Weber Kettle Club Forums
Cooking & Food Talk => Charcoal Grilling & BBQ => Topic started by: Thrillho on May 01, 2017, 11:09:06 AM
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Quick and dirty: Yesterday my next door neighbor came over to voice his concern about the smoke from my bbq... i've been bummed out and wondering best course of action ever since. Advice desired on how I might deal with situation in general, and better control smoke during initial lighting of coal (I use chimney, kingsford briquettes and newspaper).
Background:
I've lived in my current home for 2 years now and have grilled on my Weber kettle from day 1, in the same spot in my back yard. Neighbor has lived next to me the entire time. Distance between my grill and the windows in his home ~100 feet. I use a starter chimney, with standard Kingsford briquettes and a bit of newspaper to get it started.
Yesterday was the first time I've actually talked to this particular neighbor. They are... reclusive to say the least. I've never had issue with them before yesterday.
Interaction with neighbor:
Neighbor came over just about the time the coals were all hot in the chimney and ready to be distributed in the kettle, to cook dinner. He was cordial during our chat, but started by asking me if I had been burning something in my backyard all day (I grilled pizzas for lunch earlier in the day).
I said no, but I am about to grill dinner. At this point he proclaimed that the smoke bother's his wife who has lung issues (totally receptive to this issue, and would like to appease if possible) and they had to close window. I was concerned, and asked if it had been an issue in the past as well, he said yes but they simply ignored it. At this point he requested I move my grill... which I could move farther back by say 25 feet, but it would still be in line with his house if the wind was blowing that way (which it generally goes to opposite direction).
So long story short, have anyone else had to deal with a neighbor complaint about smoke? Is there any insight on how I can cut down on smoke during initial starting up of the coals? I don't believe (although I forgot to ask) that it is a issue the entire cook, just that first 5-10 minutes. I'm annoyed but also want to be a decent neighbor and not develop any long term grudge between us... especially since we share a property line.
I certainly don't have plans to stop grilling... if anything I plan to increase my time outside around the kettle! Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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One suggestion would be to stop using newspaper. Try Weber cubes. They'll put off much less smoke than the newspaper.
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@Thrillho , First off, Welcome to the club, now, try not using newspaper, maybe try starter cubes.. but even with the cubes, it'll still smoke but maybe less. Also, and a little less convenient for you, start your chimney in the front yard on a paver in the driveway or something.. then take to your grill if thats even at all possible for you with out having to go through the house. I'll try a couple test scenarios when I fire up tonight. I do know last night I was firing a chimney of Coshell on my gas assist performer and it was smoking like crazy...hope this gets resolved and keeps neighbors happy! good luck.
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That sucks. I'd suggest to start using lighter cubes and lump charcoal.
Lump isn't my preferred choice for cooks, but omits very little smoke.
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Thanks mcgolden, varekai, and Travis.
I've been meaning to give lump coal a try anyway, so as good a reason as any. Will be picking up some lighter cubes as well, to see if they do the trick.
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@Thrillho , you can buy a Looftlighter (or a knockoff) & use lump charcoal. Light your charcoal in whatever location happens to work best with the draft on that particular day. If you have a couple of firebricks, you can put your chimney on the firebricks just about anywhere outside to light the chimney....although, 100 feet is more than reasonable, imo.
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I have a small propane torch from Harbor Freight that I have used to light Kingsford. My experience has been that not much smoke is produced. This,along with trying to light it in a location that reduces "drift" may work and be a reasonable compromise.
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I don't mean to be unsympathetic to her health condition...But if closing the window is all it takes to solve the problem...Then there is no problem...
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Ask the guy what her favorite meal is, grill it up and invite them over, or take it to them.
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+2 I don't mean to be unsympathetic to her health condition...But if closing the window is all it takes to solve the problem...Then there is no problem...
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Ask the guy what her favorite meal is, grill it up and invite them over, or take it to them.
@Thrillho
Fantastic idea 56MPG.
I think as long as you keep the communication cordial and open, both parties can get along.
As far as charcoal, KBB seems to be the smokiest of all the other options. But I do love that smell.... Try the Weber briquettes. I had a chimney of both going side by side the other day and there was a noticeable difference in output of smoke.
Good luck man-
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Just curious, how many times / week do you grill roughly?
