*****Official BBQ Thread - Suns out, Buns out!*****
- Thread starter Psymonkee
- Start date
At that price there's nothing close really. You might find something that's better at direct grilling, unlikely to find something better at indirect cooking, and unlikely to find something that won't be a red pile of dust after 5 years..
Hi guys,
I got a weber 57cm BBQ last year (https://www.weber.com/GB/en/grills/compact-kettle-charcoal-grill-1/) and finally got around to using it this year. In the past i've also had cheapo disposable BBQs so this is a nice upgrade. Looking through the weber book i got with the BBQ it talks about indirect and direct cooking. on the dispoable ones this is not an option. I had a go using weber briquettes with the lid shut and coals either side of the grid and put some chicken in the middle. The chicken started to cook well but the heat almost died off to the extent i could get to the grid without burning my hands. The BBQ had only been on for around 20 minutes (used the firestarter thing to heat the coals up first). i ended up taking the chicken and the grid of and putting more briquettes on , heating them up again and trying again. it seems ok without the lid on but i did cook with the whole bottom filled with coals.
This is the 2nd time i have tried with this BBQ using briquettes trying indirect cooking and it's gone wrong. so i am obviously doing something wrong. My dad said to use lumpwood instead of briquettes as they've always been better for him.
Any suggestions?
I got a weber 57cm BBQ last year (https://www.weber.com/GB/en/grills/compact-kettle-charcoal-grill-1/) and finally got around to using it this year. In the past i've also had cheapo disposable BBQs so this is a nice upgrade. Looking through the weber book i got with the BBQ it talks about indirect and direct cooking. on the dispoable ones this is not an option. I had a go using weber briquettes with the lid shut and coals either side of the grid and put some chicken in the middle. The chicken started to cook well but the heat almost died off to the extent i could get to the grid without burning my hands. The BBQ had only been on for around 20 minutes (used the firestarter thing to heat the coals up first). i ended up taking the chicken and the grid of and putting more briquettes on , heating them up again and trying again. it seems ok without the lid on but i did cook with the whole bottom filled with coals.
This is the 2nd time i have tried with this BBQ using briquettes trying indirect cooking and it's gone wrong. so i am obviously doing something wrong. My dad said to use lumpwood instead of briquettes as they've always been better for him.
Any suggestions?
Man of Honour
Lumpwood will burn easier so you might find that better until you get your head around cooking indirect. Burns hotter too so keep that in mind.
Are your goals fully lit when they go in? Also, are all your vents fully open?
Are your goals fully lit when they go in? Also, are all your vents fully open?
the coals where glowing most of the way down the starter and white at the top. Should they be glowing at the very top as well? I also wasn't sure if a full chimney starter of coal was enough or if it needs more coal.
I must admit i cannot remember if the vents were open/shut or part open, do they both need need to be fully open?
I've still got some of the weber briquettes left so i'll grab some lump wood as well and see what happens. i also got given a back of Jack Daniels wood pieces do these just get chucked in with the coal?
I must admit i cannot remember if the vents were open/shut or part open, do they both need need to be fully open?
I've still got some of the weber briquettes left so i'll grab some lump wood as well and see what happens. i also got given a back of Jack Daniels wood pieces do these just get chucked in with the coal?
Permabanned
Using weber charcoal my BBQ will be hot enough to cook on for a good 2 to 3 hours. Once the coals are white at the top of the starter its ready. One full chimney starter should be enough to cook for a small group of people. I have a divider thing so half my BBQ has the coals(direct) other half indirect. Last weekend I cooked ribs(direct in foil) for an hour, chicken legs for pulled chicken(indirect) for an hour, then burgers and sausages, all on one chimney of coal. 
A chimney full will be adequate for 2-3 hours of cooking, the coals being white on top will be enough.
If you want to cook very hot and not control the temperature then all vents should be wide open. And the top vent should always be fully open whether you're cooking low and slow or roasting.
And chunks of wood should be placed on top of the coals so they smoulder.
May be a contentious comment but if you're not using gas then use lumpwood. If you want to use briquettes for their ease of use then just get a gas BBQ as they have none of the (perceived) benefits of lumpwood but all the "negatives".
Briquettes are basically just charcoal dust, wax and various other additives.
Also get yourself a chimney to start your charcoal (briquette or lump wood), it makes starting them a lot easier and quicker than just a pile in a BBQ. (Just saw you were using a chimney, make sure they are white on as much as you can get them.
