I've tried top vent and bottom vent controls and I've found that with bottom vent control, sometimes you have to "reset" your settings during a long low n slow cook because ashes and small bits of charcoal may have fallen down and blocked the vent, especially if you are running at 1/4 or less. In terms of taste ... I hand't really thought that "stale smoke" would sit around if you used the top vents instead of the bottom vents. I mean, any air coming in WILL leave the kettle in equal amounts. I've found that sometimes I can't quite get the bottom vent to where I want because of the lash in the controls, so I use the top vents as well. However ... in the end you should remember that the air leakage around the lid will probably add more air than you think (even if you clip it down) and trying to stay at EXACTLY 225 is not really productive. So... use whichever set of vents you like to control the temps, but don't obsess over 225. If it's within 200-275, it's still cook and be great...225 is a target, but fiddling with vents to get the exact temp will drive you nuts and you'll lose sleep if you are doing an overnight cook and babysit it.
Agree somewhat. Stale smoke is definitely a thing if you are chocking it from the top as you don’t get a clean burn. You don’t have to obsess about temperature as it’s called a bbq. Not a science experiment.
@@MikesManCave I just smoked a butt (ha ha) yesterday. It was an overnight smoke and the problem I had was that temps drop slowly until the temp alarm woke me up at 3:30AM. I was really stable when I went to bed ... I think what I said is what happened ... the bottom vent I had opened to a small crack, and ash clogs it up. I was using the Slow n Sear charcoal basket. I think the bottom of that basket also gets clogged eventually. I had positioned the basket to be over one bottom vent so at most only that one would get clogged. I may try blocking that one vent up entirely so air is only drawn in from the two vents that are not under the coals, so I can discount the ash build up issue IF that's actually what is happening. I can deal with some temp fluctuations ... unless it drops below 200 and keeps dropping.
Awesome bro, thanks. I'm picking up a Webber tomorrow and am living vicariously throughout others on RUclips until then. Great explanation, lots of guys only closing the top vent, was a little confused how to control the heat.
Hi Mike, apologies for asking this on an old video, but I read something now for the first time in this video's comments - stale smoke. It's obvious I've been doing it wrong. I used to work with the bottom vent fully open, and then I'd choke the fire with the top vent only. I've smoked a few things in the Weber but found that the smoke "flavour" is super intense, and actually a little bit off-putting. For a while now I've started to just smoke for very short periods, around 15~20 minutes at the most, otherwise the smoke flavour is overwhelming for me. Could the "stale smoke" be the reason the smoke flavour is so off-putting for me?
Yep, Stale smoke causes intense sometimes bitter flavour. You need free flowing exhaust to maintain a clean burn. Top vent should be fully open. Hope this helps.
@@MikesManCave It definitely does help, thanks for this. I have heard numerous conflicting opinions and as mentioned, I was taught completely wrong. I will be trying the top vent open, tune with bottom vents method this afternoon!
@@MikesManCave I smoked some steaks using this method over the weekend. Top vent mostly open, bottom vents barely cracked. It's a lot harder to control the temperature this way, but the taste and the smell was instantly different. Before, I would smell smoke. Using this method, I smell more wood. The smells is significantly cleaner and even though there is a lot less smoke, the flavour was a lot better. Thanks for the advice and assistance, I'll be doing it with a brisket this coming weekend!
@@Toxxyc Great result, I am glad it worked for you, the more you do it the better you get with temperature control, but don't stress too much, it's cooking meat and it's supposed to be enjoyable, it's not a science experiment. So if the temperature fluctuates a bit it really will make no difference.
Great... but I get a little confused as some say leave the bottom alone & use the top to control airflow & temp & then some say correct them both & you say leave the top open & adjust the bottom for temp control. I got an old kettle but the system still works the same. I guess I will load it up later today & have a play... thanks
Ask yourself one simple question, do you control the speed of your Car by blocking the exhaust pipe or my controlling air intake?? You always control fire and temperature by controlling the input, not by restricting the exhaust. Not only is controlling the exhaust inaccurate, it also traps stale smoke and causes incomplete combustion and poor burning properties.
Great video! I’ve been struggling with temp control on my kettle. So, you keep the top vent wide open and adjust bottom for low and slow 225 to 325? Thanks!
If I did a low and slow would I set the bottom to 1st mark for slow cook, could I use snake method cpal setup with the bottom vent set to low. And top vent completely open still.
Adjust vent to get the temperature you desire, but yes I would start with the top vent wide open, and the bottom one on the first mark then adjust as you need to if the temperature is too low. Never used the snake method, so I can't really comment on that.
@@MikesManCave kinda hard to leave top wide open, temps will surely climb. 275 degrees in a Weber kettle is extremely hot for several hours causing meat to crust and burn.
@@danielploy9143 I don't really understand your comment, if 275 degrees is too hot for what you are doing then dial the temperature down to what you deem suitable. It's very easy to leave the top wide open, wide open is no harder than any anther setting of the vent, they all take the exact same effort to achieve. Temps can only climb if the bottom vent is too far open, without oxygen temps can not climb, it's impossible, combustion needs oxygen. No oxygen comes in through the top as it's an exhaust vent, all oxygen comes from the bottom, you do not control combustion by blocking the exhaust you control it by adjusting oxygen and fuel for a clean burn.
