What do you do with ash?


 
Chris Allingham said:
www.virtualweberbullet.com

Cleanup, Maintenance & Storage - The Virtual Weber Bullet

Tips on cleaning your Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker before and after cooking, periodic maintenance items, how to burn-out the cooker, and tips on storage.
www.virtualweberbullet.com www.virtualweberbullet.com

See "Dispose of the Ashes Safely" and "Using Ashes in the Garden or Compost Pile."
Click to expand...

"Ashes that seem cold on the surface may still be hot deep inside, even after sitting for two days, so take care when handling and disposing of them."

I got caught out by this at a camping weekend earlier this year.

Ash from logs used on an Argentine asado set up had been left overnight, probably 12 hours. Only a couple of inches deep. Felt cool.
Surely it's still not burning? So I thought.

Used a plastic dustpan and brush to scoop it up and put into an empty paper charcoal bag. No problem.

Continued clearing up. All of a sudden, the bag has burst into flames. Person next to me had speed of thought to quickly grab it and move it away from other flammable items, particularly the plastic windbreak.

Flames extinguished with water pretty quickly.

At home I almost always dump the Weber ash catchers into empty charcoal bags. Usually a few days after the last cook. Then into the general trash. Never had a problem but now I really need to get a metal ash can. I think the ash from logs is probably a higher risk than ash from charcoal but not worth being complacent about it.

I know I should have been aware of the risk but I'd checked that the ash was cool. Luckily the lesson was learned without damage or injury.
 
Brett-EDH said:
Buy some Jealous Devil and cook direct with it. Save your briq’s for LAS (not the airport but low and slow) cooks. You’ll use les JD than briq on direct cooks and recycle your extinguished JD into your next cook. My own consumption shows I use less fuel using JD than when I cooked with KPro. And food tastes better, IMO. This is for direct heat cooks. I use my KPro stash for overnight LAS cooks. When I’m done with KPro I’ll use lump, JD, exclusively.
Click to expand...
Brett-EDH said:
Buy some Jealous Devil and cook direct with it. Save your briq’s for LAS (not the airport but low and slow) cooks. You’ll use les JD than briq on direct cooks and recycle your extinguished JD into your next cook. My own consumption shows I use less fuel using JD than when I cooked with KPro. And food tastes better, IMO. This is for direct heat cooks. I use my KPro stash for overnight LAS cooks. When I’m done with KPro I’ll use lump, JD, exclusively.
Click to expand...
I am grilling steaks today and had a bag of royal oak lump coal to try.

First observation- very little smoke. Starting with briquettes, I have a rule not to use the deck entrance nearest to the grill while the briquettes are firing up because of the smoke. With the royal oak very little smoke.

I also figured out an answer to another original question- I take the coal baskets over to the garbage can and dump them in the rapid fire starter can and shake out all the ash until just the usable remnants are left- dump in fresh coal and good to go.

The royal oak has a lot of tiny chunks, I know JD claims all large chunks so that’s probably better.

C22ED637-B12F-4F93-8224-491DA58D81E3.jpeg
 
John_NJ said:
I am grilling steaks today and had a bag of royal oak lump coal to try.

First observation- very little smoke. Starting with briquettes, I have a rule not to use the deck entrance nearest to the grill while the briquettes are firing up because of the smoke. With the royal oak very little smoke.

I also figured out an answer to another original question- I take the coal baskets over to the garbage can and dump them in the rapid fire starter can and shake out all the ash until just the usable remnants are left- dump in fresh coal and good to go.

The royal oak has a lot of tiny chunks, I know JD claims all large chunks so that’s probably better.

View attachment 62220
Click to expand...
Yup, natural coal is low smoke. I shake the CBs into the grill and then clean the grill out. This way I always burn leftover coals. Efficiency at its best and keeps costs down.

You’ll figure out how much lump to load for heat and duration. Trial and error is best. I just use 3/4 a chimney and that’s more than enough. I also light the lump in the CBs so I only add ate 5-9 pieces new lump each session.
 
Brett-EDH said:
Yup, natural coal is low smoke. I shake the CBs into the grill and then clean the grill out. This way I always burn leftover coals. Efficiency at its best and keeps costs down.

You’ll figure out how much lump to load for heat and duration. Trial and error is best. I just use 3/4 a chimney and that’s more than enough. I also light the lump in the CBs so I only add ate 5-9 pieces new lump each session.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I am a novice with the coal but slowly figuring it out.

I err on the side of too much vs. too little heat source for now but I will take your suggestion and try using less moving forward.
 
2BE26DB2-CFB4-4E2D-BC43-9441206C3FBD.jpeg
Little by little, getting better at the coal game.