Briquettes are basically just charcoal dust, wax and various other additives.
Also get yourself a chimney to start your charcoal (briquette or lump wood), it makes starting them a lot easier and quicker than just a pile in a BBQ. (Just saw you were using a chimney, make sure they are white on as much as you can get them.
Borrowed a friends home made barrel BBQ to cook ourselves a pig yesterday, turned out quite well. Not burned, with a subtle smoky flavour (lumps of hickory) and nice and juicy.
It was a lot easier than anticipated, in part because it was on the smaller size (50lb), which is the biggest we could fit on the BBQ. Now the GF wants (me) to build on so we can do it again.
(And we used briquettes because they're more consistent than lumpwood, useful for the 4 hour cook time
).
It was a lot easier than anticipated, in part because it was on the smaller size (50lb), which is the biggest we could fit on the BBQ. Now the GF wants (me) to build on so we can do it again.
(And we used briquettes because they're more consistent than lumpwood, useful for the 4 hour cook time
).
Man of Honour
Contentious because it's not all strictly correct
For starters, you don't get much smoke flavour from lumpwood either..and you do get a little from charcoal. Either way, you should be using wood if you want to get smoke in there.Both lumpwood and charcoal are good choices and both do have different strengths and weaknesses, generally speaking:
Lumpwood - Lights quicker, burns hotter (but also less evenly and usually for less time).
Charcoal - Burns more evenly and for longer (but takes longer to light and doesn't get as hot).
The above of course assumes similar (good) quality of both lumpwood and charcoal. Cheap of either is often going to suck in comparison.
For long cooks you're often better off with charcoal but if you're searing stuff lumpwood is probably a better choice. That said, you can get great results with either.
Completely agree /re the chimney starter but I think always4lora already has one based on their later reply.
When I BBQ, I use a mixture of briquettes and lumpwood charcoal, but I make sure that what I'm using is very good quality. I find for my cooks that this works well for me. They usually go into the chimney at a ratio of 50/50 (briquettes in first) and I get decent cooking time from that. I can always add more through the side grates on my MasterTouch anyway. For smoking I tend to use more charcoal briquettes than lumpwood. I have two layers of briquettes (mixed with restaurant grade charcoal) on the bottom of the smoker basket, and then I light a chimney with half and half again, and then add this to the smoker. Again, this works well for me, but I also use sand in the water pan instead of water.
As a guide, it generally takes about 20 minutes from lighting for the chimney to be ready, and I usually watch the chimney and know it's ready to use when the heat coming out of the top is clean and not smoking. This indicates that all the coals have caught the fire and are then burning rather than smoking. I then put these into whatever I'm cooking with, close the lid (all vents fully open) and leave that for 5 - 10 minutes. Once ready, I then put in whatever I'm cooking.
The charcoal I'm currently using is Supagrill from Creative Garden Ideas. Orders over £30 gets you free delivery so I placed a bulk order for a mixture of briquettes and lumpwood, and a bag of restaurant grade lumpwood. It was quite amusing because this huge HGV turned up outside my office and the charcoal was on a pallet! I had to go outside and load it straight from the pallet and into my car. I had ordered over £50 of charcoal though! The restaurant grade lumpwood that I got from them is called CPL Restaurant Grade Charcoal (https://www.creativegardenideas.co.uk/restaurant-charcoal-1) and they're huge chunks of wood. They do a damn good job in the smoker as well.
As a guide, it generally takes about 20 minutes from lighting for the chimney to be ready, and I usually watch the chimney and know it's ready to use when the heat coming out of the top is clean and not smoking. This indicates that all the coals have caught the fire and are then burning rather than smoking. I then put these into whatever I'm cooking with, close the lid (all vents fully open) and leave that for 5 - 10 minutes. Once ready, I then put in whatever I'm cooking.
The charcoal I'm currently using is Supagrill from Creative Garden Ideas. Orders over £30 gets you free delivery so I placed a bulk order for a mixture of briquettes and lumpwood, and a bag of restaurant grade lumpwood. It was quite amusing because this huge HGV turned up outside my office and the charcoal was on a pallet! I had to go outside and load it straight from the pallet and into my car. I had ordered over £50 of charcoal though! The restaurant grade lumpwood that I got from them is called CPL Restaurant Grade Charcoal (https://www.creativegardenideas.co.uk/restaurant-charcoal-1) and they're huge chunks of wood. They do a damn good job in the smoker as well.