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I'd try Stubbs briquettes at Lowes before going the Lump route. Good idea to take them some grilled food and keep it as pleasant as possible but I also see the side of just close the damn window for 20 minutes. Also you could try to get a good sized fan and redirect the smoke. It would also help the chimney get going faster. And plus 3 on the Weber starter cubes. Welcome.
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If you've been able to keep your barbecue 100 feet away from the neighbours' house, I'd say you've actually been quite considerate of your neighbours. Keeping a barbecue that distance from everyone's houses, given lot and back yard sizes in many urban areas, would be difficult, if not impossible in most cases. That wouldn't be possible at any of my relatives' places where houses are spaced more closely together and yards are smaller.
Maple Leaf lump charcoal produces relatively little smoke when it lights up and works very well for cooking. It's actually one of my favourite charcoals. So, maybe it's worth thinking about buying a bag of that and giving it a try.
I agree with the other posters about if closing the window temporarily mitigates the problem for the 15-20 minutes during the charcoal startup, it isn't that serious of a problem to begin with. It's not like the bass that penetrates everything here when the neighbour across the street and three houses down blasts his copy of the Elton John 60th Anniversary concert DVD at full volume at midnight and the shaking and rumbling continues no matter how many windows you close (seriously - no word of a lie - this guy has to be damaging his hearing with this given how loud it's got to be in his own living room).
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I had a neighbour that complained once. He hasn't complained since. We're actually good friends since that time.
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@Darko , way to kick his ass and make him bow before the grill master!...LOL
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I haven't had any complaints in the four years I've been here. I wonder if the fact that all my neighbours are smokers has something to do with it? Charcoal starting up once a day a house or more away has to be trivial compared to inhaling a pack a day or more.
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Some great advice. Appreciate all the help, I'm starting to step back from the cliff on this issue, so to speak. I hear ya'll on the keep things cordial front, that is 100% my goal. Going to give the Weber starter cubes a try next cook.
@SteveMBH Right now maybe once a week, since its been so damn rainy in the PNW lately (historically rainy). During better weather its closer to 2 maybe 3 times a week on occasion.
@Lightning What you don't like hearing 'SATURDAY! SATURDAY! SATURDAY!' as your windows rattle? As for yard size, the wife and I were stoked to buy in a neighborhood with good size lots, they don't build um like that any more. There is another house closer to us on our other side, but the neighbor is totally chill.
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All great suggestions. Stay away from using paper as it creates lot of smoke. Also most of smoke is created from starting charcoal till it ashes over, so maybe take the full charcoal chimney to the front of the house to get it started with starter cubes and when ready bring it to the back of the house and dump the coal in the kettle. Also, use lump charcoal ( and some brand smoke less than others ) for fuel to lessen the smoke.
Offering them some bbq food you cooked is great suggestion.
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Still new here and to barbecuing with charcoal but think using starter cubes definitely cuts down on the smoke over a chimney with paper. Maybe a fan wouldn't be a bad idea if not much wind, might take a big one to make a difference. But if they are looking shows you have taken their complaint seriously. And who knows moving it a few feet could make a difference with the direction of the wind. I have a neighbor doesn't complain about that but moved in after and fights about property lines and generally hates me because I got a surveyor to find them and fenced the yard. Can't ever win her over and won't die trying but if they are nice reasonable people maybe you can. Doesn't hurt to show you are trying to hear their complaint, should only help things. All you can do really. And maybe like someone else said, give them some awesome barbecue!
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A lot of good advice above. If you can track down Coshell charcoal, it makes very little smoke when starting a chimney. Much less than KBB or Stubbs. And what smoke it does make has a sweet, mild smell.
On the other hand, lighting a charcoal barbecue seems like a very reasonable thing to do in your own back yard. Maybe the right answer is to agree with your neighbor that you will indeed use charcoal cookers, but will do the polite thing and give them a heads up to close their window. And most things are better when you have a friendly relationship with your neighbors.
And maybe hand a plate of ABTs or something over the fence every once in a while. A little food bribe can't hurt.
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Sounds like you got this. Any change on how you light or location you light at along with anything else reasonable will be viewed as a win for the dude trying to appease his nagging wife.
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Poor guy is probably getting hen pecked to death every time you fire up [emoji23]
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Try this, it doesn't smoke and has very little ash.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Char-Broil-2039-04-cu-in-Lump-Charcoal/999979266
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Not that it's any of our business but do either of them smoke cigarettes or other tobacco? I'd have a completely different opinion if they did.
