Failed on my first attempt at a charcoal bbq. What am I doing wrong?

[Uncle Al]

Only thing missing from this picture is a drip pan or foil in the middle. If you turn them west-east instead of north-south you won't have to reach across the heat of that near basket in your Performer.

Where did you get that ash-less charcoal at? 

[addicted-to-smoke]

Oh Al, my charcoal doesn't ash, and my ash doesn't stink!

[Uncle Al]

Oh Al, my charcoal doesn't ash, and my ash doesn't stink!

[Darko]

Easy way. Top vent is always wide open. Bottom vents control the heat.

[Cellar2ful]

James, I think the most important advice given was from Travis. Never and I mean never put ashes in any combustible container in or near your house.  Coals in ashes can stay active for days.  My neighbor placed ashes in his wheeled plastic garbage container at the side of his house.  The ashes were from the night before. During the night, it ignited, caught the side of his house on fire, melted the plastic window frames and the fire then entered his house. Thankfully he and his family were able to escape but it took over a year to repair the damage from the fire. Keep them outside and in a metal container for a least several days.   

[Mr_Pacman]

Thank you for all of the replies.

The first thing I will do, before I try this again, is buy a metal canister to put the ashes in.  Just to be safe, I pulled the old ashes from my garbage can, filled the bag with water and they are sitting on my front lawn (tomorrow is garbage day).  I did leave some coals in the weber kettle, but both vents are closed, the lid is on and it's sitting in the middle of my back deck away from the house, so I hope I don't have any issues there.

I'll make sure I keep the vents open to make sure all the coals are hot the next time I try this.

This weekend, I'll be grilling 1/4 inch thick beef ribs (they have to cut them at the butcher when they are frozen as they are quite thin) so if I still have some challenges with heat, they should still be able to cook without having to fire up the gas bbq.

Thanks again for all of the suggestions.

James

[addicted-to-smoke]

Wal-Mart had a Behrens galvanized trash can, the little short kind, for less than $20 but I can't find it on their site. I let mine fill up for days/weeks before dumping it in the regular trash. And it's water-tight, so the ash doesn't effectively become cement.

Basically, this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Behrens-Manufacturing-6104-Galvanized-Locking/dp/B00QFHEVAC

But notice the 6 and 10 gallon versions are cheaper. (But less "fun" to carry back to the regular trash can after all that ash has compacted!)

[JDD]

I wouldn't put the lid on after dumping the coals, I would dump them then leave the lid off so they can continue getting up to speed.  Like the others said it needs oxygen to feed the fire and with the lid off it will get maximum oxygen....That's what maybe went wrong?

What he said.

"After 25 mins, I could see that the briquettes were hot and grey in the bottom and middle of the chimney, but the ones on top were still black." - Seems like the charcoal was not ready to start cooking.

[Mr_Pacman]

I wouldn't put the lid on after dumping the coals, I would dump them then leave the lid off so they can continue getting up to speed.  Like the others said it needs oxygen to feed the fire and with the lid off it will get maximum oxygen....That's what maybe went wrong?

What he said.

"After 25 mins, I could see that the briquettes were hot and grey in the bottom and middle of the chimney, but the ones on top were still black." - Seems like the charcoal was not ready to start cooking.

Thank you. I'll try and find one of those types of cans. I went on various Canadian websites for homedepot, lowes, rona, Wal-Mart, Canadian tire etc and couldn't find anything, but I suspect I should be able to get something if I go in the store. I would prefer a smaller one to a really big one as out back deck is getting tight with all the furniture and 2 bbq's.

James

[Easy]

In my opinion you were doing pretty good till the charcoal dump, that is where you need to have the lower vents wide open, and the top at least 50% or more, also where you place the coals makes a difference and depends on the type of cook you will be doing. Chicken breasts are best done indirect.So dump all your coals on one side and leave the other side clear for your drip pan. I like to leave the lid open after i dump to let the coals even out and let the extra air help spread to the lesser or not started coals,this is also when i like to add my smoke or flavor wood.
After a few minutes or about as long as it takes you to great the chicken, i like to rotate and clean the grate of any debris with a paper towel with some oil on it. the rotated grate is nice and hot place the chicken with the thick side towards the coals, close the lid and rotate the vent around so it is over the chicken area this allows the smoke from the wood to be drawn over your meat to add the flavor.
Now do not open the grill for at least 30 minutes or more if the temps are below 400. open adjust as needed to keep the meat cooking evenly, probe for internal temp so you have a idea how much longer you will need to continue your cook. This process is the same for Beef, Pork, I leave the lid off for veggies.
Enjoy the increased flavor of charcoal and smoke wood, remember  chicken,and turkey do not need much wood to add flavor as they absorb smoke quickly  use light woods like cherry, pecan, apple. Only one fist sized chunk is enough for a 45 to 60 minute cook.

