Kettle rookie - charcoal amount question


 
K

Kevin Kirwan

New member
Guys,
Made the switch from gas to charcoal and bought myself a 22.5 Kettle.

Still learning, so bare with my question please........

I used a full chimney full of briquettes, but it seems that there we a bunch of gaps and did not cover to bottom grate. Seemed a little difficult to get a consistent temp around the grill....
(Still got a great bunch of burgers and hot dogs!!
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) The kids were happy, and that's always good!!!

Should I put a layer of briquettes to cover the bottom grill, then pour the lighted chimney full of briquettes on top of that (kinda like you would do in the WSM) ?

Thanks in advance for any assistance....

kckirwan
 
Hey Kevin. Don't worry about asking questions. While there are some amazing cooks here, most of us are just trying to figure out what the heck we are doing just like you. Every time I figure out one thing I find another thing that I can improve on or was doing wrong. As to your question, it all depends on how long you want to cook and what temperature you want to cook. For burgers and dogs, one chimney will probably suffice. If you need to cook longer, or need a higher temp, then add more coals. It's just like your gas grill, when you needed more heat, you would turn it up or light another bar, thus adding fuel. You will get the hang of it quickly. Also, sometimes you will want to bank your coals on one side of the kettle and put your meat on indirect heat. Sometimes you will want to cook on direct heat. Play around with it and listen and learn from the folks here except me
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. Hope this helps.
 
I can cook about anything on my performer with one Weber chimneys worth of charcoal.
I never spread it out completely, just about half the space of the grill so that I have couple different zones of heat. When done grilling, close the down vents and whatever is left I use next time.
 
Hey Kevin,

Alot of the charcol set up depends on what you are making. For burger and dogs, I would do a full chimney, lit, and spread across 2/3 of the grill. Burgers go over the coals and the dogs on the indirect side.

The best way to go about it is to just cook with charcol and find the easiest way to get the results you want.
 
yea, for burgers and dogs i put a full weber chimney full on only 1/3 or so of the charcoal grate. kinda piled up. then i cook or char the meat, both of them and then put them on the side without coals to cook till done the way i want. most times both stay over the coals the whole time. you will have to see what you like.
 
Agree with all above.

"Seemed a little difficult to get a consistent temp around the grill...."

Well, that's actually a good thing. With spots that are hot and spots that are not, you can sear meat over the hots spots and then move to cooler spots for finishing up or warming.

If you're doing a lot of burgers, you could just sprinkle a few unlit coals around to build an even layer of coals across the charcoal grate.
 
I think the assumption is that everyone uses the Weber chimney starter. With smaller off brands you won't get the same amount of charcoal.
 
So what I'm hearing is that I may have actually done this correctly!!!
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Seriously, thanks for the info and I'll keep trying and perfecting the "craft".

kckirwan
 
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