Even though the Weber Jumbo Joe is an excellent smoker I have visions of making it even better. Two of the limitations of the Jumbo as a smoker is the need to add charcoal every few hours and the temperature differential between the grate and the dome (~30F). I saw a cool modification some guys were doing over at the Virtual Weber Bullet with their 26.75 inch Weber kettles and thought it might make the Jumbo better.
The modification is the insertion of a custom cut heavy gauge steel plate onto the charcoal grate.
The base of the plate forces all of the intake air to go through the banked charcoal bed. I was hoping that by increasing the mass of the grill and eliminating the possibility of cold air flowing past the charcoal that the temperature gradient would be greatly reduced. I was also hoping that the flared side of the plate would allow me to have a much larger charcoal bed that would burn slowly.
I have tried the setup a couple times and am not seeing the desired results. I believe the temperature gradient is minimized somewhat but the top of the Jumbo Joe is still at least 20F hotter than the grill grate. The grill itself has been running hotter than desired as the large charcoal bed does not burn as slow as I need.
The problem could be as simple as I need to get more accurate with the air intake and crank it back a little more. I am rather impatient and haven’t made the time to keep playing. I think the idea is pretty solid though and if nothing else the metal plate looks cool!
I didn’t have the equipment to make this myself. Instead I stole a piece of poster board from my kids and used a pair of scissors to cut out the shape I needed. It took a few tries but it was pretty simple to cut and shape the poster board into the exact shape.
I took my poster board model down to a local metal fabrication shop and they drew everything up from there. They used 16 gauge steel and charged me $70. Yeah, I know…the experiment cost more than the grill. That’s okay; a man has to have a hobby!
Be sure to check out some other Weber Jumbo Joe Upgrades!