I recommend that during a long smoke, you close and open the bottom vent. Or open it all the way, then closed all the way then back to your setting ... this should help shove ashes away from the cracked open vent. But try not to kick up ash into your food so do it slowly. I hypothesize that some of the issues I have with temps slowly dropping over a loooong cook is ash build up. Of course if you leave the bottom wide open and adjust from the top, ash does not clog the large wide open vent. Just something to think about as well.
That causes a dirty burn and a build up of stale smoke and your food may get a bitter creosote taste. You don’t control the speed of your car by blocking the exhaust. You control air intake into the engine for a clean burn and minimal carbon build up.
Really helpful vid, thanks. Weber say to use the top vent to control temp, but now mark the bottom vent for temp control! Seems like they can’t quite make their minds up! Truth is that it can be done both ways - personally I like the boom vent method, but each to their own!
This is the best demonstration I have ever seen on setting up the Weber kettle bottom vents.
Thanks for the extremely positive feed back, much appreciated!!!
Thanks Mike
No problem, hope it helped you out. 👍😎
thank you. Very good.
Thanks for the feed back. Much appreciated.
Awesome video mate 👍
Thank for the comment, much appreciated.
And to readjust it is best to bring back to start. Excellent!
Glad I could help. 😎
I've tried top vent and bottom vent controls and I've found that with bottom vent control, sometimes you have to "reset" your settings during a long low n slow cook because ashes and small bits of charcoal may have fallen down and blocked the vent, especially if you are running at 1/4 or less. In terms of taste ... I hand't really thought that "stale smoke" would sit around if you used the top vents instead of the bottom vents. I mean, any air coming in WILL leave the kettle in equal amounts. I've found that sometimes I can't quite get the bottom vent to where I want because of the lash in the controls, so I use the top vents as well.
However ... in the end you should remember that the air leakage around the lid will probably add more air than you think (even if you clip it down) and trying to stay at EXACTLY 225 is not really productive. So... use whichever set of vents you like to control the temps, but don't obsess over 225. If it's within 200-275, it's still cook and be great...225 is a target, but fiddling with vents to get the exact temp will drive you nuts and you'll lose sleep if you are doing an overnight cook and babysit it.
Agree somewhat. Stale smoke is definitely a thing if you are chocking it from the top as you don’t get a clean burn. You don’t have to obsess about temperature as it’s called a bbq. Not a science experiment.
@@MikesManCave I just smoked a butt (ha ha) yesterday. It was an overnight smoke and the problem I had was that temps drop slowly until the temp alarm woke me up at 3:30AM. I was really stable when I went to bed ... I think what I said is what happened ... the bottom vent I had opened to a small crack, and ash clogs it up. I was using the Slow n Sear charcoal basket. I think the bottom of that basket also gets clogged eventually. I had positioned the basket to be over one bottom vent so at most only that one would get clogged. I may try blocking that one vent up entirely so air is only drawn in from the two vents that are not under the coals, so I can discount the ash build up issue IF that's actually what is happening. I can deal with some temp fluctuations ... unless it drops below 200 and keeps dropping.
@@vincentlok8894 Excellent as kong as you like it that's all that matters..
Awesome bro, thanks. I'm picking up a Webber tomorrow and am living vicariously throughout others on RUclips until then. Great explanation, lots of guys only closing the top vent, was a little confused how to control the heat.
Thanks for the feed back. much appreciated.
I have never seen somebody mention the play in the grill and how to workaround it. Thanks for the video!
Thanks, yes I noticed the play when I was trying to mark the positions, took me a little while to figure out a constant way of doing it.
Great idea and video Mate. Thank you.
Thanks for the comment. 👍👍😎
This completely bbq'd my patience.
Cool story.
Beans hoy
Hi Mike, apologies for asking this on an old video, but I read something now for the first time in this video's comments - stale smoke. It's obvious I've been doing it wrong. I used to work with the bottom vent fully open, and then I'd choke the fire with the top vent only. I've smoked a few things in the Weber but found that the smoke "flavour" is super intense, and actually a little bit off-putting. For a while now I've started to just smoke for very short periods, around 15~20 minutes at the most, otherwise the smoke flavour is overwhelming for me. Could the "stale smoke" be the reason the smoke flavour is so off-putting for me?
Yep, Stale smoke causes intense sometimes bitter flavour. You need free flowing exhaust to maintain a clean burn. Top vent should be fully open. Hope this helps.
@@MikesManCave It definitely does help, thanks for this. I have heard numerous conflicting opinions and as mentioned, I was taught completely wrong. I will be trying the top vent open, tune with bottom vents method this afternoon!
