Overall, I’m happy with my new Master-Touch GBS Premium E-5775. It fitted my (voucher) budget at the time and I got a Weber Academy cooking course as a bonus. It has some good features like the lid.

The ultimate 3-in-1 Weber Charcoal Grill - for grilling (direct), roasting (indirect) and smoking (low & slow)Wait until flames appear at the top of the Chimney Starter. This is a sign that the coals are glowing.

The other fiddly bit is getting the spring-loaded lid hinge bolted to the bowl and the lid. It might be easier with another pair of hands and a better spanner. The challenge is to get the lid to close tightly on the bowl with no gaps. As you tighten to bolts it moves the position slightly and affects the fit. I eventually got it good enough fit, but not perfect. The air flow is controlled by using the one touch blades and the rust proof air vent in the lid, giving you complete control over the temperature inside. The newly introduced Weber Master-Touch GBS SE features include a new Low & Slow Venting capability to perfect the airflow to give the realistic option for smoking on a charcoal kettle barbecue adding a new level of versatility to the Master-Touch GBS SE. This is then combined with a longer lasting stainless steel Gourmet Barbecue System cooking grate, which also makes clean up easier than ever before, plus taller legs, for a perfect working weight, a built-in lid thermometer and rubberised all weather wheels all to make the improved Master-Touch GBS SE even easier to live with. The Weber Master-Touch GBS Premium SE E-5775 - 57 cm includes all the features that can be found in a Weber Master-Touch GBS SE then adds a few more such as the spring loaded hinged lid, which can be removed to accommodate a Weber charcoal rotisserie and Charcoal Ring and Diffuser System to aid heat control for easy and convenient smoking plus a Weber GBS Cast Iron Sear Grate all to enhance the low and slow smoking potential. Here we BBQ'd ribs using the 3-2-1 Method set at a temperature for the majority of the cook at 160C. Read More >With its bowl venting feature, the GBS cooking grate allows you to cook up a sumptuous selection of breakfasts, summer chillies, and pizzas. The “smoke” setting can be easily adjusted for extra control over the temperature of your barbecue. Transform your kettle into a smoker for pulled pork or fall-off-the-bone ribs I had hoped to buy a Summit Charcoal with the aid of a large cash donation from my bank account and a big discount from Riverside. Unfortunately, the money evaporated during a wonderful holiday and big discounts on Summits remain hard to come by.

It has some Summit like features that are not available on the rest of the current MasterTouch range. It has a spring-loaded hinged lid, a fuel ring, a heat diffuser and P shaped bottom air vents which give more precise control of air intake for low and slow. I will perfect small-scale smoking on it and I’ve got the benefit of the GBS system. It’s not a Summit of course but you’ll be surprised what you can do with the other charcoal grills in the Weber range. The instructions suggest 45-50 coals are placed in the char ring. Don’t think this is enough for a long cook of say, 6+ hours. I tried around 75. The char ring is shallow but will take a double layer of Heat Beads. The diffuser sits over the ring and is supposed to sit flat. I had trouble getting the briquettes flat enough and even more trouble fitting wood chunks in. First time I ended up using chips instead of chunks.The below article is from 2020 - for the key features of 2023's Weber Charcoal Range, please visit here

We held another successful Certified by Weber BBQ event at Sunshine Garden Centre on the 30th July Read More > Being a member of the WoW BBQ team means that if you weren't already a Weber BBQ nut before joining, Read More >The latest incarnation of the Weber MasterTouch is here - the New 2019 Weber MasterTouch Premium. Watch Read More > This week we've gone to Thailand on the fifteenth leg of our around the world in 80 bbqs journey Read More > What would I change on the Premium model? Maybe they need a Slow ‘N Sear type set up and I wish Weber would provide a grommet for feeding temp cables into the bowl and perhaps even an adaptor for a fan so I could use my CyberQ to control the grate temperature. It would need a more scientific assessment to judge the build quality now that they manufacture in China rather than the U.S.A. My perception is that the pressed steel and porcelain seems lighter and thinner. Operation