If you have read any posts on this site you can probably guess I am a big Weber Kettle fan. Currently I have 4 different 22 inch Webers, a 26.75 inch kettle, and a Ranch Kettle. I love their versatility and capability to pretty much do anything I want. Weber Kettles are great a smoking pork butts and briskets and they are equally adept at grilling up some burgers and dogs and everything in between.
Some people think it is hard to keep a steady temp in a Weber Kettle hour after hour but there are a number of different gadgets and accessories you can buy that make that job easier. One of those is the Slow N Sear which is basically a really fancy charcoal basket with a water reservoir built in. I rarely fire up my kettle without using my Slow N Sear.
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Another tool you can use to maintain accurate, consistent temperatures for long periods of time is the new Thermoworks Billows BBQ Temperature Control Fan. Fans like this aren’t new and there are a number of them on the market but this is the first one from Thermoworks. I currently have 5 different Thermoworks thermometers and timers and have loved all of them. They are very durable, easy to use, and a good price for the quality you get. When Thermoworks announced the Billows unit a few weeks back I was excited to see it and get one in my hands.
The Thermoworks Billows is basically a fan that connects to the Thermoworks Signals unit. You can set a temperature and the Signals unit will turn the Billows fan on and off to get the proper amount of air into your Kettle (or most other cookers for that matter). The charcoal briquettes above are so you can get an idea of the size of the unit.
The Billows unit has a spring clip that attaches the unit to most cookers.
Just pinch those wires together, shove them in the vent, seal up any vents, and you are good to go. Thermoworks includes some vent tape to help seal up any vents. Here is an example of how it attaches on my PK Grill which has some sliding vents. If I were to use it in this grill I would need to seal up that other air hole.
If you have a kamado style cooker like the Slow N Sear Deluxe Kamado it also has a sliding vent and installation is pretty straight forward.
Unfortunately attaching the Billows unit to the Weber Kettle isn’t as easy as just snapping it in place. If you have an old kettle with the three round bowl vents like shown in the following picture on my 1979 kettle installing your Thermoworks Billows will be super easy since you can close two of the vents, insert the Billows into one of the vents, and tape off the other holes:
Again, if I was going to use this on this grill I would need to seal up the holes with the included tape.
You would use the same method to install the Billows on a Weber Smokey Mountain or a Weber Ranch Kettle as well. Here is a pic of it installed on my Ranch:
But if your kettle was made after 2000 (and some models since 1983) you will have a different vent system. In 2000 Weber went to the standard one touch ash sweeper system that has 3 oblong vents and some internal ash sweepers you can adjust to open or close the vents. On many models you will also have an ash catcher that covers the vents. You could just take off the ash catcher, open the vents, install the Billows, and then tape off the other vents but that is a pain.
As with most other temperature control fans the best option is to drill a hole. Yeah, you will have to drill a hole in your beloved Weber Kettle. But once installed you will have a system that will hold temperatures for hours at a time. Instead of waking up every couple hours to check temperatures and adjust the vents on long cooks like briskets or pork butts the Thermoworks Billows will do all the work for you and allow you to sleep. I think that is worth drilling a hole.
A 1″ hole is just about perfect for the Billows. I got a 1″ hole saw at the hardware store, apologized to my kettle for what I was about to do, and drilled a hole. You could also use a step bit. I used my old 1979 kettle for this. Again, for Weber Kettles that old you can just use the vents but I wanted to test out the Billows on one of my lesser used grills before I installed it on one of my regular cookers.
If I really wanted to do this right (and I will probably take care of this in the next couple days) I would file the hole smooth and give it a quick hit of high temp paint to prevent any rust.
This kettle didn’t have the attached ash catcher so I just made sure the hole was below the charcoal grate. If your kettle looks like the one below you will have to make sure your hole is outside the ash catcher, near the top of the vent fins and between them, but still below the charcoal grate. Right about where the red dot is (I have mad photoshop skills!). You should double and triple check the hole isn’t in the way of the interior ash catcher fins. There will be room between them fully open and fully closed so make sure you are drilling in the right place. You don’t get a second chance at this.
Again, make sure your hole is out of the way of the ash sweeper fins and below your charcoal grate.
UPDATE: Here is a good video showing the installation process on a grill that has the ash sweeper:
Just like with the other vent types the Thermoworks Billows unit just clips in. Close all your vents and you are good to go.
The Billows unit sits fairly flush against the Kettle. It isn’t an airtight seal or anything like that but there shouldn’t be much air getting in to the kettle that isn’t coming from the Billows unit if you have all your other vents closed.
If you have a Slow N Sear for your grill this is what it would look like inside. You can see the hole on the opposite side from where the Billows sits:
I will need to do some testing but for most fan controllers they recommend you have fan opposite the coals. One danger of having it right below the coals is you don’t want hot ash dropping into your Billows. It is designed to handle some heat but a hot coal will probably be too much for it.
There you have it. Just drill a 1″ hole in your Weber Kettle to install your Thermoworks Billows. It just takes a minute or two and you will be up and running. And if you don’t want to drill a hole in your beloved Kettle hit up Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist and pick up another Kettle for $50 or less. Drill one and keep one hole free.
I have a couple ideas how to seal up the hole when I am not using the Billows unit. One is a silicon stopper. The other would be a short piece of pipe with a cap I could put in when I am not using the Billows. I will test those out and let you know what I find out. Definitely don’t use a rubber stopper or anything that can’t handle the heat.
You will need the Thermoworks Signals thermometer in order to use the Billows. The Signals is a 4 channel Wi-Fi and Bluetooth BBQ alarm thermometer that allows you to record the temps from 4 different probes. In most cases you will have 3 probes in your meat and the 4th will measure the air temperature in your kettle. That 4th channel is what controls the Billows unit. Set the temperature you want to maintain and the Signals unit will adjust the Billows to send the right amount of air to keep your coals burning at the right temps. The Signals runs $229 and the Billows is $59.
How well does the Billows hold temperatures and how easy is it to use? Well, come back in a few days after I have some time to play with it, burn up some charcoal, and cook some food using the Signals and Billows.
Installing the Thermoworks Billows on your Weber Kettle is very easy and only requires drilling one hole in your kettle. I can’t wait to try this unit out and see what it can do.
