Weber’s kettle charcoal grills are the most famous grills in America. As such, they’ve inspired more aftermarket grill products than any other — meat smoking insets, upgraded lid hinges, makeshift pizza ovens and more. Add Pella to the list, the Weber kettle’s first ever wood pellet-grilling attachment.
Launched on Kickstarter this week, Pella features a 12-pound wood pellet hopper and operates between 175 and 500 degrees. Like with a Traeger, control the heat with a digital temperature gauge. Pella also requires no tools or changes to the grill to attach and start cooking — it slides into one of the air holes at the base of the grill and latches onto the lip on the top. Excessive? Maybe. Awesome? Yes.
For the uninitiated, wood-pellet grilling is fairly simple. Wood pellets are loaded into a hopper and an auger pushes the pellets into a firebox. The adjust temperature, the auger pushes slower or faster, and some pellet grills utilize a fan to increase temperature more quickly. As a cooking method, it’s better at smoking foods than charcoal or gas and far easier to handle than a proper smoker.
The Pella fits the 22-inch Weber and costs $199 to back. Its Kickstarter is live for another four weeks.