Toxxyc338 see how you go. 👍👍
@@MikesManCave I smoked some steaks using this method over the weekend. Top vent mostly open, bottom vents barely cracked. It's a lot harder to control the temperature this way, but the taste and the smell was instantly different. Before, I would smell smoke. Using this method, I smell more wood. The smells is significantly cleaner and even though there is a lot less smoke, the flavour was a lot better. Thanks for the advice and assistance, I'll be doing it with a brisket this coming weekend!
@@Toxxyc Great result, I am glad it worked for you, the more you do it the better you get with temperature control, but don't stress too much, it's cooking meat and it's supposed to be enjoyable, it's not a science experiment. So if the temperature fluctuates a bit it really will make no difference.
the one thing i wanted to know is: in which stand you get the highest temp? does the below vent needs to be fully open or half?
The more air the more heat, fire need oxygen to burn. So half way would be less hot than fully open. Top vent should be fully open.
Great vid - I’ll definitely use this to mark my Weber Master Touch 👍🏼
Makes life a lot easier, once you done it you wonder how you did without marking it all these years.
Great... but I get a little confused as some say leave the bottom alone & use the top to control airflow & temp & then some say correct them both & you say leave the top open & adjust the bottom for temp control. I got an old kettle but the system still works the same. I guess I will load it up later today & have a play... thanks
Ask yourself one simple question, do you control the speed of your Car by blocking the exhaust pipe or my controlling air intake?? You always control fire and temperature by controlling the input, not by restricting the exhaust. Not only is controlling the exhaust inaccurate, it also traps stale smoke and causes incomplete combustion and poor burning properties.
That exhaust/intake analogy is pretty spot on. I've never thought about it that way. Thanks!
@@leesuschrist As long as it works for you and you like the results it's all good.
Really clever to use the marker.
Thanks for the feed back. 👍
Great video! I’ve been struggling with temp control on my kettle. So, you keep the top vent wide open and adjust bottom for low and slow 225 to 325? Thanks!
That's how I do it, works perfectly well, and makes sense when you think about it.
Smart to mark it
Thanks, makes life much easier.
Great video! I think I need to remark my kettle now that I know about the play in the handle. New sub!
Glad it helped someone
Cool Bro
Thanks for the feed back.
How many times do you have to explain the same thing?
A few more times and people should start to get it.
If I did a low and slow would I set the bottom to 1st mark for slow cook, could I use snake method cpal setup with the bottom vent set to low. And top vent completely open still.
Adjust vent to get the temperature you desire, but yes I would start with the top vent wide open, and the bottom one on the first mark then adjust as you need to if the temperature is too low. Never used the snake method, so I can't really comment on that.
To each his own. I keep the bottom open about 1/4-1/2 and adjust the top as needed. Work fine for me
If it works and you can deal with the flavour stick to it, I just don't like stale chocked up smoke around my food, tastes horrible to me.
@@MikesManCave kinda hard to leave top wide open, temps will surely climb. 275 degrees in a Weber kettle is extremely hot for several hours causing meat to crust and burn.
@@danielploy9143 I don't really understand your comment, if 275 degrees is too hot for what you are doing then dial the temperature down to what you deem suitable. It's very easy to leave the top wide open, wide open is no harder than any anther setting of the vent, they all take the exact same effort to achieve. Temps can only climb if the bottom vent is too far open, without oxygen temps can not climb, it's impossible, combustion needs oxygen. No oxygen comes in through the top as it's an exhaust vent, all oxygen comes from the bottom, you do not control combustion by blocking the exhaust you control it by adjusting oxygen and fuel for a clean burn.
I recommend that during a long smoke, you close and open the bottom vent. Or open it all the way, then closed all the way then back to your setting ... this should help shove ashes away from the cracked open vent. But try not to kick up ash into your food so do it slowly. I hypothesize that some of the issues I have with temps slowly dropping over a loooong cook is ash build up. Of course if you leave the bottom wide open and adjust from the top, ash does not clog the large wide open vent.
Just something to think about as well.
Never had an issue with ash build up. I think if your kettle builds up ash it’s time to clean it.
Great vid
Thanks
Subscribed !
Thanks for the support...
Weber advices to open the bottom vent completely and control the temperature with the top vent...
That causes a dirty burn and a build up of stale smoke and your food may get a bitter creosote taste. You don’t control the speed of your car by blocking the exhaust. You control air intake into the engine for a clean burn and minimal carbon build up.
@@MikesManCave ok, thanks. I can imagine that. Weird they advise it on different pages.
@@studio48nl It can be done but it's definitely not optimal for the best tasting food.
Really helpful vid, thanks. Weber say to use the top vent to control temp, but now mark the bottom vent for temp control! Seems like they can’t quite make their minds up! Truth is that it can be done both ways - personally I like the boom vent method, but each to their own!
So, how do you control your temperature?
😵
WEBBA....!
🤣👍
Worst explanation of controlling the Temp can not understand with his accent sorry guy
Cool story, needs more dragons to be interesting though, may be get an adult to explain it to you.
Australian accent... I understand it perfectly
Probably your english understanding is very low. Explanation is clear and perfect.
@@MrBosch82 Thanks for the feed back. Some people do struggle.