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I don't mean to be unsympathetic to her health condition...But if closing the window is all it takes to solve the problem...Then there is no problem...
I'm with you on that one. I have a neighbor on one side of me that loves it and begs over the fence for BBQ. The one on the other side hates it. I even offered up some BBQ, which they took, butt never heard a word afterward. Go inside and close your window. What do I do? I can't move it
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Wow.. that sux. I can't blame the guy tho. My wife has respiratory issues sometimes and I'd do whatever it takes to keep her healthy and I'd take a giant crap on someone if they tried to test me on that.
So..what now? Mind the wind direction? I like the idea of bringing over some food to show them your serious about your grilling and it ain't gonna stop. Perhaps you can get their number so you can let em know when your gonna fire up so they can close the window.
I'm not sure if switching from newspaper to cubes is gonna be the fix here. Sure it will help a bit but I use a performer to light my chimneys and it still smokes like a train with KBB and to a less extent lump.
Maybe you should consider the BBQ Dragon chimney of insanity. I doubt it's going to cut down the volume of thick smoke but it will definately cut down on the time it's produced.
Good luck to you bro. Be a good neighbor. Your doing the right thing
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@kettlebb I don't believe either of them smoke.
@MINIgrillin Don't blame the neighbor either, plus to his credit he never told me to stop grilling, just try to control smoke.
I am pretty sure the wind usually blows away from his house... but you can bet I'll be monitoring which way the smoke is going like a hawk now. Many people have suggested starting the coals in the front yard, I might try that. But, I have this thing about not wanting to do anything grilling related in my front yard, makes me feel like I'm on display. Beyond that, move the grill back another 25 and explore various lump and briquette options (wanted to do that anyway).
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@Darko , way to kick his ass and make him bow before the grill master!...LOL
I just pretty much told them to "sod off" I don't bitch about your cooking, so stop bitching about mine.
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Makes me think of one of my neighbors. Every once in a while I will smell starter fluid. For some reason it offends me. I just wanna throw a chimney over the fence and scream "get with the program Newbs!"
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@Thrillho I had to laugh at that. Fortunately for me with the distance between our houses it's just a dull rumble you can't get rid of. The first time it happened I thought something had gone wrong with my furnace before I realized it was coming from outside. It's the lady who lives next to him I feel sorry for. One day I was walking up the street on the way home from an afternoon shift and she was pounding on the door to no avail to try and get him to turn it down. Sometimes we've head the Eagles as well and a couple of movies at full volume. I just can't imagine what kind of SPL's he's got in that living room...
I'm glad you were able to get a house with a large yard because it has let you put some distance between the barbecue and the surrounding houses. If it was smaller and everyone was packed in closer, the situation would probably be a lot more tense. Part of the problem might be solvable seasonally. When it's heating season and everybody has their windows closed, the charcoal starting shouldn't be an issue. Likewise when it gets warm enough out that the windows are closed again because the air conditioning's on, so that means you only really need to worry about spring and fall. I was lucky with my house. Because of the way the blocks were divided up, the lots on my side of the street have incredibly deep lots so once winter's over, I move the barbecue way down into the yard so it's far from any of the houses and it stays there until it gets cold out again. Nobody has ever complained but I'm trying to be considerate, plus I'm enjoying my back yard too, but it sounds like you've already done something similar. Hopefully the situation can be managed so everyone's reasonably happy.
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Get a blanket and use it to send smoke signals saying you're sorry when the wind is blowing their way.
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I've never done this outside of scout camps but there is a brief window of opportunity to do 19th century style smoke and mirrors magic tricks while the charcoal is smoking heavily. At scout camps it was having a scary movie run partway through a 16 mm film projector hidden away at the back pointed at the campfire and switch that on right after someone throws a pile of leaves on to make a big plume of smoke. That was good...the soundtrack ramping up on the speaker and the image appearing in the cloud of smoke out of nowhere would always freak out some of the cubs. Usually someone would jump out wearing a Halloween mask and that would scare the rest of them.
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As I'm watching my chimney smoke I came up with an idea. You could just rock two chimneys and load them about half full to cut the time you're getting smoke in half.
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As I'm watching my chimney smoke I came up with an idea. You could just rock two chimneys and load them about half full to cut the time you're getting smoke in half.
