Just purchased a 22" kettle grill. Used to use a charcoal rectangular design grill that I could easily get up to 450 deg. with minimal amount of coals. My new kettle grill is hard to get past 200 deg. I use plenty of coals and use a chimney starter. I have vents completely open. Seems like it just doesn't get enough air, although vents are open and clear of ash.
Not enough info or bad charcoal. A full chimney in a 22 easily hits 450-600
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I've seen people use the ash catcher as a charcoal tray and have problems getting temps up. Pics of your set up would help greatly.
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Crack the lid give it more air when warming it up
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Add a 2nd lid exhaust vent.
When are you dumping your chimney? I always wait until I have flames coming out the top of mine. It's pretty daggum hot at that point.
I agree with wgjones3. My chimney is pretty hot with flames from coming from the top. Tonight, I poured my charcoal into the pit at that pont. I covered and the pit maxed out past 600 based on dome temp gauge. Steaks seared and cooked awesome.
Quote from: 5280Jeff on May 12, 2019, 03:30:48 PM
I've seen people use the ash catcher as a charcoal tray and have problems getting temps up. Pics of your set up would help greatly.
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I've never seen this. I get, if you've never used a charcoal grill and/or you dont read directions, how one might think this is right. I do need to see pictures though.
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1) Is the grill plugged in?
2) Did you turn on the power?
3) Just kidding about the above two and while I do THINK it goes without saying, you just never know, but there are the vents on the bottom of the kettle along with the vents on the top. The ones on the bottom are either daisy wheels (like the top), or if new, it is control by the ash sweeps that the little handle that just out from the bottom is attached to.
Good luck. As others mentioned, posting pictures would be helpful.
Quote from: meopilite on May 12, 2019, 02:52:47 PM
Just purchased a 22" kettle grill. Used to use a charcoal rectangular design grill that I could easily get up to 450 deg. with minimal amount of coals. My new kettle grill is hard to get past 200 deg. I use plenty of coals and use a chimney starter. I have vents completely open. Seems like it just doesn't get enough air, although vents are open and clear of ash.
Pellet grill propagandist? I feel like if I joined up to ask a questions then I would be the king back for the answers. Or maybe he did have his ash pan in there and he now feels ashamed?
I was actually thinking of posting that if he feels embarrassed, he can always create a different handle to come back under or just "modify" his post. Everyone has done stupid things, asked stupid questions, or whatever.
Also, I can understand someone believing the external ash pan is either an internal ashpan or for putting the coals on. I've purchased more than one (typically older) kettle where the person stored the ashpan on the inside. I've even bought one where the seller had gotten the grill from someone else & never used it & didn't appear to be familiar with Webers either. In one case, the seller noticed theirs differed from other's pics (or maybe someone asked because they did have calls about this one) about the pan & they assumed the pan was missing, but it was inside the grill under the grates.
Usually the grills I've found with the pan stored inside seemed to have been lightly used or just taken care of really well. I've seen it more on older grills, so I'm guessing it was more the old school take care of what you purchased sort of thing.
The tips of letting coals get really hot in the chimney starter and cracking the lid a bit seemed to help a lot. Thanks.
One nice thing I've noticed about the kettle grill, it cooks the food better without burning the crap out of it. My old rectangular grill would basically burn the outside of the food while leaving the inside of meat raw.
A few years ago I gifted my nephew an old kettle of mine when my collection started getting a little too big. I put the ash catcher inside the kettle when I drove it over just so I didn't lose it from the back of my pickup. I didn't bother to explain how to set it up I just figured most people had seen a kettle. Well I went over for some burgers and sure enough it was inside with a big load of charcoal smoldering under some really slow cooking burgers. We straightened it out and had a good laugh followed by some good burgers.
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That is hilarious. I'm pretty certain I only saw it in a picture of a listing, but it might have been in person, where one was inside the grill & had so much crap on it that I wondered if someone had burned coals on it.
I'm glad that worked out. These really are nice for cooking in various ways. If you enjoy cooking outdoors, you are going to have some fun.
Quote from: meopilite on May 13, 2019, 01:42:08 PM
The tips of letting coals get really hot in the chimney starter and cracking the lid a bit seemed to help a lot. Thanks.
One nice thing I've noticed about the kettle grill, it cooks the food better without burning the crap out of it. My old rectangular grill would basically burn the outside of the food while leaving the inside of meat raw.
Quote from: meopilite on May 13, 2019, 01:42:08 PM
The tips of letting coals get really hot in the chimney starter and cracking the lid a bit seemed to help a lot. Thanks.
One nice thing I've noticed about the kettle grill, it cooks the food better without burning the crap out of it. My old rectangular grill would basically burn the outside of the food while leaving the inside of meat raw.
That's good....you're on the right track now!
There are a bunch of ways to "place" the charcoal to get different heat zones or areas for all different types of cooking...really, really hot for say like, pizza.....much lower heat setups, arranged around the outer edge for baking (yes, people bake pies & cakes in Weber Kettles!!).
Setups that will burn for hours to slow cook things that benefit from that type of treatment & like what you asked about first, straightforward grilling.....ask questions & experiment around some...you'll get the hang of this quickly! 8)
What kinda heat does one get if the coals are placed in the middle?
What are you trying to cook and what temp are you trying to achieve?
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steak. want it hot enough to get a good sear and get the steak well done.
There are many methods for cooking steak or anything for that matter on a kettle but here are a couple simple methods that work.
I usually utilize a two zone set up. Lit coals spread out on one half of the charcoal grate and none on the other. This gives a direct area and indirect. Sear first then slide over to finish cooking to desired doneness. You can also use baskets or just pile the coals higher in your sear area for more intense heat.
You can also reverse sear with the same set up. Whichever you prefer.
With the lid off and red hot coals you will get a good sear. If it flares up just slide the food over and put the lid back on to calm it down.
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Steak well done? Say it isn't so. You can get awesome steak results using the reverse sear method. Basically you cook the steak on the indirect side of the grill to your desired internal temp minus 15 degrees F. Remove the meat, let it rest and get the grill as hot as you can get it. Once the grill is 450-500 then put the steak on to get a nice even crust on both sides, continuing to flip it so it isn't blackened, but evenly browned.
One tool that helped my cooking more than anything else was a fast, accurate thermometer. I highly suggest you get one.
https://www.thermoworks.com/Thermapen-Mk4
Quote from: meopilite on May 16, 2019, 05:49:04 PM
steak. want it hot enough to get a good sear and get the steak well done.
I was gonna help until I read "well done" ;D