Question about fire bricks and adding unlit coals


 
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Michael Pompey

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Question about long burn times with Weber 21 grill (old style with three bottom vents)

I’ve been combing the forum posts regarding how to get longer burn times while indirect cooking on my weber grill. I’ve seen some articles about using firebricks and I have a couple of questions about it:

When using firebricks how much unlit coal do you start with, how much lit goes on top of that if you are using a minion method to light it? How long will it burn? Since I have an older weber grill (before they made ash catcher units) ash build up is a concern I have.

Also when adding unlit coal to a bank of lit coals, about 50% of my new coals don’t light. I’ve had better results adding lit coals, but all of the books say to add unlit coals.

Here’s what happened during last weekend’s cook that got me thinking:

I did a couple of racks of spares this weekend using one Weber basket full of lit coals on one side, with two 8 inch cake pans full of water on the other side, with the 2 racks cut in half in a rib rack above. My temps ran decent right between 300 and 275. I closed the top vent to about 50% and I was able to maintain 275 for about 1.5 hours. Here’s where I ran into my issues. The books say to add unlit coal to the basket. I shook the basket to knock off some of the ash and then added about 8 unlit coals. I went back to check on the temps after about 30 minutes and it had dropped to 250. I checked the coals and only about half of them lit. I then lit approximately 10 and added those about 15 minutes later, and brought the temp back up to 275. About every hour after that I added 15 lit coals to the basket. I was able to do this for about four hours, then all of the coals in the basket went out. In retrospect, I think the ash buildup underneath the basket must have choked the air off from the coals. My grill doesn’t have an ash catcher, so it slowly accumulated underneath the basket. Will using firebricks and more coals help or hinder me? Do I need to spring for an ash catcher model?
 
I like using the 3 vent better than the new style, but both work very well. When I fill up the space w/ briquetes, I will put 5 lit on top of the unlit. I leave the lid off for about 15-20 minutes, close 2 of the bottom off 100% leave one open about 10%, you need very little air. I cook whole packer briskets and butts on mine all the time. I usually get 6-8 hour burn times around 275 degrees. If you do need to add more unlit, you will need to leave the lid off for a little bit to get them going. Once you play w/it and figure it out, its the ultimate cooking machine. Try not to open the lid and peek, you will get temp spikes but can easily manage. If Im just using the baskets for a 4-5 hour rib cook, I will shake the baskets, add the unlit and keep the lid off to get them going. I have added lit which is faster but im usually to lazy.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">How do you only light 5 briquettes. Do you have an ultra small chimney? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I put my briquettes in a small tin can placed inside the chimney--works well. For my last brisket cook I filled the area behind the bricks with unlit briquettes and then placed the lit coals in one corner of the bowl.

Jeff
 
I have a little hand held Benzomatic torch, I just group the coals together and light them. You can put them in a chimney to get going as well, just group them together, or use a weber cube, they will all light.
 
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