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Yep. That's a great idea!
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My next door neighbor was selling his house...Had an open house...People coming and going all day...I had beef on the smoker...He said the smell probably helped sell his house...
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As I'm watching my chimney smoke I came up with an idea. You could just rock two chimneys and load them about half full to cut the time you're getting smoke in half.
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Dueling chimneys! That's pretty good idea.
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(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd487/sickofcichlids/D6C200F1-1E4E-44AC-B09A-5AE5E853EC09.jpg) (http://s1222.photobucket.com/user/sickofcichlids/media/D6C200F1-1E4E-44AC-B09A-5AE5E853EC09.jpg.html)
That's two full chimneys though. :)
Seriously though. As others have said. Cook for them. Everyone thinks I'm crazy for having all these grills... Till I cook for them.
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Grilled for first time since... the incident.
Tried starter cubes for first time, and move my grill back into my deck. That's the neighbors house way back in the distance behind the fence and trees.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170504/10c870c928e6f2a731b26b58dcaa5de2.jpg)
Hard to say if smoke was less than when using newspaper, but wind was blowing away from neighbor today (which is the norm). Coals burned clean smoke within 13 minutes, ready by 20 minutes.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170504/7a897f885bc53f40f3857a52d4957093.jpg)
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170504/b1120754d9f8d8194f315df285eb055a.jpg)
Most importantly, neighbor did not show up at my door!
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Oh my gosh. First thing you need is a weber chimney. Holds more coals and will probably light faster and easier.
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Oh my gosh. First thing you need is a weber chimney. Holds more coals and will probably light faster and easier.
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How does a larger chimney that holds more coal light faster? Also, I'm Assuming faster means from lighting to ready to cook?
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And one cube will do the trick.
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@Thrillho it's not the quantity of briquettes, it's the design of the Weber chimney that makes it work way better... pretty decent (I consider must have) upgrade for $15 and usually on sale for less.
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Ask the guy what her favorite meal is, grill it up and invite them over, or take it to them.
This.
Also, all the ones above too. Skip the paper.
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I personally don't have one of these but know someone who does and he says the charcoal is ready much quicker (especially with the blower).
https://bbqdragon.com/
I just got new neighbors and was going to look into these if they complained. I am thinking I am good as I see a little 18" Weber Kettle on their back porch now.
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When I first started using my Weber Chimney I was using way too much paper packed tightly. It created a lot of smoke when lighting up.. so much that my neighbor knocked on the door to make sure we were ok (thought the house was on fire). She didn't care, but noticed I generated a lot of smoke. I started a thread about it here.. and had a few suggestions. I tried using less paper... which helped a lot. Sure, you still get smoke on the startup but it's gone within 10ish minutes. I never did get around to trying the cubes but a lot of people suggested them.
I like the suggestion of cooking them up something! Win them over with delicious BBQ and perhaps then they won't mind so much..
I have some neighbors that don't like one of my other hobbies (ham radio).. and I have an upcoming "battle" as I want to install something they won't like (but I am going to shield from their view). Big pot / kettle / black situation.
Neighbors can be a challenge sometime..
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Yes please get a weber chimney. That will help the situation. I too started with the chimney you have and after the second light the damn thing fell apart. It burned a hole clean through. I bought a weber chimney and no issues. Also, +4 on the weber cubes. Started using them 2 years ago and never looked back at the vegetable oil/newspaper route. Finally, like everyone said, cook for them. One thing I learned from smoking and grilling is you make friends real quick when you cook for people. I cooked for the active duty guys one night on to the tomato and they have been bugging me ever since for another cookout.
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Poor guy is probably getting hen pecked to death every time you fire up [emoji23]
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Ha ha ha I was laughing so hard my wife just asked what was so funny. Told her it was something I read about clucking hens. She just gave me a smartass look. I used to joke with her and ask her what did you hens cluck about today whenever she went out shopping with her mom or friends. Thanks for the laugh.
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Sorry to hear your about your BBQ woes , sucks when the wind blows the same every night you light up. Good for you to chit chat with your neighbor. Unfortunately there is no good answer. You like BBqing and they like smoke free. Yes forget the paper in your chimney. Tell them you are not using paper and moving your Webber little further away . Ask him if it would help if you call - L/M before you Q. Don't change - life is a BBQ.
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@bigred "Life is a BBQ" <- words to live by!