The popularization of pellet grills and technological advancements has created a bigger push towards convenient outdoor cooking. Digital controllers that allow for “set it and forget it” grilling is convenient for advanced grillers and more accessible for beginners.

We’ve seen digital controllers and connected cooking make its way to charcoal grills with some kettle products and the more popular gravity fed systems. It appears that Weber is going to enter the temperature controlled charcoal arena with a new accessory for their kettle grills.

There was a patent released from Weber that does the controlling a little different than the existing products on the market. It utilizes a ring system that sits on the top of the grill with a controller on the side of it that modulates and forces airflow. Despite the controller sitting on the top of the grill, air is pushed into the charcoal bed in the grill through an air duct.

In the figure shown above, you can see the controller on the right side with a digital display and a control knob. In this configuration, there’s a temperature probe on the ring near the controller. The air duct is what is poking out below and is labeled as 104. There are tabs around the ring (labeled 208) where the cooking grate would rest, allowing the air duct to go below it.

In addition to having a display on the digitial controller, it could also be used to communicate with a phone app. That’s pretty much standard with any digital controller we see released anymore.

If you’re thinking that the ring looks similar to the one they use for their rotisserie accessory, you’re spot on. An advantage of this design is not only does it control temperature, you can also use a rotisserie with it. The rotisserie spit would traverse the ring from the slot marked 210 to hole 212.

What I really like about this accessory, should it make its way to production, is that it is an accessory. That will make a whole bunch of existing kettle owners happy, since it’s not built into a new kettle design.

Weber has a great selection of accessories that are stand alone and under their Weber Crafted brand. Their accessories always have a polished design to them and this would be a big addition.