i have been doing roasts and snake method for years now but would like to expand the options for reverse searing. Which of these 3 would you get and why ?
With the slow n sear i believe i will also need the griddle drip tray bit will be more expensive. Can you use it without the tray ?
char ring with diffuser plate trying to imitate a kamado ?
Has the base already but no water pan, guess i could sit a foil tray water pan on the base
I like option one, the Slow n Sear best, it looks like a good bit of kit.
I have a Smokenator which works very well in the kettle for low and slow or lower temp roasts and is ideal for reverse searing. It's very similar to the slow n sear in the way it works. But alas, with my BGE and other weapons, I hardly ever use the kettle and haven't used the Smokenator for many years.
I bought it from the USA but they are available here.
In the beginning Slow n Sear (SNS) was just the side basket. Then they got "distracted" and added lots of accessories such as griddle etc and then moved to selling whole smokers.
You can use the SNS without the griddle etc just like the normal Weber charcoal baskets.
I have a SNS and use it without any other accessories. If I am worried about clean-up I use some aluminium foil to catch the drippings.
You can do two zone cooking and well as low and slow. It gets super hot for searing.
I found for low and slow the SNS has one big advantage compared to a Kamado is when you run out of charcoal. It is a huge pain taking out the meat etc to add charcoal in a Kamado. With a SNS kettle you just lift the grill flap and add charcoal!
I remember Gumb doing a Kingsford vs Heat Bead review somewhere and the Heat Beads won hands down for burn time.
One of the interesting things I noticed with the SNS is that there's quite a few reviews using Kingsford charcoal and with the SNS the Kingsford seem to be lasting a long time.
The Heat Beads vs Kingsford burn time comparison is a sticky in the charcoal section.
I can't see any way that Kingsfords would work in a Slow n Sear or Smokenator etc. I use the Kingsford hickory beads quite a lot but only for direct cooking and when I want a bit more flavour. Maybe they'd last for a roast but that would be it.
Big Green Egg vs Weber Kettle & SnS
I have seen similar video of SNS vs other brands of Kamados and they're all pretty similar, people have a hard time saying one or the other is better.
One of the interesting video was one made by Baby Back Maniac comparing a SNS vs Kamado Joe. As you may guess again the results were very close. Baby Back Maniac is sponsored by SNS. When SNS started selling Kamados the SNS vs Kamado Joe video disappeared from his youtube channel.
Which all ends up saying that a Weber Kettle with an SNS makes fine BBQ.
The Heat Beads vs Kingsford burn time comparison is a sticky in the charcoal section.
I can't see any way that Kingsfords would work in a Slow n Sear or Smokenator etc. I use the Kingsford hickory beads quite a lot but only for direct cooking and when I want a bit more flavour. Maybe they'd last for a roast but that would be it.
Yeah, got me stumped too how in the US the reviewers got long burn times.
Which of these 3 would you get and why ?
I'm all for toys, but I don't get why you would get any of these three to do a reverse sear.
The beauty of the Smokenator and the others is that you can easily set up an indirect area because they shield the direct heat and then put the food over the coals directly when you want to sear. I agree that it can be done without using one of them but they do make it easy and who doesn't like BBQ add-ons. 
More to the point, they are great for low and slow cooking.
I remember many years ago before many of those accessories were even heard of to do low n slow, I would use 2 brick pavers (thinner than bricks) and have them bordered 1/3rd of the kettle space on the charcoal grate, the pavers were a bit overlapped in the middle as they were too long but that didn't matter.
Dumps a heap of briquettes (mostly heat beads) and some wood chunks amongst them, dump 8 to 10 hot coals on top to provide a Minion method which is basically what the SNS is for and place a small Weber tray over where the fire was burning and fill with cold water, close bottom vents to about 10-15% open and fully open top vent but you can still control any heat spike with top vent but with the water tray over the fire.....it kept the kettle down to around 225-250F for hours and hours, at least for 2 racks of ribs. However if I was to pick one out of the 3, it'd definitely be the Slow n Sear but jeez, are they worth near $200?
the Slow n Sear but jeez, are they worth near $200?
$200 = 4 decent quality steaks at today's prices
Actually, all this kettle talk got me motivated to unleash the beast tonight for a quick direct cook using some left over charcoal and a few Kingsfords briquettes.
Swamptrout I use a JG for low and slow, I was going to get a slow and sear for the same purpose but the cost of the SnS put me off. The JG is mild steel (S&S stainless) so despite seasoning it, it has gone pretty gross. I could sand and re-season but it doesn't bother me.