Today’s effort was overall the best yet.

The lump coal seems to be discernibly better.

Will need to do more research…
 
I've done a lot of Ash in my yard and it just goes away when it rains and no it does not kill the grass in fact wherever it's dump the grass grows higher
 
I dump in a pile after it's cold.
Some goes on the future lawn (barren patch), some goes on termite mounds to try kill them and some on compost heap
And I want to try see if I can make blocks with cement & ash instead of cement & sand
I only use lump and got 7 ha, so plenty options
 
Brett-EDH said:
Buy some Jealous Devil and cook direct with it. Save your briq’s for LAS (not the airport but low and slow) cooks. You’ll use les JD than briq on direct cooks and recycle your extinguished JD into your next cook. My own consumption shows I use less fuel using JD than when I cooked with KPro. And food tastes better, IMO. This is for direct heat cooks. I use my KPro stash for overnight LAS cooks. When I’m done with KPro I’ll use lump, JD, exclusively.
Click to expand...
Where do you buy your Jealous Devil? I remember reading about it several years ago when I had my Weber Kettle, but never knew where to buy it.

So, if I understand you here - for someone starting out new, you'd recommend using JD exclusively for all types of cooking (LAS, direct, and indirect)?
 
Cindy Kee said:
Where do you buy your Jealous Devil? I remember reading about it several years ago when I had my Weber Kettle, but never knew where to buy it.

So, if I understand you here - for someone starting out new, you'd recommend using JD exclusively for all types of cooking (LAS, direct, and indirect)?
Click to expand...
Home Depot recently announced a deal with JD. Home Depot carries the 20# lump JD.

I use my JD exclusively in direct and indirect cooks. You can use it on low and slows, but you’ll need to ensure all your pieces are evenly sized.

I still use KPro on LAS (not the airport but low and slow cooks) because the wood I’m using flavors the food and the KPro just makes the heat. I also have used and own some still of B&B briqs and char logs. All used for LAS only.

I don’t like the taste the briqs impart on chicken, fish, beef or pork for direct sear and or indirect cooks, To me, JD just tastes and smells better. It’s a cleaner burning charcoal.

The next best heat source to JD is live fire cooking. Using oak splits for direct and to indirect cooks.

A steak or chicken cooked over oak is a near perfect taste and flavor to what we like to eat.

The only perfect coal is the one you like and enjoy. I’d try a few to see what works best for your cooking style and preferences.

And please report back your findings. For example, I just acquired some oak wine barrel staves which I’ll be cooking with soon. Those will make for a different flavor profile, for sure.
 
Last edited:
Brett-EDH said:
I still use KPro on LAS (not the airport but low and slow cooks) because the wood I’m using flavors the food and the KPro just makes the heat.
Click to expand...
So, you would use KPro and then add wood chunks of the flavor you want? Like the apple and cherry wood?

Oh, and thanks for the quick reply!
 
Cindy Kee said:
So, you would use KPro and then add wood chunks of the flavor you want? Like the apple and cherry wood?

Oh, and thanks for the quick reply!
Click to expand...
Yes, like on an overnight brisket, I’ll use KPro and apple and pecan wood chunks and some mesquite chips sprinkled in too. The smoke is where your flavor comes from. Heat is heat.

YVW. I happen to be on my iPad reading and saw this.
 
Acadamy Sports also carries JD in my area. I’ve been able to buy JD and B&B briqs from there. I use both in the WSK depending on the cook but pretty much how Brett describes.
 
We have a yard debris burn pile next to our compost pile.
We will dump our bbq ashes into the burn pile and then every now and then shovel ash to the compost pile.

That Grandma joke is outstanding.
Daughter is the accountant for the garbage company in our area of Washington.
We rented one of our buildings here to her for a few years.
All the drivers know her and our property.
I‘m gonna make sure they meet the grandma too.
 
I grilled some NY strips last night using Jealous Devil lump charcoal.

So that should be good to add to my rose bushes, right?

But there was a nice lump of rendered fat right in the middle of the ash catcher.

And that premium ash gleaned from the proper source would have some meat fat in it regardless?

I cleaned the grill and dumped it in with the working class briquette ash.

I’ll buy my fertilizer from the local garden center.A84369CF-3E44-45FE-B659-001EF43D6C65.gif
 
Last edited:
Getting ready to grill today and I was cleaning out the inside of the charcoal grill- some sticky residue on the insides of the kettle.

At the same time, the ash bucket was getting full and I was dumping the sticky residue in the ash.

It occurred to me that the ash might be a good cleaner for the inside of the kettle.

Anyone ever use the coal ash as a cleaner?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top