[MeatAndPotatos]

Just remember that charcoal and gas grills are basically opposite when it comes to temp control.

With Propane the lids are very open anyways, keeping them down does not hurt the fire it just keeps heat in.

With charcoal its the opposite. opening vents will make it hotter as the fire breaths more.
It will get even hotter when you take the lid off completely.

for chicken breasts, I may not even use the lid. Definitely leave the lid off after you dump all your coals and make sure the whole coal bed is screaming hot. Then with lid off cook either side  to brown the outside, and move it to just outside direct heat but still close-ish and put the lid on. Maybe check every 5+ minutes to make sure its cooking evenly and check the temp. 

[Mr_Pacman]

Attempt #2 Update.

So, this week, tried to bbq chicken thighs and 1/4" thick beef ribs.

I bought some Royal Oak lump charcoal and filled up my Weber Chimney.  I had about 10 Maple Leaf briquettes from last week that were in various states of condition that were left over.

I put 2 weber fire cubes on the grill, and one in the middle of the chimney to help light the charcoal that was on top.  I fired it up and waited , patiently, for 30 mins.

I then poured the lump charcoal onto the grate and positioned the briquettes around it so they would light up. I also took a handful of big chunks of the lump charcoal and tossed it on there. I kept the lid off and left it for another 20 minutes in order to provide lots of oxygen.

I still didn't get a chance to buy a thermometer, so I put the lid on (vents open this time) and the temperature was at around 400* which was perfect.   I put the chicken thighs on, set my timer to 5 mins and went to grab another beer.  The timer went off, I went outside the and started flipping the chicken. The ones on the perimeter of the grill looked pretty good. The 2 pieces in the center of the grill were black and burned to a crisp. There were not salvageable and had to be thrown out.  I put the lid on and the temperature shot up to 525*

My wife gave me another dirty look, but it was a more pleasant look compared to last week, so I suspect I'm going in the right direction here.

Next week, I'll only use one chimney full of Lump without any extra briquettes on the grill and I won't toss on any extra big pieces.

I'm hoping I get get the temperature down to 300* or so and that should work.

I also need to buy longer tongs as I singed the hair on my fingers (I'm a hairy dude) and on my forearm.

James

[addicted-to-smoke]

Lump burns hotter but not as long. Might get hot spots with it, too. That's not a recommendation to stick to briquets necessarily.

But none of that matters, because you can achieve only 300 even with lots of charcoal by limiting the air intake next time and waiting for it to calm down.

If it was a pile of heat off to the side, the meat should have all gone on the other side of the kettle, not right near the heat.


Yep, you're getting it. Bank these experiences. Do this same cook again soon, changing the relationship to heat/meat and cut the intake down a little, UNLESS starting with less lit fuel.

[Travis]

Ok. So now you saw the other side of the spectrum. Too hot.

You got the fire to sustain, so now, like addicted said above, you can control the heat by dampening down a little. I run my lower vent wide open while grilling, and control heat with the top vent.

Also, as mentioned, maybe use less charcoal for "quick cooks"  like chicken breast, pork chops etc. Like say 3/4 chimney.

If I were you and starting out, I would buy one kind of charcoal and stick to it for a while until you  learn how it works. Briquettes burn longer and are more even in heat distribution, where as lump burns hotter, has more hot/cold spots and burns quicker. I like to use both. I always have a few bags of lump on hand, but use Kingsford blue bag (kbb) mostly because I stock up when it's on sale. In MY opinion, your not going to get flavor from either, lump or briquettes because if done right at the factory it's all carbonized. You will, however, get a lot more ash from briquettes and hardly none from lump.

I'm carrying on. Sorry, but finally there's no need to put a cube in the middle of the chimney. Just one or two under your chimney and it'll work just fine.

All the rest is just trial and error. When you put that plate of total deliciousness infront of your bride and she smiles, you know you've done it, my friend. Good luck. Your doing it.


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[addicted-to-smoke]

... I run my lower vent wide open while grilling, and control heat with the top vent. ...

I have to disagree with the God of Godfrey on this. The lid vent is your exhaust, so you normally want that unimpeded. The bottom is therefore your intake (yes, think throttle, same concept) and these two openings aren't very well interchangeable in function, at least not well. Since heat rises, it always carries everything up and out, sucking in air from below to light the coals.

That said, there's no sin in reducing some heat with the top vent, especially if it's out of control, but the bottom is a better long term solution to that IMO. Be aware that if you close the top too much, nasty smoke crap from your plugged exhaust can get on your food and make Baby Jesus cry.

"YMMV"