*Charcoal* BBQ/Grilling

The Nal

Bought one of these just for the odd mid week quick BBQ. Absolutely fantastic for 49 quid.

Even with the Mareinburg charcoal. Few handfuls and it was blazing for 2 hours.

https://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/9590669/Trail/searchtext%3EBBQ.htm

thejaguar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119519333#Comment_119519333

+1 for the Lidl firelighters. I usually use 1 of these with a chimney starter. On occasion I've used 2, but don't think I've ever used more than 2. Make sure you're using enough charcoal too. If you've a small amount of charcoal too thinly spread out it won't last too long and won't give you much heat.

Ryath

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119519856#Comment_119519856

Have been considering getting a Weber Smokey Joe or the Weber Go Anywhere for this purpose too. Lighting the big kettle for a few burgers does seem excessive but I do end up still using less than half a chimney starter. Would be handy for camping and day's out too.

Smokey Joe is slightly better and more versatile but the Go Anywhere is a bit more compact. Wonder how the Argos one compare's it's a 10cm shorter and the bit lighter at 4.4kg vs 6.

I bought a Weber Go in 2005 and it went everywhere with us. Best BBQ purchase ever

hargo

I have only ever used a few sheets of newspaper lightly bunched up in the end of a starter kettle and have a full kettle of charcoal red hot in 10 minutes. +1 for the B&Q blue bag it is hard to light in a kettle but I use it in a Kamado with Lidl flame thrower and its lighting in 60 seconds and lasts forever almost.

shortcircuit_99

Hi all,

Am grilling/smoking on a Weber Kettle and am loving it. one thing I am struggling with slightly on low and slow cooks is temperature control, specifically trying to control to 250 F and below.

No real issue to controlling to say 275. Have been using "minion" method in charcoal baskets and also the snake method.

I had been trying to control the temperature using the bottom vent only like this guy "Low n Slow Basics" on YouTube. Can't post the link because I'm too new. His videos are generally very good and easy to follow

However, I find that I can't get my temps much below 275, even with the bottom vent only open a touch. In some cases I have then resorted to closing the top vent down and one time the temperature dropped like a stone because I guess I must have smothered the fire.

So I'm wondering, what procedure do you guys follow if you want a low and slow cook on a Weber Kettle at, say 225 F?

Thanks all

thejaguar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119606848#Comment_119606848

I'm no expert, but on a standard 57cm kettle I use both vents. If I leave the top vent open it's always too hot. It can take a lot of fiddling and really tiny movements on the top vent before I get it right though. And even then I have to keep a close eye on things. I've never just sat back and left something going for hours without having to make some adjustments.

s8n

anyone aware of any end of season sales on BBQ's or gear ?

shortcircuit_99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119608027#Comment_119608027

Aldi have a euro off their bags of charcoal briquettes. They are not bad by any means and better than a lot of briquettes out there.

Brian?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119606848#Comment_119606848

your best bet is to close the top vent half way and control use the bottom vent. Works perfectly for me.

shortcircuit_99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119608472#Comment_119608472

Thanks for the response. When you are getting set up, at what point do you start closing back the vents ?

The Nal

Use less charcoal. Sounds obvious I know but still

Brian?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119608517#Comment_119608517

Once I put the lid on I half close the rope vent and move the bottom vent almost closed. Better to start too cool than too hot in my experience

shortcircuit_99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119608573#Comment_119608573

For a long cook, say 4 hours and above, you want to have enough charcoal in the BBQ so you don't need to keep adding more. That's why the snake method is so effective for long cooks I guess. You can put lots of charcoal in at the beginning but because of the way the charcoal is stacked, only a small amount of it is going to be burning at any one time.

The Nal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119608652#Comment_119608652

Agree yep but Ive made the mistake of too much, even on a 10 hour cook. Can always add some later but Ive found you dont need as much charcoal as you think. Even on my 57cm Weber SM.

neris

adding a water pan might bring temps down slightly but you need the water to be hot to boiling going into the kettle

shortcircuit_99

Thanks guys for your input, hopefully can try this weekend

Brian?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119611335#Comment_119611335

This is also true.

