*Charcoal* BBQ/Grilling

The Nal

davegilly wrote: »

This is definitely true for things like accessories but as regards the actual BBQ's themselves, Weber manufacture a very high quality product especially so in the Charcoal area.

They have a lot of high class and in a lot of cases better value competitors in the gas grill market however but for kettle charcoal grills there is no equal as far as I am concerned.

Oh sure, I've a Weber Smoker and its great. But yeah, some of the accessories are a total rip off.

BailMeOut

I have BBQ'd for 20+ years and used all sorts of charcoal, briquettes and gas and my favorite option in Ireland is the restaurant grade charcoal you can get from Nisbets. It burns beautifully, lasts ages and is very inexpensive. Nisbets will deliver next day for free if your order is over EUR70. I believe Musgraves sell this same charcoal as well.

neris

The Nal wrote: »

From my experience the Weber stuff is a bit of a rip off. Paying for the brand name.

the weber accessories in the shops here are a rip off. cheaper on the weber site to get stuff if you really want but you can get just as good "imitation" products on amazon for a lot cheaper

Cloudio9

davegilly wrote: »

Dont waste your money on lighter cubes.
Buy the cheapest firelighters in any shop and they do the same thing.

You don’t need any firefighters. Chimney starter and a few sheets of newspaper will get going to cooking temp quicker than anything.

Quin_Dub

I've been using the wood shavings ones from Lidl for the last year or so - Work really really well.

A few times using paper in the chimney it didn't really catch well , but using the Lidl ones it works 100%

anacc

The Nal wrote: »

From my experience the Weber stuff is a bit of a rip off. Paying for the brand name.

The only weber stuff I buy is the briquettes and the wood chips. Both are extremely high quality and far better than all the others that I have tried. I won't spend outragous money on the BBQ or accessories though. I'd rather buy a decent enough kettle BBQ for a ton that I can replace every few years when it starts to wear out. 400 quid for a kettle BBQ just cannot be justified IMO no matter how good the quality.

davegilly wrote: »

Dont waste your money on lighter cubes.
Buy the cheapest firelighters in any shop and they do the same thing.

They can leave a chemical taste/odour. I get wooden shavings covered in some sort of wax from Lidl. I think 3 quid for 40 of them. They are brilliant.

davegilly

Cloudio9 wrote: »

You don’t need any firefighters. Chimney starter and a few sheets of newspaper will get going to cooking temp quicker than anything.

If it's a little windy I find the paper when burning blows all over the place so I stopped using it. I also don't buy newspapers much anymore so finding paper can be an issue ðŸ˜

anacc wrote: »

They can leave a chemical taste/odour. I get wooden shavings covered in some sort of wax from Lidl. I think 3 quid for 40 of them. They are brilliant.

A myth. Lighter fluid, yes but firelighters, no.
I use those shavings as well, they are great.

FixitFelix

Debub wrote: »

FixitFelix wrote: »

Are they the white cubes?

The ones that I had before

Yeah they're the ones I use and work great

nialldinho

I’m hoping to do a rack of spare ribs soon on a Weber 57cm kettle.

I’m going to follow the amazingribs recipe. But what is the best way to set up the coals? The recipe just says two-zone and the diagram shows unlit coals banked under the lit ones. I can’t find any more info though on how much of either.

Or should I do the snake method? And if so, how much coal would be needed?

I’ll be using Weber briquettes...

Thanks!

davegilly

nialldinho wrote: »

I’m hoping to do a rack of spare ribs soon on a Weber 57cm kettle.

I’m going to follow the amazingribs recipe. But what is the best way to set up the coals? The recipe just says two-zone and the diagram shows unlit coals banked under the lit ones. I can’t find any more info though on how much of either.

Or should I do the snake method? And if so, how much coal would be needed?

I’ll be using Weber briquettes...

Thanks!

Here you go - https://touch.boards.ie/thread/2055542022/101/#post103628287
You're welcome

Shred

Small BA: Large ‘Barbecook’ BBQ forks currently reduced (to clear I assume) to 97 cent in Woodies Airside; iirc these were retailing for something like €15-18 not so long ago.

nialldinho

davegilly wrote: »

Here you go - https://touch.boards.ie/thread/2055542022/101/#post103628287
You're welcome

I knew I’d seen this somewhere but couldn’t find it here! Thanks a mil!

Shred

Ribs and Brisket on the smoker for tomorrow

budgemook

Made pizza on the kamado joe today. Overall very happy and looking forward to doing it again. The thermometer went all the way to the top and the pizzas were done in 2 minutes. After a couple of pizzas though the pizza stone snapped in half and then the bottom of the pizza was cooking too fast. I suspected that would happen and will now ramp up my efforts to get a proper pizza stone that can take the 500+ degree heat.

Ned01

budgemook wrote: »

Made pizza on the kamado joe today. Overall very happy and looking forward to doing it again. The thermometer went all the way to the top and the pizzas were done in 2 minutes. After a couple of pizzas though the pizza stone snapped in half and then the bottom of the pizza was cooking too fast. I suspected that would happen and will now ramp up my efforts to get a proper pizza stone that can take the 500+ degree heat.

I put two pizza stones on top of each other and find that's enough insulation to stop the base burning.

