***** Official 2014 BBQ Thread - Sun is out, time to grill!! *****

FrenchTart said:
You probably don't need your top vent fully open at all times - what temperature are you trying to get your BBQ to? Also, are you using anything like the minion or snake method for coals? What are you trying to cook on there?
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I'm trying to cook standard BBQ food like burgers, kebabs, and sausages so lay out the coals flat across the grill rather than using indirect methods for long term cooking. I wanted to perfect the basics before moving on to indirect cooking of things like roast chickens.

Bit of an itchy head moment when the coals lose the bulk of the heat down to less than 100c within 20 mins of pouring them into the BBQ.
 
Kemik said:
I'm trying to cook standard BBQ food like burgers, kebabs, and sausages so lay out the coals flat across the grill rather than using indirect methods for long term cooking. I wanted to perfect the basics before moving on to indirect cooking of things like roast chickens.

Bit of an itchy head moment when the coals lose the bulk of the heat down to less than 100c within 20 mins of pouring them into the BBQ.
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What kind of coals are you using? As in, brand and type?
 
Do not ever buy big k charcoal briquettes, they are truly awful, stupidly hard to light, very little heat, next to nothing, I jean a slice of cheese directly in the coal didn't set it alight. They get a ash covering which insulates and they don't last long.

However I quite like the big k-lumpwood for easy to get charcoal. Which it wasn't so smashed up, but nice pulpwood is so expensive.
 
Kemik said:
I'm trying to cook standard BBQ food like burgers, kebabs, and sausages so lay out the coals flat across the grill rather than using indirect methods for long term cooking. I wanted to perfect the basics before moving on to indirect cooking of things like roast chickens.

Bit of an itchy head moment when the coals lose the bulk of the heat down to less than 100c within 20 mins of pouring them into the BBQ.
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As FrenchTart says, the coals that you're using will have a big impact on the time you're getting from them. What is it you're using, and are you using briquettes or lumpwood?

I use SupaGrill charcoal, I order it from Creative Garden Ideas. If you order more than £30 worth of charcoal then delivery is free. I find the briquettes better for long cooks but if you're after greater heat and a decent cooking time, I mix charcoal and lumpwood. I light them using a chimney starter like you, and leave them to burn for 15 - 20 minutes, just enough time for the top coals to be lit and burning orange to white. Then I make sure the vents on the Weber are open fully, and I empty the coals into the Weber, put the lid on, and let the Weber reach cooking temperature, which takes about 5 - 10 minutes. Then usually whatever I'm cooking, whether direct or indirect, I cook with the lid on. If you cook without the lid then no matter how good your coals are, they'll get used pretty fast.
 
Glaucus said:
Do not ever buy big k charcoal briquettes, they are truly awful, stupidly hard to light, very little heat, next to nothing, I jean a slice of cheese directly in the coal didn't set it alight. They get a ash covering which insulates and they don't last long.

However I quite like the big k-lumpwood for easy to get charcoal. Which it wasn't so smashed up, but nice pulpwood is so expensive.
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I've never had any issues whatsoever with Big K briquettes or lumpwood. I've certainly never struggled to light them. I've also had decent cooking times with them, but I changed to SupaGrill to see how they worked with my smoker. I've not used BigK for smoking though so that's where the difference may lie :)
 
Capt Doufos said:
I have a huge sack of Big-K restaurant grade lumpwood I got from a garden centre near me and that's been fine. nice chunky lumps, plenty of burn time and heat for the purpose I use them (Sausages, Burgers, pizza, chicken etc.)
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Glaucus said:
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However I quite like the big k-lumpwood for easy to get charcoal. Which it wasn't so smashed up, but nice pulpwood is so expensive.
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Sorry, I wasn't suggesting you were wrong about the briquettes. Just sharing my experience with the lumpwood.

This was the one I grabbed: http://www.bigkproducts.co.uk/Product-Shisha-Restaurant-Grade-Charcoal-(RCH15)_194.aspx

According to the gumph the lumps are smaller, but I still find them more than large enough (too big to fit in the chimney in some cases). Although you don't really find out how much is smashed until you get to the bottom of the sack. The charcoal I got from Liverpool wood pellets had a lot smashed in the bottom.
 
I'm pretty sure I bought them from Asda - Bar-Be-Quick Charcoal Briquettes. They're definitely briquettes anyway. Try to hold back, I've seen the light!

So far people seem to be recommending Big-K Lumpwood or SupaGrill briquettes. I doubt I could get through £30 of briquettes very quickly and don't have much storage space so might try to find either of these two options locally (and preferably cheaply).

Thanks for your help.
 
Kemik said:
I'm pretty sure I bought them from Asda - Bar-Be-Quick Charcoal Briquettes. They're definitely briquettes anyway. Try to hold back, I've seen the light!

So far people seem to be recommending Big-K Lumpwood or SupaGrill briquettes. I doubt I could get through £30 of briquettes very quickly and don't have much storage space so might try to find either of these two options locally (and preferably cheaply).

Thanks for your help.
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I've also found that sometimes the own-brand coop or tesco ones aren't too bad and if you can get them on offer you can get to the slightly more reasonable <£1/kg mark. Obviously avoid the 'instant lighting' ones though :)
 
I'm beginning to think that for low n slow cooks any brand of briquettes are fine, undoubtedly there are better brands. But any will suffice really, just at the sacrifice of burn time, heat and ash quantity. They all smell a bit chemically upon start up.

For grilling I'd definitely prefer to use lump, again supermarket stuff is fine, the pieces are just smaller.
 
ganesh said:
I'm beginning to think that for low n slow cooks any brand of briquettes are fine, undoubtedly there are better brands. But any will suffice really, just at the sacrifice of burn time, heat and ash quantity. They all smell a bit chemically upon start up.

For grilling I'd definitely prefer to use lump, again supermarket stuff is fine, the pieces are just smaller.
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I think you're pretty much right there. I mostly would purchase higher quality coal to get a more even burn (=stable temp) and longer burn times (=less babysitting). Less expensive coal can do the job perfectly well.
 
FrenchTart said:
I've also found that sometimes the own-brand coop or tesco ones aren't too bad and if you can get them on offer you can get to the slightly more reasonable <£1/kg mark. Obviously avoid the 'instant lighting' ones though :)
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Think when I did my pulled pork recently it was just cheapo Tesco own brand or whatever my parents had in their shed and they worked perfectly in a snake, burnt for ages (12 hrs or so on one go around a Weber kettle)
 
Rich_L said:
Think when I did my pulled pork recently it was just cheapo Tesco own brand or whatever my parents had in their shed and they worked perfectly in a snake, burnt for ages (12 hrs or so on one go around a Weber kettle)
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I kind of want to give the snake method a try as it looked good when you did it. Almost a shame that I cheat these days with the pellet smoker :p
 
My UDS is coming along.

Been burnt out and I'm now in the getting back to bare metal before fixings and painting.

Anyone used a good spray can bbq paint?

I'm still after a coal basket too, think I'm going to try and get a washing machine drum.
 
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