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

[Mr_Pacman]

Hello,

Recently bought a Weber MasterTouch.

Bought some Maple Leaf Briquittes, Weber chimney, weber starter cubes.

I opened up the bottom air vents, put two cubes on the grill, filled the weber chimney to the top with briquettes.  Lit the 2 starter cubes and put the chimney on top.

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.

I then dumped the briquettes into onto the grate, put on the top lid on (with the vents closed) and waited. The BBQ got to 370*C so I put on some chicken breasts. After that, the BBQ was struggling to get past 280* C.  Unsure of what to do, I put more charcoal on the grill, closed the lid and it was still struggling. I ended up taking off the chicken and cooked it on my Weber Genesis gas grill.

Any thoughts on what I did wrong?  not enough charcoal?  Should I have the vents on the lid open?  Can I put new charcoal on top of already hot charcoal or should I fire them up in the chimney again?

Also, what's the best way to extinguish the bbq?  I closed the bottom vent, top vent and put the lid on. After 1.5 hours it seemed like it was out.  Do you guys put water in the ash catch pan?  The pan was almost full to the top, so I dumped it into a plastic bag and broke down the big chunks into powder to see if any were still hot. I then just dumped it in the garage bin in the garage. Not sure if that is the correct way to do it of if there is a chance of combustion.

Can I re-use the charcoal that was still in big chunks and black?

Lots of questions.  Glad I had the Genesis as a back up or our family gathering would have been a disaster.

james

[Don_]

You need air to feed a fire...open the air vents to feed the hot coals, and make the grill hotter.
Reduce the vent openings to reduce heat.
Close the vents to extinguish.
Unused fuel...if it burns, it cooks.(just my opinion...call me frugal)

[Harbormaster]

Your Weber kettle will draw air in for the fire through the bottom vents. Once combustion is complete the smoke has to go somewhere, and that would be out through the top vent. It has to be open to some degree for efficient combustion to occur.
No, don't put water in the ash can.
Yes you can re-use unspent fuel, even if it was previously lit.
Yes you can pour unlit briqs on top of ones that are burning.
Place the lid on the kettle and close all of the vents completely. Your fire will go out. I usually let it sit overnight. I would also be hesitant to place ash in any container that might combust or melt. Place the ash in a steel can.

[addicted-to-smoke]

There's a graphic somewhere; somebody will have it ... the bottom vent is your intake and should manage heat creation. Take a Sharpie and draw lines on the ash catcher ring for where 1/4, 1/2 and fully open will be for the lever. 1/4 and 1/2 positions will be very close.

The top, or lid vent is exhaust. Always cook with it open unless desperate to cut heat quickly.


The baskets that came with your M/T are helpful. Dump charcoal into them from the chimney and crest direct or indirect zones. Next day, shake them to reveal usable charcoal. Use the baskets to dump them back into the chimney, sweep ash from bottom and crank 'er up.

Don't let ash sit in the catcher too long nor in the kettle. Ash is a sponge for moisture, turns to concrete, promotes rust on the sweeps.

Welcome!

[zavod44]

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?

[pbe gummi bear]

I then dumped the briquettes into onto the grate, put on the top lid on (with the vents closed) and waited. The BBQ got to 370*C so I put on some chicken breasts. After that, the BBQ was struggling to get past 280* C.  Unsure of what to do, I put more charcoal on the grill, closed the lid and it was still struggling. I ended up taking off the chicken and cooked it on my Weber Genesis gas grill.

I think you were doing ok- 370C is extremely hot and unsustainable on a weber kettle with a chimney's worth of charcoal. 280C is also pretty hot and plenty for cooking chicken breasts. Your best best for chicken is indirect high heat- ie. charcoal only on 1/2 or 1/3 of the grill, letting the chicken cook through away from the fire, and searing directly above the charcoal when it's nearly cooker. Keep at it!

[ramsfan]

Open the top vent on the lid and everything will be alright. The only time you ever want to close the top vent on the lid is when you're done cooking and you want to put the fire out. To completely put the fire out, close all the vents top and bottom.

[ABCbarbecue]

I then dumped the briquettes into onto the grate, put on the top lid on (with the vents closed) and waited. The BBQ got to 370*C so I put on some chicken breasts. After that, the BBQ was struggling to get past 280* C.  Unsure of what to do, I put more charcoal on the grill, closed the lid and it was still struggling. I ended up taking off the chicken and cooked it on my Weber Genesis gas grill.

I think you were doing ok- 370C is extremely hot and unsustainable on a weber kettle with a chimney's worth of charcoal. 280C is also pretty hot and plenty for cooking chicken breasts. Your best best for chicken is indirect high heat- ie. charcoal only on 1/2 or 1/3 of the grill, letting the chicken cook through away from the fire, and searing directly above the charcoal when it's nearly cooker. Keep at it!

Agreed it's very unusual to use C unless you mean C but I really wonder if he didn't mean F.  Those temps just seem too high.

It would also be good to know how temps were being measured.  Using the dome thermometer?  A digital thermometer a grate level?

[addicted-to-smoke]

M/T has a lid thermo that reads in C for Canada ... Maple Leaf charcoal not available in U.S. But yeah 370 C is crazy hot, might have pegged the thermo if coals were right under it?

[charred]

For general grilling, dump a chimney of lit coals (the top ones need be only a little grayish, imo) onto only 1/2 of the charcoal grate. This will give you 2 cooking zones- direct (hot, over the coals) and indirect (less hot on the side sans coals). You can use the charcoal baskets but it's not necessary.

Cook burgers and steaks directly over the coals. Chicken you can sear over the coals for a couple minutes then move to the indirect (less hot) side, or put it on the indirect side first then sear at the end of the cook. Works either way. For these cooks, I leave all the vents full open.

Congrats, you're on your way to making great food!

[Travis]

The only advice I can add that I didn't see is don't put ash from ANY type of fires in a plastic bag and in your garage! Wait till the next cook or day to remove ash and place in some kind of metal container OUTSIDE of your house. Safety first!

Other than that, keep at it! You'll love it when you nail that first cook!




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mr_Pacman]

Thanks for all of the replies.

As usual, I made a mistake. I was only getting 280*F (140*C).  I had the top vent closed so I'm going to give it another try in the next few days with the vent open.

Is it safe to say that a full Weber Chimney full of coals should be adequate enough to cook 8 chicken breasts without any issues, assuming both vents are open and there is no operator error?

James

[jcnaz]

Thanks for all of the replies.

As usual, I made a mistake. I was only getting 280*F (140*C).  I had the top vent closed so I'm going to give it another try in the next few days with the vent open.

Is it safe to say that a full Weber Chimney full of coals should be adequate enough to cook 8 chicken breasts without any issues, assuming both vents are open and there is no operator error?

James

Yes, a full chimney will easily cook 8 chicken breasts. Leave that top vent open and you will be fine. 

[addicted-to-smoke]

And if you position the baskets opposite each other, say underneath the flip grates, you'll have a more familiar "rectangle" area to cook on and the whatever's in the rectangle zone will cook evenly. 300-350 for a nice easy bake won't be a problem at all like this. You own a nice outdoor oven. Do keep in mind that lid thermometers usually lie, and read high however.

[addicted-to-smoke]

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.