West of Memphis Ironman 3 Review
West of Memphis Ironman 3 is a grill with an offset firebox attached. Their unique, modular component design allows you to slide out the three burner gas system and replace it with a charcoal firebox insert. 3/16″ steel plate construction should do a good job of retaining heat when used as an offset smoker. These clever and ruggedly attractive hand-made products combine an unusual mix of BBQ cooking tradition and technology.
Gas burners are cast iron. The heavy steel stand is on wheels and has an LP tank shelf on the bottom.
In addition to The AmazingRibs Best Value Gold Medal, West of Memphis won the 2012 Vesta Award for Charcoal, Wood, Barbecues & Smokers
Product Information:
-
Model:Ironman 3
-
Item Price :2,559.00
*Price Subject To Change -
Made in USA:yes
-
Review Method:Researched it from Afar
We have researched this product from afar by gathering info from the manufacturer, owners, and other reliable sources, with our BS meters on high. -
Primary Function:Grill, Smoker, Combination Grill and Smoker
-
Fuel:Charcoal, Propane Gas, Logs, More Than One Fuel
-
Primary Capacity:Mid-Size (about 29 burgers) square inches
-
Secondary Capacity:190
Manufacturer:
-
West of Memphis
OUT OF BUSINESS
West of Memphis BBQ is a family owned business in Mesa, AZ, that designs and manufactures a mind boggling assortment of steel smokers, grills, cabinets, kitchens and tailgating systems. These clever and ruggedly attractive hand-made products are modular and combine an unusual mix of tradition and technology. They morph before your eyes as fireboxes convert from charcoal and wood to gas with ease and cookers switch from smokers to fryers to pizza ovens. In the picture below you can see many of their components. Like Legos, they can be assembled into infinite configurations. They even have a trailer mounted options.
West of Memphis made their first grill in December 2010, sold their first model at the end of 2011 and won the VESTA Award from Hearth & Home Magazine for Charcoal, Wood, Barbecues and Smokers in March of 2012.
I caught up with owner, Steve Goldenstein, for a brief conversation and within 10 minutes my head was spinning; the man is on fire with ideas and enthusiasm. Meathead had exactly the same experience. With 300+ products and counting, I had to stop and ask how the heck he did all this in such a short time. Turns out Goldenstein owns Studio Iron, LLC; a big art and architectural metal forge. So he’s no novice when it comes to metal fabrication.
These are handsome, handmade systems. Standard construction is all plate steel, but you can order the shiny stainless stuff if you wish. My first impression was they have a Wild West look, but Goldenstein was actually inspired by very old, ornate metal grills and ovens he saw in Italy. My second impression was they must be expensive. And they can be, but you can get started (remember these are modular and the possibilities are endless) for about $600. For that price you get a wood/charcoal cooker with a 480 square inch iron cooking grate and a stand on wheels. Add $300 for a lid and you’ve got a smoker. For a couple hundred bucks more you can slide out the wood/coal insert and replace it with a gas burner module or have the ability to change from one to the other. After that the sky is the limit for this imaginative grillmeister: Santa Maria Grills, Ovens, Elaborate Pit Smokers and Tail Gating Systems and 45 different cooking components like deep fryers, chili roasters, rotisseries and woks.
Grates are cold rolled steel, sandblasted, oiled and burned. Goldenstein says it is similar to cooking on cast iron, but his grates are pre-seasoned. Just like cast iron, however, they will rust if not maintained. He declares all West of Memphis products are 100% made in America and will never be anything else. Initially, every cooker was a custom order and all sales were direct. Now they are working with a few distributers and have put together popular configurations in their Ironman Series. Lead times range from a few days for basic models to 4 weeks for a large, made to order moveable pit.
Published On: 2/23/2013
High quality websites are expensive to run. If you help us, we’ll pay you back bigtime with an ad-free experience and a lot of freebies!
Millions come to AmazingRibs.com every month for high quality tested recipes, tips on technique, science, mythbusting, product reviews, and inspiration. But it is expensive to run a website with more than 2,000 pages and we don’t have a big corporate partner to subsidize us.
Our most important source of sustenance is people who join our Pitmaster Club. But please don’t think of it as a donation. Members get MANY great benefits. We block all third-party ads, we give members free ebooks, magazines, interviews, webinars, more recipes, a monthly sweepstakes with prizes worth up to $2,000, discounts on products, and best of all a community of like-minded cooks free of flame wars. Click below to see all the benefits, take a free 30 day trial, and help keep this site alive.
Post comments and questions below
1) Please try the search box at the top of every page before you ask for help.
2) Try to post your question to the appropriate page.
3) Tell us everything we need to know to help such as the type of cooker and thermometer. Dial thermometers are often off by as much as 50°F so if you are not using a good digital thermometer we probably can’t help you with time and temp questions. Please read this article about thermometers.
4) If you are a member of the Pitmaster Club, your comments login is probably different.
5) Posts with links in them may not appear immediately.
Moderators