One touch coal problem


 
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ChrisPM

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Does anyone else have a problem with the coals on one side going out on their one touch kettle when you have a full load of meat? Mine has always gone out on the handle side no matter where the vents are set or where the top vent is located. My original kettle with the 3 adjustable vents never did this.
 
Hi Chris.
Your sig lists a OTG, which has 2 handles. Which side is it? Wheeled side or forward side? I always bank my coals at the forward leg side, and have never had any problems.

Edit.. Or did you mean the side where the sweeper handle is located?

Tim
 
not sure how yer setting up yer coals. i did find long ago that doing coals on the left and right sides would always result in coals going out on one or the other side. i tried all kinds of ways and vent positions. never got both to burn evenly. it always was a guess between coal, vent and air/wind positions. so i went to the indirect/offset style of cooking. i would put the coals on one side(left for me)with a lower vent directly underneath. this vent would always face the wind or breeze. the meat would go on the down wind side and the lid vent would be above the meat, down wind of the lower vent. this has made a huge differance on how things go and turn out. also i always covered the open area of the coal grate to help the temps stay stable. much has been written about this.
 
It happens on the one touch vent handle side when you have the coals evenly spread out across the grate and you have the cooking grate fairly full of meat. Here's an example with a recent cook where the left side coals went out
 
I have noticed the last few long cooks that the coals in my performer kettle on the wheel side have failed to burn. I have been using the minion method and for some reason they have gone out both times. It's a mystery to me as well.
 
it all really depend on the air flow, direction of the breeze and placement of the top vent. turn yer kettle around and the burn/non burn position will change with it.
 
I don't know if it makes a difference, but I never put meat on until the coals on both sides are white with ash. I only had a problem once and that was with a turkey and the coals on one side wern't burning very well. However, they were not fully lit when I put the bird on.
 
Okay, I hear ya now Chris.
Cant really say that I ran across that before, but
I use a 3 zone fire when grilling.
also that area you pointed out has always worked out as my cool zone.
I think George has a good point, as that side is always facing my garage.

Tim
 
It doesn't seem to matter if I am out in the lawn, on the deck, next to the house, top vent on same side or opposite side, windy or not. Just very strange! The only thing visually different on that side is the slot for the vent handle. The other two sides only have the holes for ventilation. I would think the extra "slot" would make for hotter coals on that side, not extinguish them
icon_confused.gif
 
Chris,I'm not a big charcoal user on my OTS(I use my Genesis more than the OTS). But when I do fire that bad boy up,I use a three zone for grilling,and indirect for smoke roasting. I've never tried the two pile indirect. It just makes more sense to me to pile the coals on one side,than to have two smaller piles. However,as they say,YMMV.
 
Reminds me of my early attempts at grilling. We grilled chichen halves almost exclusively as thats what my parents mostly did. It was always on a round, uncovered flat bottomed grill. With 4 chicken halves dripping over hot coals, well you can imagine the flareups. It was either burn the meat or drip water on the pesky flames till it went out. Sadly, some coals were put out and the whole process was iffy at best.
So I got a new 22 1/2" OTS and all was much better except to be honest I was still making three basic mistakes. (1) I put the meat on a little too soon (2)closed the top and bottom vents half way and (3) Failed to create 2 or 3 temp zones by coal placement. The end result of 4 ckicken halves dripping on the coals that aren't quiiite hot enough with the vents half closed was that we have finished them in the oven more than once. Not that you have committed any of these sins, but I have.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by ChrisPM:
It doesn't seem to matter if I am out in the lawn, on the deck, next to the house, top vent on same side or opposite side, windy or not. Just very strange! The only thing visually different on that side is the slot for the vent handle. The other two sides only have the holes for ventilation. I would think the extra "slot" would make for hotter coals on that side, not extinguish them
icon_confused.gif
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I think you are on to something here Chris.
The old 3 vent and the OTS have basically a pie plate to catch the ash. While the OTG has a bunch of holes @ the top of the ash catcher ring, there is really no way air can circulate up from the bottom. I wonder if you drop the ash pan on the lower shelf, and let some more air come in from the bottom if that might make a difference.

Tim
 
I have a Platinum (essentially a Performer without the gas start). I've not had an issue with coals going out - but I did drop the ash catcher anyway. An absolute PITA to remove/replace imo. It rests on a block a few inches below where it would normally be. (I live in the the middle of nowhere and could not care less about ash blowing about, when that occasionally occurs.) You could try that.

I nearly always cook with coals on each side. Depends on how much I'm cooking but that's the way most of the time. Indirect, no rotating to even out the cooking as it's even from the get-go. If I need to go direct for whatever reason I do so over one side or the other.
 
Thanks for the tips! I'm going to try dropping the ash catcher and see if that helps. I'll follow-up with the results.
 
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