Problem with charcoal bins for indirect cooking

[Pikatik]

We have a Summit Charcoal Grill Station. LOVE IT! Works better than our previous 22.5 inch Weber One-Touch Kettle which we thought was fantastic...until we replaced it with the Summit.

Did our Thanksgiving turkey (using indirect). We're having an issue with the charcoal baskets. This has happened to us a couple of times now. The baskets don't drain ash due to the drain holes being perpendicular to the bars in the grate beneath them.

1. Once the ash has built up in the baskets it prevents air flow feeding the briquettes from coming up from underneath.

2. The build-up of ash in the bottom of the basket gives a false impression of there still being an adequate supply of fuel underneath the briquettes you can see. 

Someone at Weber said it has happened to him as well and he will bring this up to the design team. In the mean time......

...the solution we're currently thinking of is to buy a 22.5 inch grill (without the flippy-sides) and cut off sections on either side, keeping the handles; then tweak the handles a bit so they hook onto the lower grill and lock in place, like the old charcoal rails did. We think more ash should fall through.

Your thoughts, please?

[Travis]

Hey, hello and welcome!
We have a few members here with the Charcoal Summit. I am not one of them, unfortunately. I am a little confused by your question though. You say your using charcoal baskets with the Summit? Am I understanding that right? If so, ditch the baskets. I haven't heard of guys using them, but like a Kamado instead (coals directly on the grate). Not to sound like an ass, just trying to help figure it out.
Maybe we can get some of the Summit owners to chime in.
@ramsfan @Bbqmiller @irv39


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[Darko]

The Charcoal Summit is not designed to use baskets. It sounds to me like you are trying to use the Summit like a kettle.  It is a different beast.

[JordanW]

I own and use a WSCGC almost everyday. I did 2 turkeys for thanksgiving, one on it and one on my WSM. Guess which one turned out better! lol Anyways, the unit does come with the baskets and a diagram showing them being used for indirect, but... they just don't work that well for longer cooks. I used 2 heaping scoops of lump, pecan chunks, supplied heat deflector, drip pan with gravy fixins and spatchcocked the bird (14lbs) right on the cooking grate. Plugged away at 325 no prob... Hit 165 right around 3:00 mark.

[SixZeroFour]

Hello and welcome,

Funny enough the "issue" is mostly due to over-engineering on Weber's part... The steel bar used on the charcoal grate is such a heavy gauge that the gaps between bars are substantially less than a standard grate. Add in the baskets that have narrow slots running the opposite way and you've more or less removed 60% of the open area from below. Combine that with the use of ash-heavy briquettes (is that the case?) and you will clog up your baskets in no time.

As others have mentioned I would ditch the baskets completely - they really aren't needed in the SCG. They also drastically increase the amount of time it takes to light your charcoal using the burner for the very same reason... there just isn't enough surface area for the flame to hit. Another accessory that will make your life a lot easier is the Weber Charcoal Rake. If you don't already have one I would HIGHLY recommend it to Summit owners and in fact ANY Weber charcoal grill owners. Its made out of heavy stainless steel and I use it not only as a rake but also as a grate lifter and as a mini hatchet to chop down larger pieces of lump. I love the damn thing.

Regarding indirect cooking I have recently been experimenting with different grill setups and found that an excellent option is to actually keep the charcoal down on the lower rack setting, then use the heavy diffuser in place (almost as if you were setup for smoking) but leave one side of the diffuser open so that it lets the heat flow directly up into the top chamber of the kettle. I've had AMAZING results with this setup and I think it has to do with the promotion of circular airflow inside the kettle. The heat races up out of the open side and then circles inside the kettle once it gets up to the lid creating a swirling effect. You could also open both sides and more or less simulate two basket indirect...



One last thing I would highly recommend if you are not already doing so is switch to lump charcoal. First off, far less ash, but more importantly (IMO!)

Briquettes are the hot dogs of charcoal fuel. ... Would you scrape up the crap in an ashtray and roll it back into a cigar? Just sayin'

They sweep up what's left on the floor after making proper lump, add in binders, and then compress it into a puck.

Anyways - stick around and let us know how you make out!

Matt

[Darko]

You must be talking about Kingsford. Sweep up the floor, add some coal dust, add some cement powder, add some borax.


As far as other briquettes, I like maple leaf, it's their charcoal ground up and then bound with wheat starch. I'm also liking Royal Oak, because it's their lump ground up and bound with corn starch. 

I still need to do this experiment, but I think if you took a pound of lump and a pound of briquettes you probably would not get much difference in the amount of ash.

[TheDude]

You must be talking about Kingsford. Sweep up the floor, add some coal dust, add some cement powder, add some borax.


As far as other briquettes, I like maple leaf, it's their charcoal ground up and then bound with wheat starch. I'm also liking Royal Oak, because it's their lump ground up and bound with corn starch. 

I still need to do this experiment, but I think if you took a pound of lump and a pound of briquettes you probably would not get much difference in the amount of ash.

Very true. Can't compare chimney to chimney, and say lump has less ash. It's much lighter than briquettes.

[Travis]

I like hot dogs


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[SixZeroFour]

I may have been a touch hard on briquettes in my post It's not to say there aren't a few decent briquettes out there... it's just that lump is a more pure form of fuel, and I want as few chemicals or processing agents near my food as possible. Some premium briquettes MAY be ground up lump, but you're now adding a binder into your fuel for what reason? Convenience? Personally I'd rather use the charcoal in its natural form, plus I like the benefit of some flavour coming from the charcoal itself and not just smoke wood. I've tried prob 25+ different brands of charcoal and test sample product for our store fairly regularly and would never go back after switching to a quality lump.


@Travis my brain hates hot dogs but my stomach is still on team lips and beaks 😂

[Travis]

@SixZeroFour  To quote my favorite movie of all time, The Great Outdoors, "you know what hotdogs are made out of, lips and assholes!" If you haven't seen that movie, you NEED to.

[TheDude]

You guys really need to switch to some higher quality dogs.

[Travis]

You guys really need to switch to some higher quality dogs.

Lol. What are you saying, Dude? BarS isn't a good brand for 99 cents a pack!

[Darko]

I love hot dogs. I go to IKEA just so I can get cheap 99cent hot dogs. Screw it!!! I'm gonna go grill some hot dogs.

[Travis]

Hell yes, Darko!!

@Pikatik Sorry for mobbin' the thread , man.  Ditch those baskets, grill some hotdogs bud. Happy to have ya here. Great bunch of crazies runnin' round this WKC!


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[JordanW]

2 words- COSTCO DOGS