I’ve had a Weber kettle grill for gosh… 12 years? 15 years? Quite a while. It’s actually served me quite well. It handles grilling needs, and some years ago I added a 3rd party thermometer to the lid and so I’ve been able to use it as a smoker with pretty good results.

But… she’s at her end. The “vanes” in the kettle are no longer moving. One of the vanes has worn so much there’s a hole. There’s just no more ability to control the air flow. I can make a fire in it, but controlling it is pretty much gone. It then becomes an art of just controling the fire itself to keep the temperature right.

Furthermore, I’ve known for a long while that while from time to time I want a grill, most of the time I want a smoker. As well, while the Weber has enough space to say feed a family or enough hotdogs for a neighborhood cookout, it just doesn’t have the square footage on the rack to hold what I cook these days. Plus when I smoke or otherwise indirect cook, there’s even less rack space available.

It is time for a new setup.

There’s a guy I’ve spoken with that makes custom setups. I’m going to talk to him, but I fear it may be too costly. On the flip side, the quality should be good enough such that it will last me the rest of my life with proper care.

The main things I want?

• Square footage. I don’t need to feed an army, but being able to hold a couple racks of ribs or a couple briskets or a couple legs from a feral hog. Plus being able to throw a dozen ears of corn on the side the last 30 minutes.
• Charcoal/wood. No gas, sorry Hank Hill.
• I do want to be able to smoke but also grill. I really don’t want to have one smoker setup and one grill setup. But from what I’ven seen on the market so far, what I want may not be there.
• Offset firebox for smoking.

I may have to go the custom route to get what I want. But if any good readers have suggestions towards what fits my bill, please comment.

(BTW, the Big Green Egg has always been curious to me, but it’s just not big enough.)