The Nal

Just picked up a smoker box for the gas BBQ. Tenner. The Weber ones are 40 quid! :rolleyes:

fitz

budgemook wrote: »

Made pizza on the kamado joe today. Overall very happy and looking forward to doing it again. The thermometer went all the way to the top and the pizzas were done in 2 minutes. After a couple of pizzas though the pizza stone snapped in half and then the bottom of the pizza was cooking too fast. I suspected that would happen and will now ramp up my efforts to get a proper pizza stone that can take the 500+ degree heat.

Did you put the pizza stone on top of the heat deflectors? for pizza, I just put the heat deflectors on to of the grill in the top position and put the stone on top. Also, doesn't really matter of it cracks tbh, have used a cracked stone for ages before without any issue.

But, I wouldn't let the kamado go the max temp on the dome thermometer, that's just asking for trouble. I find about 600F will do pizza in about 4 or 5 minutes, and it's a more manageable fire.

Debub

Quin_Dub wrote: »

I've been using the wood shavings ones from Lidl for the last year or so - Work really really well.

A few times using paper in the chimney it didn't really catch well , but using the Lidl ones it works 100%

Got them today and used them, pretty good - used 4 of them together as didn’t know how many Would be sufficient, guess 2 would be ok

Did a couple of steaks and pork ribs, nice Sunday dinner

budgemook

fitz wrote: »

Did you put the pizza stone on top of the heat deflectors? for pizza, I just put the heat deflectors on to of the grill in the top position and put the stone on top. Also, doesn't really matter of it cracks tbh, have used a cracked stone for ages before without any issue.

But, I wouldn't let the kamado go the max temp on the dome thermometer, that's just asking for trouble. I find about 600F will do pizza in about 4 or 5 minutes, and it's a more manageable fire.

My setup was heat deflector, 4 nuts to create a gap between the deflector and the pizza stone (saw this on YouTube). Yeah the crack was the least of my worries, the burnt base and undercooked top was the main problem. I hear what you're saying but neopolitan pizza is cooked for 2 minutes at 450 celcius plus. I think with a thicker stone it will be amazing plus my bbq hasn't been so clean since it was new. I'm a bit worried about burning out the gasket though. Any other troubles in particular I should be worried about?

budgemook

Just to follow up on the pizza cooking. I got a 40x40x4 slab of granite for a fiver (woodies have these), cut off the corners with a bolster chisel so it fits in the BBQ and now I have the perfect pizza stone for high temp cooking. The pizza that came off it tonight was phenomenal. Crispy on the bottom and bready on top exactly how I like it. Happy out with this set-up.

Gloomtastic!

budgemook wrote: »

Just to follow up on the pizza cooking. I got a 40x40x4 slab of granite for a fiver (woodies have these), cut off the corners with a bolster chisel so it fits in the BBQ and now I have the perfect pizza stone for high temp cooking. The pizza that came off it tonight was phenomenal. Crispy on the bottom and bready on top exactly how I like it. Happy out with this set-up.

Will be heading to get one of those tomorrow, thank you. How long did you heat the stone and what temperature?

budgemook

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Will be heading to get one of those tomorrow, thank you. How long did you heat the stone and what temperature?

Get up to 400 degrees or so and add maybe 15 / 20 minutes to heat the stone. I'm still refining it but fairly happy. Make sure you have something to cut the stone as it won't fit an 18 inch grill. A bolster chisel does the job for heptagon shape.

Edit: make sure to check Woodies website to make sure your local one stocks it.

Gloomtastic!

budgemook wrote: »

Get up to 400 degrees or so and add maybe 15 / 20 minutes to heat the stone. I'm still refining it but fairly happy. Make sure you have something to cut the stone as it won't fit an 18 inch grill. A bolster chisel does the job for heptagon shape.

Edit: make sure to check Woodies website to make sure your local one stocks it.

Went to Homebase and picked up a 400mm round stepping stone. The granite ones were only 300mm so went for sandstone. It’s about 20mm thick so hopefully won’t crack.

budgemook

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Went to Homebase and picked up a 400mm round stepping stone. The granite ones were only 300mm so went for sandstone. It’s about 20mm thick so hopefully won’t crack.

Oh very good. Let us know how it goes - the round shape would be convenient!

How much was it? Few quid only, yeah?

Gloomtastic!

budgemook wrote: »

Oh very good. Let us know how it goes - the round shape would be convenient!

How much was it? Few quid only, yeah?

€9.00. You pay €20-odd for a purpose-made one.

BailMeOut

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

€9.00. You pay €20-odd for a purpose-made one.

Can you post a photo? Very interested in doing this as well.

Gloomtastic!

BailMeOut wrote: »

Can you post a photo? Very interested in doing this as well.

BaZmO*

Word of warning. I’d be very careful heating up sandstone, it can be very brittle due to its make up and can crack easily or even explode.

Gloomtastic!

BaZmO* wrote: »

Word of warning. I’d be very careful heating up sandstone, it can be very brittle due to its make up and can crack easily or even explode.

:eek:

Got it up to 350°C and it cracked.

Still usable though. Problem was while the base was perfect and crispy after 5 minutes, the top was not cooked enough. 2/3 minutes under a hot grill sorted that little issue.

Good pizza. And the stone will live to see another day.

paska

Anyone got a good homemade rub receipt?