kettle temperatures

[Philx1979]

Done a beer can chicken this weekend and it turned out brilliant but i found myself obsessing about the temperatures more than anything else.

so can anyone simplify the vents action for me, am i right that the bottom vent by having it closed will kill the fire, and having it fully open will fire it right up, nut not sure what the top vent is doing?

please help

give me scenario answers.

In mid cooking i want to get temperature higher:

"   "      " Temperature lower.

[Tim in PA]

I always leave the top vent open when in use. The bottom vent gets adjusted. Just think of the more air (oxygen) you give the coals, the hotter it will burn. Oxygen is the fuel. If you need to bring the temp down, close the bottom vents a bit. Closing them completely will kill the fire.

[One Touch Platinum]

If you can, try controlling the temp with just the bottom vents. The top vent allows the air to escape which is important to a hot , efficient fire( burns clean)....if you close the top vent at all you will get more smoke in/on you food, which may be what you want for meat but not for desserts or any kind of baked goods. You really only need to be able to hit 2 or 3 temps accurately with your grill for most cooks....and probably only 2 for 90% of ALL cooks....225-250 degrees and 350-375 degrees. You will get used to the amount of charcoal to use and a couple of spots on your vent control that will let you hit those two areas every time you fire up your grill. My biggest advice to you would be this....use the same kind of fuel....same brand if possible every time you cook for a while until you get the heat management down pat. You can use lump or briquets but stay with the same kind until you get the other variables of you grills heat down.....it won't take long before you get the hang of it and then you can start experimenting with different kinds of fuel if you want. You need to be able to produce accurate temperature ranges in order to cook/bbq well.....if you don't it will make your grilling very hit or miss....kind of like the way my Dad used to grill when I was a kid!

[Philx1979]

If you can, try controlling the temp with just the bottom vents. The top vent allows the air to escape which is important to a hot , efficient fire( burns clean)....if you close the top vent at all you will get more smoke in/on you food, which may be what you want for meat but not for desserts or any kind of baked goods. You really only need to be able to hit 2 or 3 temps accurately with your grill for most cooks....and probably only 2 for 90% of ALL cooks....225-250 degrees and 350-375 degrees. You will get used to the amount of charcoal to use and a couple of spots on your vent control that will let you hit those two areas every time you fire up your grill. My biggest advice to you would be this....use the same kind of fuel....same brand if possible every time you cook for a while until you get the heat management down pat. You can use lump or briquets but stay with the same kind until you get the other variables of you grills heat down.....it won't take long before you get the hang of it and then you can start experimenting with different kinds of fuel if you want. You need to be able to produce accurate temperature ranges in order to cook/bbq well.....if you don't it will make your grilling very hit or miss....kind of like the way my Dad used to grill when I was a kid!

Thank you both for your input, i`m gonna try and stick with the same fuel like you said.

But basically i`m thinking now my bottom vent is controlling my burn and temperature, and the top vent really is controlling how much smoke i want.

I get the feeling i`m gonna love this forum lol

[1buckie]

 This is how a Weber was originally designed to be used.................

From the 1958 brochure piece, about the vents.....

See Here:

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/weber-kettles-accessories/1958-weber-bar-b-q-kettle-grill-12-page-original-brochure/new/#new

On Pg. 2:

" Damper in Cover (meaning lid) ALWAYS Remains Open When Cooking"

[Philx1979]

Cooked a joint of pork for 5 hours this weekend, used Aussie heat beads, came out perfect.

at end of cooking i closed all vents to kill the fire to try and save some coals, but it didnt stop and temp stayed at 300f for another couple of hours, vents didnt seem to do anything to kill it???

[1buckie]

 Philx, if it's a fairly new kettle, or very clean, there may not be enough cooking stuff (grease, smoke remnants) built up on the rim of the lid to seal it up well.........more cooking will add some build up & fix th problem over time......

If you clean things up pretty good like a lot of folks do, just don't clean off the inside of the lid rim.......



PS: Glad your cookup came out real well !!!!!

[Philx1979]

just thought I'd share here, cut in half


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[1buckie]

 Good Show !!!!


Yes, it does look like the rim is pretty clean........just do some more cookups & it should start sealing up a little better & you'll be able to save & re-use some of the charcoal.............

[addicted-to-smoke]

OK buckie you'll know this, as an owner of some older machines. Is there a delta where an older kettle seals perfectly but an OLD one no longer will?

Case in point, yesterday's cook, using my dad's two machines. His '05, after being shut down, was stone-cold (out door "room" temp) in an hour or less. You couldn't tell, inside nor out, that just a little earlier it was 450 degrees in there.

His '75 18.5" daisy wheel, shut down same time, was too hot to touch still ... and cleaning the top grate produced sizzle and smoke as stuff hit charcoals ... none of the bottom wheels seal worth a damn anymore. It's as if years of tugging on them to open/shut involved some downward tugging away from the kettle, bending them. I don't know how to bend them back sufficiently and don't necessarily want to replace them?

My '92 seems somewhere in between. The One Touch sweepers are new and tight but I don't know if it's ever cooled down as fast as my dad's '05. All of the lid vents on these seal OK and so do the lids as far as I can tell. Nothing "too clean" about them, that's for sure.

[1buckie]

"none of the bottom wheels seal worth a damn anymore"

That's most likely answering your own question.....if the vents are torqued, air will be let in & the fire keeps going..............although my older Redhead 18" will shut down pretty quick, the vents are pretty gnarly........they can be drilled out, re-formed & then use a small stainless nut & bolt to replace, or even rivets, if available......


A lot of times it's just gunk (read:Waste Activated Sludge, see attached) that gets in between the bowl & the vent, then from heating & cooling keeps building to press outward & such.............

Attachment:

[1buckie]

Ok.....I looked back at Philx's reply:

"at end of cooking i closed all vents to kill the fire to try and save some coals, but it didnt stop and temp stayed at 300f for another couple of hours, vents didnt seem to do anything to kill it???"

For 10 points......what would YOU (anyone ) do in this case?

[One Touch Platinum]

Well, the obvious answer would be to check the lid and make sure it's not bent out of shape ....not sure how you can have a steady temp of 300 degrees for a couple of hours with the lid on,vents completely closed unless you have either too much fuel at high temp to start or you have serious air leaks. If you can cook at 300 degrees for hours at a time with the vents closed you can't possibly have any temperature control at all. I would check to see if the lid is out of round.  If you were using a fuse type coal setup.....separate the hot coals from the unlit before closing down too.....strange issue ...you have me curious.

[Philx1979]

Will have to try it again, shouldn`t be anything buckled or out of shape on it though as its 3 weeks old, and this is my 2nd cook.

will shut everything down again next time and see how long it takes to drop, not bothered if it didnt cool down but it would cause no end of problems if i am trying to adjust temps for cooking though. Just feels like it`ll be whatever temp it chooses disregard if the vents are open or not.

[addicted-to-smoke]

It's also possible that if it's in direct sunlight that will impact how quickly it cools down (greenhouse effect inside the kettle?), as might being right next to that reflector (i.e. the white stucco corner.)

That's just speculation on my part, but easy enough to test by temporarily using the machine on the other side of the house/front yard etc.