Grilling in windy conditions safety questions.


 
K

Ken-MexiKen

New member
I was planning to, low and slow, a brisket for a pre Christmas party, starting the cook bright and early tomorrow morning. Tomorrow, (Thursday) is looking like a beautiful day, with a high around 57 degrees and light breezes, so no problem cooking. My worry is, a high wind warning, (with gusts as high as 60 mph) is in effect for my area late Thursday night or early Friday morning. We are also in a severe drought here in Albuquerque, so I'm very concerned about any remaining hot embers escaping the Performer kettle overnight and burning down my entire neighborhood. My questions are; Will the kettle contain hot charcoal/embers in a high wind event? Is their any simple or realistic way to extinguish all hot materials when the cook is finished? Should I just wait for better conditions? Any practical advise and previous experiences will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance and Merry Christmas to all.
Ken
 
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If you’re confident in the forecast, you could smoke it for several hours, then move it to the oven, trying to use only enough fuel that you could open the vents up and burn it up before the winds kick up after moving the brisket inside. Check out Slap Yo Mamma (Harry Soo) that does this often and Chud’s BBQ for various long hold techniques afterwards. If your oven will run at 160 or 170 you can hold it a long time there when it’s done.
 
Shane - glitchy said:
If you’re confident in the forecast, you could smoke it for several hours, then move it to the oven, trying to use only enough fuel that you could open the vents up and burn it up before the winds kick up after moving the brisket inside. Check out Slap Yo Mamma (Harry Soo) that does this often and Chud’s BBQ for various long hold techniques afterwards. If your oven will run at 160 or 170 you can hold it a long time there when it’s done.
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Great idea, never really thought about using oven. I just need to gauge the correct amount of fuel to use and estimate the time when the heavy wind gusts begin.
Thank you,
 
If you can locate it in a protected area the wind probably won't be an issue. Such as on the opposite side of the house from the wind, etc. It's still a concern I would not ignore it. Items on my porch have fared well in hurricane..
Because they're protected from the brunt of the wind
 
Cool and don’t think about it. I live in Wyoming, it’s ALWAYS windy here, the only time any embers go anywhere is dumping my charcoal.

Let ‘er eat
 
Ken-MexiKen said:
I was planning to, low and slow, a brisket for a pre Christmas party, starting the cook bright and early tomorrow morning. Tomorrow, (Thursday) is looking like a beautiful day, with a high around 57 degrees and light breezes, so no problem cooking. My worry is, a high wind warning, (with gusts as high as 60 mph) is in effect for my area late Thursday night or early Friday morning. We are also in a severe drought here in Albuquerque, so I'm very concerned about any remaining hot embers escaping the Performer kettle overnight and burning down my entire neighborhood. My questions are; Will the kettle contain hot charcoal/embers in a high wind event? Is their any simple or realistic way to extinguish all hot materials when the cook is finished? Should I just wait for better conditions? Any practical advise and previous experiences will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance and Merry Christmas to all.
Ken
Click to expand...

It's certainly something everyone should be concerned about. I had an ember blow into a bag of charcoal located about 15 feet from the grill and smolder into the night and eventually get going well enough I noticed the smoke just before bedtime when I was turning out the light on the patio. The charcoal bag was in a large patio storage box with the lid open. I had closed up the grill and storage box when finishing grilling. This storage box is under the eaves of the house too. Scared me a bit. We're in a very dense housing tract. I tend to avoid a charcoal fire now, when it's windy. That's when I use the pellet grill.

Looks like Albuquerque is going to get some rain along with that wind. That should help alleviate some concerns about the embers igniting something.

If you're going to bbq today, you might use a fire starter cube or little straw twisty things along with charcoal brickettes. That should minimize the ember issue. I love lump charcoal, but it pops and cracks and spits embers much worse than brickettes, and a fire starter allows you to close up the kettle while it gets going, as opposed to a torch to light it.
 
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I personally will not fire up charcoal under heavy wind conditions , recently we had 50+gusts and I chose to cook something else in the dutch oven inside...this is where I would probably benefit from a gasser but luckily this weather is not the norm during this time of year
 
Sorry for the past posting, but I'm catching up on some of the kettle threads. I don't cook on a Weber kettle, but I have seen my dad operate his.

The original post reminds me of when I taught a cooking class at Cub Scout camp many years ago. I was obligated to adapt my cooking to the drought conditions. Under normal conditions, I did regular campfire cooking. When it got really dry, I switched to a shepherd stove that had a wood fire fully enclosed and way off the ground with a door and a chimney. When it got drier than that, I would switch to a propane stove. When it got really, really, dry, we made trail mix.

Now I was in the woods of New Jersey and you are in the mountains of Albuquerque, so things may be a bit different. I don't really get the idea that anyone would contemplate leaving a hot grill out overnight in a severe drought and strong wind gusts.
 
It’s mostly in the initial cook. I smoked bb ribs a few days back for 3 hours at 225F on my performer, but it got dark, cold and windy as a storm was coming through. So I wrapped them In foil as usual, then put them on a sheet pan and finished them in the oven for a couple hours at 325F, opening the foil for the last 20 minutes or so.They came out fine, and still had plenty of bbq flavor, with almost all of the fat rendered.
 
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