Got the pics. Thanks. I was wondering why Bill said you needed my email address.
Nows I knows.

My guess is that the placing of the air vents is an extension of this logic, taken from the Weber site: The Smokey Joe Gold also has unique side venting specially designed to prevent ash from falling into your car.
The question remains which models are affected - just the platinum or the gold too?

Bryan i have SJP as well, mainly for tailgating and such. Do you have pics of your mods?

MAtt, Ive got pictures of Bryan's mods. I don't think he would mind me sending them to you. Shoot me an email (address is in profile) and I'll send them to you.

My SJP has the same air flow issue. I haven't tried dumping two lit chimney's in there to see if that helps. Has anyone tried that? One chimney definitely does not cut it. Does anyone have pictures of Bryan's mod? Thank you.

quote:

Originally posted by Rich Stone:
Does anyone have pictures of Bryan's mod? Thank you.

I Do. SJP Mods

This has been talked briefly in the past...you did the right thing with your mods...more than a couple of us here have done the same thing.
IMHO it's the only thing that'll make this grill work well...makes a World of difference!

quote:

Originally posted by Bryan S:
I ordered the ash catcher and lid vent from the SJ. Going to modify the lid vent for the bottom and drill 4 holes in the bottom to get the underneath air flow going. Not happy with this design either. Bryan

You ordered the LID vent Why not order the bottom vent from the old (silver) SJ ??

I just purchased a SJ plat and SM Gold. I tried the Plat and temp was very disapointing.
Bryan I like your modification but I am going to try it with Rich's suggestion of using a lower vent from a SJ silver with the ash catcher. Come to think of it I will do the same with the smaller SJ gold too.

They should not even bother with a silver and a gold just make a silver with the lid latch.

Thanks for your photos
Bob

I made the lower vent mod to my SJP. This made a huge differance. I am very happy with the performance. It is a shame that one has to do so much work to get decent performance from this grill. The side vents just dont give the temperatures needed.

I did offset the bottom vent slightly so it would be easy to rotate the vent from open to close. Otherwise, there is very little clearance because the ash catcher is so close to the bottom of the grill.

I also added the SJ silver lower vent to my SJ gold. Plan on taking it ice fishing with the boys. I expect it to work as good as the SJP.

Bob

For some reason I havent had any problems getting my SJP up to temp for cookin. Perhaps its the new fire groove kingsford? Seriously thought that is what I threw in there and it grilled hot and steady for a long time.

I agree with Chris K. Have been having my SJ Platinum for 2 years now and I can't think of any time when the temp was a problem. A couple of weeks ago I used the SJ as a secondary grill to my Performer while barbequeing chicken. I used a full Weber chimney and put 2 large fryers on it and the cook took about an hour and a half-exactly what I expected of this grill as well as my Performer. I've also grilled countless prime steaks on this grill and never came close to having a problem with inadequete heat. I think the design is right on considering it's a portable grill- translate no ashes dumped in the back of my creme colored (interior)Ford Expedition. Also, the swing up lid handle which doubles as a lid cradle is super. Terrific product in my book!

quote:

Originally posted by Doug LaFleur:... my SJ Platinum ... I used a full Weber chimney ...

That a lot of briqs for a 18 inch grill, but it is the solution, imo, to maintaing high temps without a good flow of air because of the vent placement. That vent placement, however, does permit the handy portability which comes with the SJ Gold and Plat.

Paul

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Paul G.,

Paul, I think you are right on the money. Don't spare the coals and you'll get the temp you need. Thanks for the response.

Yup, I always use a good 3/4 to full chimney for the little guy and the temps really get high. With the portable, I only use it for camping and tailgating where you never know when someone will be hungry. I spark it up for breakfast and it is usually still hot for brats at lunch.

Before I added my lower air holes. I found that I could get good temps but had to keep adding charcoal as the charcoal settled below the side air holes. After I finished cooking, I would have alot of unburnt charcoal. I would just add these to my 22.5" kettle.

What I find now is that I use less charcoal and burn it closer to the end of its life.
BP

quote:

Originally posted by Chris K:
For some reason I havent had any problems getting my SJP up to temp for cookin. Perhaps its the new fire groove kingsford? Seriously thought that is what I threw in there and it grilled hot and steady for a long time.

OK I'll try and clear up what i was trying to achieve. I was going for a super little blast furnace to sear the Hell out of steaks. I found i could not get what i wanted with the stock SJP. Yes it was hot enough to cook on but way too cold for doing steaks on. So i decided to modify it to get them extreme temps that all the famous steakhouses grill over to get the results that we lay out huge bucks for. After doing the mods to the SJP and using nothing but Lump, i'm close to what i was trying for.

Next step is to put a fan on the bottom of the SJP to get the 1500 - 1800 degree temps that the famous steakhouses use to get the results we all try to achieve.

quote:

Originally posted by Bryan S:... the 1500 - 1800 degree temps that the famous steakhouses use to get the results we all try to achieve.

What is it that this super high temp does in so far as searing a steak that 700 degrees doesn't ? Is it that this high temp permits searing over and open grill/grate as opposed to a conventional, high heat gasser ? Just asking - curious ?

Paul

quote:

Originally posted by Paul G.:

quote:

Originally posted by Bryan S:... the 1500 - 1800 degree temps that the famous steakhouses use to get the results we all try to achieve.

What is it that this super high temp does in so far as searing a steak that 700 degrees doesn't ? Is it that this high temp permits searing over and open grill/grate as opposed to a conventional, high heat gasser ? Just asking - curious ?

Paul

Paul, Here's my take on the super high temp thing. It's this incredible high heat that gives them steaks that awsome taste that i can't seem to achive at home. Duno if you ever had the pleasure to eat a steak at Morton's or Ruth's Chris Steakhouse but that the taste i'm trying to achive at home. As far as the absolute best steak ever came from Morton's in Philly. Just ate at a Ruth's Chris about a month ago and it was quite good but not better than Morton's IMO. One of these days if Kevin ever gets up my way again, maybe he can guide me closer to what i'm after.
Hey Kevin still have that big A$$ box O wine for you Bud.