Soldato
Borrowed a friends home made barrel BBQ to cook ourselves a pig yesterday, turned out quite well. Not burned, with a subtle smoky flavour (lumps of hickory) and nice and juicy.
It was a lot easier than anticipated, in part because it was on the smaller size (50lb), which is the biggest we could fit on the BBQ. Now the GF wants (me) to build on so we can do it again.
(And we used briquettes because they're more consistent than lumpwood, useful for the 4 hour cook time
Looks amazing! Were you cooking indirectly I assume? Did you have charcoal just at one end, or both ends? Is that two drums welded together at the centre? Very cool.
Contentious because it's not all strictly correct
Both lumpwood and charcoal are good choices and both do have different strengths and weaknesses, generally speaking:
Lumpwood - Lights quicker, burns hotter (but also less evenly and usually for less time).
Charcoal - Burns more evenly and for longer (but takes longer to light and doesn't get as hot).
The above of course assumes similar (good) quality of both lumpwood and charcoal. Cheap of either is often going to suck in comparison.
For long cooks you're often better off with charcoal but if you're searing stuff lumpwood is probably a better choice. That said, you can get great results with either.
Completely agree /re the chimney starter but I think always4lora already has one based on their later reply.
Totally agree there, hence why I wrote perceived before. At least the argument for lumpwood over gas is its natural and you can get hotter direct temps for seating, which can't be said for briquettes. My point was that if you're using briquettes you may as well use gas, which is great for long, more consistent temperatures to. Discussing with my neighbour who I may take on the building project with he's thinking we build a BBQ with propane rather than briquettes for next time, certainly not averse to that for the above reasons.
It's mostly a comment to those that eskew gas as a "proper" BBQ method and then use briquettes. Kinda defeats the object a bit.
Yep indirectly. I put about 3kg of briquettes pre started in the chimney into the BBQ* (equal amount both ends), let the temperature stabilize, added the pig, then slowly added more (prestarted in the chimney) about every half an hour or so as the temperature started dropping. Turned the pig at 2 hours, when I stopped adding wood for smoke and then it was ready at 4 hours. Used about 14kg of briquettes in the end.
I just followed this - http://amazingribs.com/recipes/porknography/whole_hog_pig_picking.html
And yes it's two barrels, although apparently they are smaller one so if we make one we will probably use two larger barrels.
*actually I added 7 kg at the start, then the temperature shot up to 450F so I had to take half or again.
Haha, no, we had 25 people over. We were worried it may be a bit small but in the end everyone had their fill and we have just enough left overs that it's not going to feel a chore just two of us eating them.
Soldato
I would study the science of charcoal / briquettes / lump / gas before you make such sweeping statements!
Man of Honour
Totally agree there, hence why I wrote perceived before. At least the argument for lumpwood over gas is its natural and you can get hotter direct temps for seating, which can't be said for briquettes. My point was that if you're using briquettes you may as well use gas, which is great for long, more consistent temperatures to. Discussing with my neighbour who I may take on the building project with he's thinking we build a BBQ with propane rather than briquettes for next time, certainly not averse to that for the above reasons.
It's mostly a comment to those that eskew gas as a "proper" BBQ method and then use briquettes. Kinda defeats the object a bit.
Ah, fair point re the whole "gas isn't proper" thing
Though I disagree with the idea that you may as well use gas instead of charcoal. There's no harm in doing so of course. I just personally don't fancy getting gas Ah, fair point re the whole "gas isn't proper" thing
what would you say a re the benefits of charcoal over gas then? Or just personal preference?
Only reason I brought it up is that I've used briquettes again a couple of times recently (used to use them in the past) because I ran out of lumpwood and it reminded me of the "debates" on here previously, and why I stopped using it. I usually use gas most of the time and then lumpwood if I'm not using gas (usually on a portable BBQ).
The main reasons I moved away from briquettes is because of the smoke and smell when getting them going and the random "things" I've found included in some (string and wire for example).
Edit: All that said I totally understand the spectacle of having a charcoal BBQ over gas. Sometimes it's just nice to go through the procedures to get a good BBQ going, instead of just turning on the gas. Nothing wrong with that! Honestly I still like the idea of cooking the next pig over coals too, rather than gas, even if the latter is more convenient and the end product is no different.
At the same time when you're cooking almost all your meat and a fair amount of veg on the BBQ and using it 4+ days a week gas is certainly king!
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