It's Winter Grilling Time....


 

Brian Thomas

TVWBB Pro
It's that time of year...

No more long charcoal cooks for me until the days get longer, & temps warm up a bit.

I did a rotisserie chicken last Sun on the performer and it took just over 2 hrs to finish. And that was with using K-Pro and adding fresh coals at the 1hr & 1:30 marks.

After that fiasco, I decided to shift into winter grilling mode for the next couple months. Charcoal cooks will be limited to things that take 30 minutes or less from start to finish.

Anything longer than that will be done on the Genesis, or can wait until temps get warmer.

Do any of you use a different brand of charcoal for winter grilling, than what you use normally? I like K-Pro but I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks.
 
For me its more about being in the cold, windy wet backyard is less fun.

BGE and genesis both do well in bad weather.

Pellet doesn't hold temps well in the wind.

Sorry, I don't have any good charcoal suggestions.
 
In cold, rainy, and windy whether, I limit myself to gas grilling, mainly for the purpose of stocking up the freezer with ready to eat poultry and meat. I have one home with a veranda, which protects me at least from rain, where I wheel the grill out for this purpose. I zip up before heading out. Grill temps are usually lower of course, so cooking time is longer. Thank goodness for wireless probe thermometers to keep score while I return to the comfort of indoors until the cooking's done!
 
man... I set my kettle up for an indirect cook, yesterday, and ran out of fuel. no big deal to pivot to the oven - but it was a wake up call.

Lesson learned. If I try and save charcoal by using my kettle for smaller/indirect cooks this winter: I will continue using KBB - and using more charcoal.

My plan (yesterday) was to use a deflector in my kettle and lay some smoke on beef country style ribs ~ 225 for 3 hours then remove deflector/open vents to finish over moderate/direct heat. Did a similar cook "tens of times" over the course of the summer.

Well - I ran out of charcoal before I even finished the smoke portion. this was with temps in the high 30s, moderate wind and a decent wind break...
 
Did a rack of pork yesterday, no trouble. I will do the standing roast beef on the kettle with K-pro next week then probably a brisket soon. I don’t let cold bother me, now, WET is another story!
I put the cover on the Genny but, that’s easy enough to pull and hang a tank on if I decide I want more space. Having options is a great help!
 
Actually I like doing long slow cooks in winter weather. Esp when there is moisture in the air. Seems to create great smoke rings. That being said I don't use Webers in the winter time because they are too hard to keep the temps where I like them with out constant adjustment.
I recently purchased a PK grill smoker its the best cold weather unit that I have found so far, next to a EGG. And I don't change charcoals, I use JD Lump year round. I just did a back of beef ribs from Porter Rd yesterday. 30* for the high, wind chill under the covered deck 15*. Started at 12:30, pulled off at 6:15. Smoker easily held 250* Added 2 small handfulls of lump for the whole cook. This unit is a lump miser. I never stop grilling or smoking year round. So, I would say to the people out there if you want to do this year round in the cold find a unit that will perform in the cold weather. Get off your butt & get outside. Even Weber Mtn smokers have blankets, don't they?.....yes they do. So see there is no excuse to stop Q'ing in winter. It's a good time to find out how good you can be.
 
All of my grills except the E320 are covered and in hibernation until late spring.
With my meds being outside in the cold is just plain miserable for me I get cold and nothing I do makes me warm up, so quick cooks on the gasser is about all I do in the winter.
 
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Got the Big Chief and kettle in the shed for the Winter. The pellet pooper and gasser are covered and under the grillzebo, where they live year-round. Will be doing a 12ish pound turkey Christmas day on the pellet pooper. Weather forecast looks iffy, but that's pretty normal around here.
Won't be lounging outside and smelling the smoke. Thankful for digital remote thermometers!
 
I love cooking on the coldest day of the year. Usually around January 20th. But as I age charcoal may give way to the gasser and half oven time. Darn. Oh and clearing the snow takes a lot of time first...
 
I moved my WSM to the garage two summers ago because it was supposed to rain starting at 4:00 AM and lasting for 6 hours on Memorial Day. It didn’t rain but it was hot and sunny. I left the smoker in the garage. July 4th was supposed to be a typical NC day - in the 90’s and sunny so I kept the WSM in the garage and that’s where it’s staying. It’s really nice to have the WSM ready to go in the morning.
 
Would like to do more cooking in the winter, usually just some quick steaks or burgers.

But this will be my first winter with the WSM so will be sure to try some ribs or something on it to compare to summer.

Just stick with KBB all the way through.
 
Limiting charcoal cooks to stuff that takes 30 min or less worked just fine the other night. I did boneless pork chops on Fri night using K-Pro and no issues with maintaining temps.

Going to do boneless leg of lamb for Christmas. It's a 5lb roast so I'll do it on the Genesis with the roti.
 
Weber Kamado S6 works well in cold/windy conditions because of the double wall air-gap construction. I don't think weather really impacts how any particular charcoal works. It's really more about heat loss from the out side wall of the grill or smoker. In order for a grill to lose a lot of heat, there needs to be a fair amount of wind, so pay attention to wind forecasts along with temperature. Mever be afraid to cook on a cold and calm day. Kettles and WSM users really need to use wind breaks or some sort of insulation on windy days.
 
How are people doing who lived in warm and cold winters?
Considering I wear shorts and short sleeve shirts year round, it’s quite cold to bbq/grill in 40° weather. I guess I could buy some athletic pants to cook outside in but I never thought of that till now 😂 I’ve just managed with the cold. And suffered.

But my grill works just fine in any weather.
 
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Not going to lie. I get a bit of a kick out of watching my American neighbours talk about the cold. As I type this, it’s minus 5 ºF outside. (-21º C as it’s known around here.) I plan on smoking a bone-in pork shoulder tomorrow and the high is supposed to be +5ºF... the high. ;)

It’s get even colder come January. But I digress. I would die in some of your summers You start going over 86ºF and I’m out.

I use Weber briquettes. However adding water to the water pan when it’s cold will just cause the WSM to burn through fuel while trying to keep both the smoker and the water hot. So no H20 this go around.
 
I cook outside on either my 22” kettle, or WSM 22 year around. If it is raining, and there is always that chance here in Seattle I just run our power awning out. Really have not noted all that much difference in fuel usage
 
Not going to lie. I get a bit of a kick out of watching my American neighbours talk about the cold. As I type this, it’s minus 5 ºF outside. (-21º C as it’s known around here.)

You're just a bit colder than I am. I do customarily grill & smoke well under 32 F, and even under 0 F. I've had my monster GF smoker running at -6 F, about 1.5 lbs/hr of lump charcoal, and didn't melt the snow underneath.
 

 

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