Wasting Charcoal?


 

Stone

TVWBB Super Fan
Yesterday afternoon I cooked about 8 burgers on my 21" Performer.
I filled the two charcoal baskets, waited about 20 minutes for it to get good and hot, spent about 15 minutes cooking the burgers -- and then I let all that charcoal go to waste.

What do people do when they don't have a lot to cook? Just waste a lot of charcoal? I find that unless I fill the baskets, the charcoal won't get hot enough at the grate to get a good char.
 
Close all the vents and allow the fire to go out, use half a chimney (or less) of fresh and top off with the used and save money. I've been doing that for thirty odd years and it's saved me a small fortune in charcoal!
 
I do like Tim said, although I bought a Jumbo Joe off of Craig's List to do smaller quick cooks instead of firing up the performer. I keep all my "used" coals in a small tote for short cooks or to add to the performer if I need some more cooking time. My Mini and WSM always get new coals and when done I shut all the vents and the next morning I put the unburned coals in the tote. My JJ has never seen new coals, always use the used coals in it.
 
Close all the vents and allow the fire to go out, use half a chimney (or less) of fresh and top off with the used and save money. I've been doing that for thirty odd years and it's saved me a small fortune in charcoal!

Same thing I do.
 
I suppose I should get the NEW Smokey Joe out of its box and use it for small steak/burger cooks for the two of us but, its brand new, un touched, un fired, and I'm torturing myself about that! Maybe I need to get the (Craigslist, $20) "Go Anywhere" out and start using that for little, quick, dinners.
 
Even with the Smokey Joe and the mini-wsm's I close all the vents and snuff the fire. Shake the ash off once its cooled, add new to the old next burn if needed. I can get 4-5 cooks (steaks, burgers, hot dogs, etc.) off one basket load in the Smokey Joe doing that.

That's why Im not concerned about filling my garage whenever the stuff goes on sale. Two one gallon ziplock bags can get me by for four days when camping.
 
Thanks everyone. That's pretty much what I've been doing as well. Although by the time I get around to using the "old" coals, they're usually wet from rain, etc.
 
Wow, 2 baskets for 8 burgers? Seems like overkill to this 45 year charcoal griller. My 21 in Weber kettle gets plenty hot at grill level with 1 basket. If you want more heat, use lump -- it'll burn hotter but faster, though you'll have plenty of time for cooking 8 burgers. Afterwards, as others have said, just close the vents, close the lid and let it burn out. The next time you want to grill, just rake the remains of the charcoal to loosen the ash, and add new coals on top. I have partially burned charcoal in the kettle all year. Get a grill cover to keep it dry.
 
Not only does reusing save you money, but you will need to light less to get going again. For me that speeds up the process. Just dump new lit on old.
 
I have 2 charcoal grates stacked at 90* to each other, so smaller charcoal pieces do not fall through an can be relit next time. Really helps.
Have this set up in my Performer and WSM.
 
I don't reuse charcoal. I buy it at the sales where it's cheap and keep 300-400 lbs on hand. For a few burgers, I use 2/3 of a chimney. It doesn't cover the entire grate, but it gets hot enough for burgers (and dogs).
 
I hate to sound cheap, but this is the reason I returned my 22" kettle for an 18" model (never owned a Weber before). I just wasn't used to buying a lot of charcoal, and the 22" model was so cavernous, I couldn't keep the fire hot enough to cook with without using most of coals in the bag. Even the 18" kettle uses more coals than the Brinkmann I use to grill on, but I've learned to economize by reusing partially-spent coals.

Now that I've seen the 22" model in action here many times, I plan to purchase another one, but it will probably be a performer. In the mean time, I may opt for the 14" smokey joe and see how it does.

And I really like my 14" WSM, too, since it is a coal miser compared to the 18" model.
 
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I love my 22"! It is not the gaping maw charcoal eater that you think, after you get used to its tricks. All those tricks are openly discussed here and thanks to so many of you who have shared so much.
I have a brand spanking new 14.5 sitting in its box, I had been thinking the same thing about the lesser fuel consumption. So far, the 22 is the every day platform, it can be shut down easily and using about a half chimney of fresh in the bottom, I fill the top up with the remainder of the fuel in the baskets and I'm good to go, time after time. If I have a big or really important cook, I use a full load. I have about a bag a week habit, sometimes more sometimes less but, I think that's fairly close to average.
 
I bumped up from a Smokey Joe to a Jumbo Joe. The SJ was pretty difficult to do a two zone fire on the JJ doesn't use much more or any more coals but is easy to do a two zone on.
 
I use the Smokey Joe for doing just a few burgers. I usually let the coals on the SJ burn out.

Burger.Smokey.Joe_zpsldhalka0.jpg
 
I'm with Rich re: the JJ. Easy to do a two-zone cook. It's my go-to grill. I have about a 15lb/week habit.
 

 

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