I love using this setup for L&S , and yes water tray with boiling water under the grill and it ticks away for a long time. You can get an easy 8 or 9 hours without dropping temps at say 135degC, and you can get longer with running a lower temp or if you "overload" with briquettes so your grill flap sits on an angle you'll get a few more hours too. You could get "longer" with a snake, but I just love the convenience of lighting 20 beads, dumping them in a corner then filling the rest with unlit. You do need to pay attention when pre-heating, stopping down the vents as you go to hit your setpoint and settle the temps works best. If you go over it can get away from you as there is a bucket load of charcoal begging for a burning. This highlights an advantage over snake on cold/windy days where a snake can struggle to get over 100C as there is only so much charcoal that can be lit really but the JG (or S&S) you just have to give it more air and it will burn more of the minioned pile off.
Also, this setup makes it very, very easy to reload charcoal and add more smoking chunks too.
I've never actually used it, or the kettle for that matter, for the "sear" part of a reverse sear. I've only ever just cranked the gasser at this point instead of trying to time when I needed to get another chimney cranking to reload etc. I'm not convinced searing over charcoal compared to gas will give you any flavour anyway (particularly after a dedicated smoke phase). Either of these side loaders work great for low and slow, but honestly I wouldn't bother getting them to do a reverse sear myself.
Hi Swamptrout,
I was also looking at the SnS but the main thing that put me off was the price tag especially in Australia.
I then stumbled upon this video and tried the method with 2 baskets for a long cook.
I don't have a SnS to do my own comparisons but the 2 baskets seem to work well for me.
In that video (which is somewhat annoying too) he's using Kingsford Briquettes which burn much faster than our Heat Beads and having 80 in each kettle seems like a lot but that's probably due to them not generating the same heat as Heat Beads.
In that video (which is somewhat annoying too) he's using Kingsford Briquettes which burn much faster than our Heat Beads and having 80 in each kettle seems like a lot but that's probably due to them not generating the same heat as Heat Beads.
This is my issue with Kingsford as well, they burn faster, not as hot and leave more dust.
Irrespective of the Coals used, it was a very fair test, I watched it right through as I was considering a slow n sear for my kettles but now I may even buy 2 new Weber baskets for 20% of the cost.
Now yes our heatbeads burn hotter and slower and you won't get as many on and even if he used those instead of Kingsfords, the test would be similar due to number of coals v's mass.
I don't think that guy could've been more fairer in the test but I think where the SnS may have the advantage is that it was no where as full with the 80 briquettes as what the baskets were, there wasn't much more room to play with there. Where he showed it at 12.06 on the video.
Might give it a try, and it'll be interesting on how the 2 baskets would compare using the same number of coals v's the snake and even the Master touch Plus with the Charcoal ring and deflector plate.
But what it does show irrespective of the coals used, that if you only have 2 to 6 people to feed, the kettle is just as worthy as a smoker as a WSM or other smokers if you use similar principles.
Thanks for putting up the video Rubit, I enjoyed it very much.
Cheers
Davo
Might give it a try, and it'll be interesting on how the 2 baskets would compare using the same number of coals v's the snake and even the Master touch Plus with the Charcoal ring and deflector plate.
Hi Davo,
I would be really interested in that comparison.
I haven't had to use a snake yet as I haven't cooked anything needing such a long burn time. I might try a 6kg+ brisket or a pork shoulder in the future though.
I'm not sure if the char ring and diffuser will last the entire cook but it really pulled through for me when I needed the additional cooking space.
I've seen somewhere that this may be an issue with the seal between the lid and bowl that is burning out the coals faster.
Cheers
Yeah Rubit, I have the Master touch plus I bought in Yamba a couple of years ago and have given the charcoal ring and deflector two hits, yeah when using smoking wood and charcoal, you can't get much charcoal in but it'll do a 6 hour cook like pork ribs.
The deflector allows you to use ALL of the cooking grate which is great (Pun intended) and you can place a shallow pan of water under the food.
I guess though at a pinch, with some gloves, just left the deflector plate off, replenish coals, preferable with lump this time so they'll catch on easier and won't leave any impurities or smells like briquettes can then continue on, replenish water too to ensure Lump doesn't spike as it catches fire. It's no WSM but it allows more cooking real estate. Usually smoked cuts on a Kettle are not big cuts anyway.
Here are the basic measurements for a plate similar to the JG or Smokenator.
It's easy enough to make a cardboard mockup that you can then use to fine tune the dimensions
Here is a look at a Basket Mod (Chargriller baskets are cheap from the Hammerbarn)
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