I posted about this one time before. I am just at a loss why I struggle so badly to get temps up to 375-400 deg in the Weber 26" kettle. Today I was making chicken kabobs and used a full chimney of Royal Oak Lump charcoal and tried spreading it out over 2/3rds of the charcoal grate to leave a little area of indirect heat. That wasn't even getting the kettle to 275-300 deg with all vents wide open (top and bottom). I am wondering if small pieces of charcoal were falling prematurely blocking air flow with the bottom vents. I was able to get some pretty serious temps using the Slow and Sear making steaks a couple weeks ago. If I try to distribute the heat across more grate area with the 26" kettle, a chimney full doesn't do it. I usually use Kingsford Blue, but had an old bag of lump lying around.
Just HOW much charcoal is needed to get a 375-400 deg temp even across the grate area in this kettle? It was approx 70 deg out and pretty windy.
I'm using a decent quality thermometer and use a Thermoworks Smoke at grate level if not doing direct heat cooks. I did not anticipate it to be so challenging to get grate temps to the levels I want. I'm wondering if more than a chimney full is needed. Any ideas?