Can't get entire grill hot? Lump

[ChrisJ]

I've been struggling with the same issue for a while now and need some fresh eyes on the problem.

Using either a standard Weber 18" kettle or my 18" Jumbo Joe with decent quality Lump charcoal and a large Weber chimney I seem to always only end up with half of the grill burning hot.

Typically what I do is I fill the chimney and I wait until 95% of it is burning good and orange then I dump it and mix the coals real good.  There's a few on the very top that are barely lit but my assumption is those will start burning when mixed with the others.  I dump the chimney and spread the coals out evenly across the entire bottom grate making sure the unlit ones are mixed well with the lit ones.

The problem is it seems like once I put the cover on and let things stabilize half of my coals go out.  Once I start cooking even removing the lid only gets the hot ones hotter and the ones that let me down are just, not lit period.

Is this because I'm not leaving the coals in the chimney long enough, or is it because you can't use the entire surface of the bottom grate?  it seems more like a draft problem to me but I'm hoping other far more seasoned guys can help me out.

Still haven't bought a 22" grill but maybe soon, problem is that 26" is looking nice too. 

[brewtownbeatdown]

Sounds like an airflow issue. Are you running with the dampers wide open or closed?  If you leave 'em wide open, you should have a hot, even fire over the lump. 


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[ChrisJ]

Both dampers are wide open, yep.

[Troy]

Pour your coals, wait five minutes before putting lid on.

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[pbe gummi bear]

What size is your lump? Lump is not very dense so you will need more charcoal by volume to sustain a fire. If your pieces are larger than your fist or long like your arm then you may want to consider breaking them up or scattering smaller pieces in between. Also, what size chimney we also talking about? I would run your optimizations on your regular 18.5" kettle first as it has superior airflow to the JJ.

[ChrisJ]

I'm using the larger Weber chimney.  I have their smaller compact one for my Smokey Joe but for the JJ and 18" kettle I use the larger one.  I believe model 7416.  I fill it up for both the 18" and JJ.

The lump I've been using is typically smaller than a fist, maybe comparable to briquettes, some smaller, some slightly bigger.  My last bag was Royal Oak but I've had a lot of Frontier.

[swamprb]

get a Harbor Freight weed torch and thank me later

[brewtownbeatdown]

get a Harbor Freight weed torch and thank me later

That is the way to go!!!


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[jaynik]

Too many unknown variables but sounds like it isn't ready to dump when you are dumping.

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[ChrisJ]

Too many unknown variables but sounds like it isn't ready to dump when you are dumping.

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Man, I hate it when that happens.  Takes forever!

On a serious note, that's another thing I haven't been sure of but I hate cooking my coals forever on the bottom layers of the chimney

[MeatAndPotatos]

You have got SOMETHING going very wrong. Is this your first batch of lump?

on my Jumbo Joe, I used a blow torch to light a weber basket in the two corners, and in the middle. Threw some bacon on the indirect side, then opened all vents and closed it up.

The whole basket would ignite just fine. This was mostly with Royal Oak, and a few unfortunate times with Frontier.

[ChrisJ]

First batch? Not even close.
I've had quite a few batches.

After reading what has been said I think I'm dumping the chimney too soon and putting the lid on too soon.
I always dump before the very top is lit, and I put the lid on the grill immediately.  Sounds like these are both mistakes.

[toolhead]

Pictures of your post dump n spread would be helpful..but heres my guess.  With a chimney full of lump..after you spread out on grate..you have only one layer of coal..so the unlit ones would only catch  by being adjacent to lit coals. This will take a while to catch.  A chimney based light catches much faster bc the unlit coals are on top of lit coals and you have a vacuum of air draft lighting the stack.
Solution..keep chimney burning till the top of the coals are lit.

2nd solution..use charbaskets. The charbaskets acts like mini chimneys and post dump ..the baskets will help yhe coals keep lot abd burn partially lit coals. 

Solution with no baskets: pile the coals into one side of the grill..stacking will emulate the charbasket piling effect..

As always keep the top vent fully open and post dump warmup your kettle for at least 1/2 hr with lid on to heatup your kettle.

More simply single layering charcoal with partially unlit coals..the unlit coals will take a long time to light...either pile your charcoal or use charbaskets which are very useful for indirect cooking methods.

Again..im basing this on your sharing that you are starting with 1 chimney of lump..that amount of charcoal soread out on 22" charcoal grate wpuld result in a single layer of charcoal??

[toolhead]

One other suggestion..if you are dumping before the chimney is fully lit bc you dont want to waste expensive lump at the bottom of the chimeny by burning till the chimeny is fully lit..buy some cheaper briquettes and use the briquettes at the bottom of the chimney so you are using much cheaper coal at the bottom to fuel your chimney burn orocess

[toolhead]

Thinking this through a bit more...also wana make sure you have your bowl decently cleaned out of old charcoal ash..if you have a lot of spent charcoal ash in the bowl..even with the bottom air vents clear...large amount of spent charcoal ash can block air flow to certain parts of your charcoal grate..oreventing areas of the grate from catching enough airflow to keep coals hot