Weber side basket problems


 
T

Tim Nielson

New member
The last two times I have used my weber side baskets for indirect grilling, the one on the right side has gone out soon after filling it. What I do is fill a chimney with new charcoal first, then top it off with used charcoal, and light it using starter cubes. Once I get some flames coming out the top, I fill the left basket first, then fill the right basket. Am I doing something wrong? This hasnt happened in the past that I can remember.....only the last two times Ive used them.
 
What is the humidity where you are, used charcoal and even charcoal in an open bag can absorb moisture and be difficult to burn. Check other forum posts on fire building methods. For a long burn I would put unlit in the baskets with a few lit on top, for a shorter ( 1 hour or less) burn I would simply fully engage chimney and then pour into the baskets.
 
I don't want to assume anything. Do you have a Weber chimney? I had a generic chimney given to me with my first Weber. It would not reliably light. After I started using my Weber chimney I have NO further problems.

I fill the bottom of my chimney with crumpled newspapers. I light it and wait twenty minutes or more before I dump it. I can depend on the results. Maybe you are not waiting long enough before you dump?

I use either Kingsford (original) or Stubbs briquettes as a matter of information.

FWIW
Dale53
 
normally you would almost fill both holders with unburned charcoal. then burn some coals till they are all lit. now you put the lit ones equally on both holders. if this still doesn't work then you have found the rreason i abandoned that method of cooking and went to cooking with the coals on just one side.
 
Those baskets seemed like such a good idea and where the first accessorie I bought. The only thing I use them for now is as a barrier to keep the charcoal piled to one side.

One note about humidity... Kendall Cook is totally correct. I live in FL and I will tell you that if you leave your snuffed out coals in the kettle, they will absorb a ton of moisture and take about double the time to come to temp. The same is true about leaving your bag outside not tightly closed up. I have a deck box on my lanai but I still roll up the bag tight and set the chimney on it to keep it closed. I still think though that moisture can get in but not enough to ruin anything.

If you leave the bag open a bit outstide though or leave your coals in your kettle, I'd venture to say that they will absorb as much as a quarter of their wait in water. I can tell just by rolling my kettle a couple of days later that the weight it noticiable more. And after dumping raging hot coals, you can see what looks like steam in addition to smoke... not to mention that it takes much longer than normal to get the all the coals super hot.
 
Now that I think about it, the first time this happened was when I was smoking a brisket and I started with all new coals and it still went out on that one side. It could just be coincidence that this happened. I keep my bag of kingsford tightly closed when Im not using it. I do indeed use a weber chimney starter. What are the benefits of banking all the coals to one side for an indirect cook?
 
Simple explanation is that they get more air not being packed so tightly. The engineers on here can give you a more technical explanation.
 
Sometimes, when you put baskets on two sides of the grill like this, one side will starve the other of oxygen. Follow Stuart's suggestion, and ensure the vent exposure under each basket is equal.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top