of underneath the coals.
The Smokey Joe Gold is for our RV. It fits in the storage compartment and if it tips over it doesn't create a big mess. It's perfect for cooking and relaxing around an isolated campsite or adding a little downhomeness to those concrete parking lots they call RV parks that we sometimes have to use when traveling. It's a great improvement over the original Smokey Joe if you need a portable grill to take along with you.
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