Keeping the heat up


 
A

A J Grant

New member
Having just got my first Weber Kettle, I christened it with a big old shoulder of pork - smoked for 12 hours around 225-250F, worked a treat. Didn't manage to maintain a totally steady temperature, but didn't struggle as much as I worried I might.

Having got a nice Silverside of Beef in for Sunday lunch, I thought I may as well roast it on the Weber. I stacked up about 50 briquettes in the chimney starter and got them going, chucked half on each side of the grate (using the standard dividers) drop tray in the middle and shut the lid, with all vents open. The temperature flew up to the desired 350F in no time, I part closed the lower vent, and after a couple of minutes' tweaking had it stable at 350F.

Chucked the meat in, and all was good for 20-25 minutes, but then the temperature started to drop a little. I opened the lower vent up, which helped a little bit, but over the next 15 minutes or so the temperature kept dropping. I soon had all vents wide open, but from about 30 minutes onwards there was nothing I could do to get the temperature above 300F and by 45 minutes I could only manage 250F.

By this point I was wondering if maybe the briquettes had all just burnt through, though it seemed quick. So I opened the lid and took a look, but they were pretty much all still whole, and all a good white colour, which I take to mean at a good heat for cooking. Eventually I fired up another dozen or so briquettes in the chimney starter, and chucked these in, which just about kept things around 300F long enough to end up with a cooked joint of meat (I finished it off by grilling over the coals for a bit more char-grilled taste around the outside).

So tell me - what have I got wrong, and how do you keep a Weber going at 350F?
 
A J Grant;
I do things a bit different. I use two firebricks (thin ones) standing on edge to separate the coals on one side from the indirect area. I dump a full lit chimney if I'm trying to maintain 350 degrees behind the bricks for a relatively short cook (the bricks are about 1/3 from the side where the coals are):

This will give you an idea of what I am talking about (with chicken parts instead of beef):


You didn't have enough coals to maintain the temperature you desired with that rather large chunk of meat. In fact, I can approach 350 degrees when I start with the Minion Method (dump a chimney of unlit in, remove twenty briquettes and light them and apply over the unlit) and maintain it for several hours. The fire bricks are available from most any building supply outfit and two of them cost very little. I have paid as little as $1.75 each or as much as $3.75 each. They will only last forever:rolleyes:. You might want to try that and see if that doesn't pretty much solve your problem. You will still have to adjust the bottom vents to control the heat, if necessary, of course.

As always, YMMV

Keep on smokin',
Dale53:wsm:
 
If using only lit briquettes, expect them to last about an hour....but maybe your briquettes nearly died on you. I've occasionally had Kingsford do that for no apparent reason.
 
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Thanks Robert - that's the layout I used for smoking the pork, so maybe will try that for roasting. I just got hold of a couple of firebricks (used housebricks before), so good to go now!
 
I guess other than that it may have been down to quality of briquettes, will go shopping for some top draw ones!
 
A J;
I use Kingsford Original briquettes almost exclusively. I have storage area in my garage, so I stock up when the sales are on (Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day). I can buy two twenty pound bags (twin packs) for from $7.88-$12.88. When I hit a sale, I buy as much as 400 lbs at a time.

I have found Kingsford Original Briquettes to be quite dependable. Consistent product allows me to fine tune my process.

Of course, since you live in the U.K. things may be quite different...

Just a thought or two...

FWIW
Keep on smokin',
Dale53:wsm:
 
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