22.5" Kettle, best way to light enough charcoal?


 
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

Mike_V

TVWBB Member
So I have a 22.5" Weber Kettle that I bought a few months ago. I also have a Weber Chimney that I've used to heat up 20-40 pieces of charcoal for my WSM smoker.

Now, I have been using the Chimney to light charcoal for my Kettle grill, which works great, but I've found that even if I fill the Chimney all the way up to the very top, it's not enough Charcoal to evenly cover the bottom of the grill. This causes heat issues in that the edges of the grill are cold and there are lots of "cool spots" where the charcoal isn't covering. it seems like I would need somewhere around 1.5-2 Chimneys worth of Charcoal to really get the grill working good.

So my question is twofold. #1, how much charcoal do I really need if I want to grill stuff that is mostly covering the grill? For instance a lot of times I'll grill 3 thigh-leg chicken combos, plus 4-6 drumsticks, plus 4 ears of corn. Or last night I grilled 40 chicken wings which pretty much covered most of the grill.

#2, if I do need more than 1 chimney full of charcoal (which it seems I do), what is the best way to get all of that lit? Should I put a bunch of unlit charcoal in the grill, then fill the chimney up part way, then just dump the charcoal from the chimney onto the unlit charcoal before it's ready to grill, and let it ash over inside the grill? Right now I fill the chimney up, light it, then let it burn until all of the charcoal on "top" of the chimney is coated in ash, then I dump all the charcoal into the grill, try to spread it out, give it 5 minutes or so with the lid on, then throw the food on.

Any hints/tips would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

P.S.: I switched from a gas grill to this kettle (after some burners on the gas grill broke and I didn't want to deal with it anymore) and I have to say not only does the food on a charcoal grill come out much better/easier to grill (harder to burn the food), I also enjoy it more.
 
Simple.
Take your chimney, pull out the inside grate, flip it over and put it back in. This is easier to do with a new chimney but with some a little work and some scratched knuckles you can do it in a used one also. You'll get some extra coals out of that.
 
Hmmm I'm not really able to visualize what you're telling me to do. Are you saying to somehow have coals underneath the chimney and inside, or something else?
 
Oh wait I see now, the little grate that is cone shaped flip it upside down so you can fit extra charcoal in.. Hmm that would give a little more space but it seems like it only be an extra 8-10 briquettes where it feels like I need almost 2 full chimneys worth.
 
very few folks cook on the whole surface as you are doing. yea, if you are doing it that way you will need another chimney.
 
Any way to get extra charcoal lit up without a second chimney, not including lighter fluid? Like I was saying before, maybe possible to dump fresh lit charcoal onto unlit charcoal and give it time to light the rest?
 
Mike - I have a "ultra-sized" chimney that is about a third larger than the standard Weber chimney and by filling it up, I have plenty of charcoal to cover the entire charcoal grate.

That being said, I almost never cover the entire charcoal grate with coals. I almost always do a modified two-zone fire with a hot side and a cool side.

Since I started doing that and learning things like the reverse sear and the sear and move techniques, my grilling has improved ten-fold. Even half a cooking grate of hot zone on the 22 incher gives me plenty of cooking area for my family and even family and a guest or two.

Look for these larger charcoal chimneys in grilling stores and Academy. George Curtis found me one in California when my original one rusted out. I forget where he found it.

Good luck!

Pat
 
you could just empty your lit chimney in the cooker and pour some more lump or kingsford on top of the lit. Let the unlit heat up and happy grilling
 
I leave some of the leftover charcoal in the bottom and pour a full chimney over it.

Also I find its best to have a cold side to the grill depending on what Im doing, especially if I do a roast. Even chicken or steaks, I will cook hot over the coals and as they finish or if I want to cook the interior slow Ill move it off the coals to the cools side.

If you decide this works for you, make a trip to a masonry place or fireplace store and buy some fire bricks (they have to be fire bricks) and use these as a way to separate the coals and sides of the grill. Most of the time I just dump them on one side of the grill though
hope that helps
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

 

Back
Top