And sadly, the ribs it produced came out burned, charred and overdone. We noted similar temperature performance from the Nexgrill, along with similar rib results. Cooking ribs low and slow on the Nexgrill required just 4 hours, 30 minutes. Its rack came out well too, though like the Napoleon, its bark was more pronounced than what the Weber produced. Interior temperatures had a greater swing, jumping up to 300 degrees F during periods of cooking. While its ribs came out tender and juicy overall, the exterior bark had a few burnt spots.
The Char-Griller has a noticeably deeper kettle — the deepest of the entire pool we tested. Despite the distance from the heat, meat still seared well on this grill because it ran so weber charcoal grill hot. It took over an hour to get this grill from 400 degrees Fahrenheit to the 300-degree range. The 22-inch Weber Original Premium Kettle Grill lives up to Weber’s storied history.
If you’re looking for the best affordable charcoal grill under $100 that will cook your meat to a perfect temperature, then this Weber is for you. Starting a charcoal grill is definitely not as easy as starting a gas grill, so it’s important to understand how to do it correctly. You’ll need to purchase a bag of briquettes, and either lighter fluid or a handy charcoal starter. We filled it up to the top with briquettes and then put newspaper underneath, which we lit on fire and then allowed the coals to heat up for exactly 15 minutes. Once your briquettes are fired up and ready to go, you then dump them into the base of the kettle grill.
I’ve thrown pork, burgers, steaks, chicken, veggies, and even some pineapple on the Weber with fabulous results. You can even use the Weber to slowly smoke more traditional barbecue by adding a little wood to the fire. This Weber’s plated steel cooking grate is hinged so that it’s easier to load charcoal, even while cooking, onto the heavy-gauge steel grate below.
Of the Grills I own, the Weber Kettle is the one I find myself using the most. Weber is also a company that’s essentially synonymous with barbecue at this point. When it comes to a Kamado-style grill, you won’t find much competition for the Kamado Joe Classic II, save for the Big Green Egg, which we also like. The Orson Gygi Company has evolved from a restaurant wholesale kitchen supply store, to a shopping experience for anyone searching for anything kitchen. There are many appealing, well-thought-out features, despite it being a basic grill.
For our tests, each grill gets a full chimney of lit charcoal and a 6-pound chicken opposite the coals for indirect heat. But the biggest problem is that the instructions completely overlook what we found to be a potentially dangerous design weber q flaw. The Napoleon’s vent assembly consists of two metal collars, one inside the other. When you invert the assembly to screw it to the grill, the inner collar can slip down unnoticed and prevent the screws from attaching to the grill body.
Only very old models of Weber grills would require seasoning, and because they are very old, that surely happened a long time ago. If you purchase a new Weber grill, you don’t need to worry about seasoning it. The grill was able to achieve high temperatures as well as larger models, and was even able to sear meat. Lastly, we found it easy to assemble and attach a 1-pound gas canister. Our tester called it “pricey, but worth it” for anyone who regularly grills on the go. If you do want something a bit cheaper or smaller, we’ve also tested and recommend the Q 1200.
She is perfectly happy to leave all that behind to be a full-time kitchen-gear nerd. The Weber grill has three legs—an inherently stable design, because having three points of contact means the legs will automatically “find their level” even on bumpy ground. That said, the Napoleon model’s four legs felt just as stable, and more stiff, on a garden-variety concrete patio—and also allowed Napoleon to install a big, square shelf underneath the grill.