Little tiny lump charcoal pieces

[Pablo Hoco]

I switched to lump charcoal a while back (usually use Royal Oak).
The switch has been good, but I do noticed I get a lot of little tiny pieces of charcoal that fall right through the bottom grate in my Weber Performer.

What do you guys do about this? Double up on the grate? Some sort of mesh grate?

Thanks.

 

[timothy]

Double up on the grate?

Yep. Buy another grate and turn it at a 90.
Some use expanded metal and cut to fit.
similar to this.

Charcoal Grate Modifications - The Virtual Weber Bullet

A few charcoal grate modifications that will improve the performance and ease of use of your Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker.

www.virtualweberbullet.com

 

[Brock Gingery]

I switched to lump charcoal a while back (usually use Royal Oak).
The switch has been good, but I do noticed I get a lot of little tiny pieces of charcoal that fall right through the bottom grate in my Weber Performer.

What do you guys do about this? Double up on the grate? Some sort of mesh grate?

Thanks.

Tim is right Pablo. I used the two grate method on my kettle, but I think the expanded metal is a better option if you get it with big enough hole spacing. I do sometimes have to "help" the ash settle through the double grate from time to time.

Unfortunately buying lump from big box stores can be hit or miss. They aren't always gentle loading, stacking, and shipping those bags around which busts up the more fragile pieces resulting in small pieces and charcoal dust.

 

[Mark_E]

Sorry but I heard about and tried this a few years ago - doubling the grate to use the small pieces. Sounds pretty brilliant but it did not work for me - the air flow wasn't right for normal grilling so that the temp won't come up. Maybe it would work for slow cooking. So now I just throw those little pieces away - reluctantly. I also don't buy Royal Oak anymore. Royal Oak was pretty good at one point maybe eight years ago.. ? ... but when they became popular, we started seeing tons of the little pieces along with rocks and stuff. So I switched to Jealous Devil. Good luck

 

[Bob Bailey]

I agree with @Brock Gingery and find that poor handling is often to blame for a lot of the small pieces. Since I started only buying pristine bags, I find a lot fewer small chunks.

 

[timothy]

Yea, avoid bags from the bottom of a pallet. But ones that look fluffy like a pillow, not flat like a pancake.

 

[Richard Garcia]

Sometime ago I purchased the Outstanding SlowNSear Plus and SlowNSear Deluxe for my WPD and Weber Master Touch which has a plated bottom and no problems when using lump charcoal.