Fire in the hole! Weber Kettle caught on fire...


 

JeffB

TVWBB Pro
I cooked 6 leg/thigh chicken combos the other night on my Weber Kettle using the Vortex with the smaller hole pointing up and the lit charcoal filled nearly to the top for high heat. I started skin side down to get a sear and some crispiness to the skin.

When I turned the chicken over, however, the fat and juice fell on the bottom of the kettle and caught my kettle on fire! I had large flames coming out of the top and had to quickly pull the chicken and cover my kettle with the lid to put out the flames. It was scary but all is good now.

But the question is -- what did I do wrong? Do I need to be regularly cleaning out my kettle to avoid these types of issues? How do I avoid grease fires in the future? This is something I do not want to repeat.

Thanks.
 
I've never had a grease fire, so I'm not a good candidate to offer advice, but after every single cook I loosely use a 3" plastic putty knife in my bowl to remove buildup. Don't get me wrong; I don't have pristine-looking grills but I have nothing more than a very thin layer of debris--ash, grease, or otherwise--when firing-up for a new cook. The ash catcher is emptied each time, too. I'm happy for you that you kept it under control!
 
The high heat of the Vortex will cause flare-ups and fires very quickly. If I'm cooking something that will drip a lot of grease I will put foil on the bottom grate below those items.
 
Yep, foil on the bottom grate will be your best friend.
I have found that the inside of the bowl is easier to sweep clean now that the Vortex has turned the accumulated old gunk to high heat dust!
 
Agree with the foiled bottom grate for two reasons one no fires and two a whole lot easier on the clean up.
 
I would think the foil would impede air flow. I clean the sides of my kettle with a putty knife from time to time. I just keep it knocked down. This also helps the 1 touch blades stay flush to the bottom. If you are tearing out the foil under the vortex, then never mind. Carry on!
 
I wasn’t clear, sorry.
Place Vortex in center, lay foil on the outside of the cone across to the bowl side.
I used to use a scraper but, since I’ve used the Vortex the bowl sweepers works so smoothly and there isn’t a lot of gunk to contend with at all!
 
Chicken legs and thighs are maybe the messiest things to grill. Lots of flammable fat oozes out of them. Foil (or shallow foil pan) on the bottom grate is good advice. Also, consider cooking the chicken indirect first -- a lot of the fat will drop off slowly. Then finish with the sear. They'll still catch fire, but it probably won't be a conflagration.

Jeff
 
I'm struggling trying to picture 'foil on the bottom grate'. Are you building your fire to one side and cooking indirectly? Foil on the grate beside the fire and under the meat?

Thanks. Maybe I just need another cup of coffee :)
 
Kelley, have you looked at how the Vortex works? It goes in the center (small end up) and the product is laid out around the circumference. So, yes it is indirect heat but centrally positioned. Yes, foil goes around the outside of the Vortex on the bottom grate.
You want to do that before you light the Vortex!
If I do wings, I have stopped bothering with turning them, the heat is high enough to crisp both sides nicely. I Have not found it necessary to rotate the lid either
 
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Thanks. I have used one. I was not getting the part about the foil being around the circumference of the vortex. Makes sense now.
 
The foil makes cleanup so much easier! I have “forgotten” it a couple of times and paid for it!

Amen to that, we don't do wings very often, mostly thighs and I don't turn those, no need too. Foil makes it so much easier nothing worse than trying to scrap burnt on chicken fat off the bowl.
 
I'm struggling trying to picture 'foil on the bottom grate'. Are you building your fire to one side and cooking indirectly? Foil on the grate beside the fire and under the meat?

Thanks. Maybe I just need another cup of coffee :)

Yes, an indirect fire to one side, or Weber charcoal baskets on either side. If you don't catch the chicken goo before it hits the bottom of the kettle, you'll be spending time scraping it out later. And whenever you cook thighs or wings directly over the coals, you will almost always have flare-ups.

Have another coffee ... on me. :)

Jeff
 
Kelley, have you looked at how the Vortex works? It goes in the center (small end up) and the product is laid out around the circumference. So, yes it is indirect heat but centrally positioned. Yes, foil goes around the outside of the Vortex on the bottom grate.
You want to do that before you light the Vortex!
If I do wings, I have stopped bothering with turning them, the heat is high enough to crisp both sides nicely. I Have not found it necessary to rotate the lid either

The next time I do wings with the vortex, I am going to try not flipping because it is kind of a pain to flip 30 wings over. Thanks for the info.
 

 

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