Lu Tze

I struggled a bit with this, in a Weber kettle as well. Still a novice, but i noted that the lid wasn't completely flush, a small gap at the back which I'll fllladjuat the hinge before trying again. Worth double checking, as can't fully control the airflow with the vents with the gap there.

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119606848#Comment_119606848

At what temperature are you putting the vents into their final position?

Muahahaha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119615784#Comment_119615784

How did you get on?

I did an experiment earlier this summer on the Weber kettle with the vents. I added a full chimney of grey charcoal and left both vents fully open. Had a temperature probe recording at grill grate level but in the indirect zone. Here were my findings

Both vents fully open at 45 minutes of charcoal burning- 200c

Bottom vent 50% closed, top fully open- tested after 15 mins of this and it was 155c

Bottom vent 100% closed, top vent fully open- after 15 mins the probe was 128c

Bottom vent 100% closed, top 50% closed, after 15 mins 110c. Then tested it again a further 15 mins later and it was 101c, at this point the charcoal was burning out and was dropping in temp anyway

Finally bottom vent 100% closed and a tiny crack in the top vent, after 15 mins 76c. At this point the charcoal was like dust so was done for.

Muahahaha

Wondering has anyone here ever used or come across the Weber Performer, its the one which is a normal Mastertouch kettle intergrated in a table with wheels and it has a gas ignition starter to get the charcoal going. Its that feature Im wondering about, gimmick or does it light the charcoal a lot quicker when you've a constant gas flame underneath it for the first few minutes?

Brian?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119634580#Comment_119634580

I have a performer but without the gas lighter. I’ve heard it’s handy, but not worth the money.

Muahahaha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119635497#Comment_119635497

yeah I think they are 600 or 700 at full price, wouldnt be paying that myself tbh but there is one up on Donedeal at the moment for a bargain 100. But it looks like it is sold as the seller never got back to me anyway

shortcircuit_99

Thanks all, so I had a successful session this weekend cooked some ribs and a pork shoulder for pulled pork.

I had seen another video on Youtube and decided to follow that guy's way of doing it, he was pretty methodical.

Sorry for talking in Fahrenheit, it's just most of the videos I watch for BBQ are American so I am tending to think in F when it comes to low n slow BBQ.

My target temperature was 250F. Snake method. Started out both vents wide open.

50 Deg Below target (200F), closed bottom vent to 50%

30 Deg below target (220 F), closed bottom vent to 25%,

20 Deg below target (230 F), closed top vent to 50%.

After this , the BBQ stabilised at about 245 F. At this point I put on the meat. Naturally the temperature began to drop so I opened up the top vent another notch and it stayed steady at 245 -250 for the entire cook.

Ryath

Weber compact starter is cheap enough at the minute ordered last week as I'm going to pick up the Weber Go Anywhere next time I see an offer on it.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B009IH0ICG/

Was checking to see if the starter will fit in the grill for storage and found this video. Looks like it can fit quite a nice travel set up in it. The idea of cutting the grill rack into two sections is a great one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SNk3dkPlcA

shortcircuit_99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119634580#Comment_119634580

I sometimes have trouble lighting a small amount of charcoal in a chimney (like 8-10 briquettes) , but never have hassle lighting a full chimney.

If I'm having trouble, I stick the chimney on top of the side gas burner of my gas bbq. It gets the charcoal going a good bit faster alright

Holy Diver

Anyone using blue bag lump wood for long cooks? If so how does it perform versus Weber briquettes?

I’ve done many cooks of 5-6 hours with briquettes using the deflector plate and have no issue getting consistent results.

Have been considering trying the lump wood though all the same. (I use it for grilling usually as it is faster to light I find)

Muahahaha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119636674#Comment_119636674

yeah I figured having a gas flame beneath the charcoal should speed things up a bit. Last time I lit a full chimney with 3 of those Diall bbq firelighters it was the best part of 30 minutes before it had ashed over. From the videos Ive seen of the Weber Performer people just use the gas ignition underneath the two charcoal baskets for 5 minutes and that gets the charcoal lit reasonable quickly

jem

Possibly not the place but I intend re doing patio in a few months and would love to see pictures of where you bbq to get ideas pls