I'm a Lucky Guy

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Andy M.

Certified Pretend Chef
Joined
Sep 1, 2004
Messages
51,288
Location
Massachusetts
My sweetheart just presented me with an early Father's Day gift!

I am now the proud owner of a 22.5" Weber charcoal grill, a charcoal chimney and a bag of Cowboy lump charcoal. :):)

She caught me completely off guard since we have a gas grill that's less than two years old.

She thought I'd have fun playing around with it and maybe smoking more things. As she says, gifts aren't supposed to be practical. They're things you wouldn't get for yourself. :wub:

I haven't used a charcoal grill since gas grills were introduced. Any tips or techniques would be appreciated.
 
I have a 22.5 Gold on the patio...An 18.5 Silver in my "Park"....and three Smokey Joe's ~~~ For most of my grilling I use the 22.5...I've never tried long slow cooks with it, but it can be done! Fire on one side...meat on the other in simplest terms....Rib racks, and charcoal baskets (2) one on either side...meat down the middle..may be worth looking into...I don't have to sell you on the Quality of Weber Charcoal Grills...They (IMO) are the standard by which every other charcoal grill is judged.....You are gonna love it!!!

Eat Well and Enjoy!
 
I don't have any tips for you Andy, but I'm happy that you got such a great Father's day gift.
Happy Dad's day to you, enjoy that grill.
cj
 
Now THAT'S true luv . Congratulations!!. It's great having the best of both worlds.
You got one awesome grill. Mines a 22. Might I suggest you take a look in the BBQ section here..LOL!!!

Did your grill come with a drip pan? If not an aluminum pan will work just as well.
It will do pretty much the same job as a Brinkman Smoker. A few spray bottles for apple juice , water ( for flareups ) and such come in handy.

Happy for ya!

Munky.
 
My sweetheart just presented me with an early Father's Day gift!

I am now the proud owner of a 22.5" Weber charcoal grill, a charcoal chimney and a bag of Cowboy lump charcoal. :):)

She caught me completely off guard since we have a gas grill that's less than two years old.

She thought I'd have fun playing around with it and maybe smoking more things. As she says, gifts aren't supposed to be practical. They're things you wouldn't get for yourself. :wub:

I haven't used a charcoal grill since gas grills were introduced. Any tips or techniques would be appreciated.

Smart Lady!
 
ah yes, the 22.5 is a great model. i use it all the time with my rotisserie mod that cost me like 35$ to make.

img_902560_0_1aada55c78863e691943cfcbb252fcd1.jpg


When you run out of cowboy, buy some Royal Oak lump charcoal. Its been rated one of the best charcoals from the naked whiz.
The Lump Charcoal Database -- Naked Whiz Charcoal Ceramic Cooking

I hope you enjoy the new score.
 
Always use the bottom vents to control your heat. Leave the top vents wide open. this allows the smoke to exit and not become stale. ALWAYS use 100% all natural charcoal for slow cooks. For hot and fast, kingsford works just fine, but so does RO(Royal Oak) lump.

Use indirect cooking for fatty pieces of meat. or the fat will vaporize in the hot coals causing fatty flavored smoke to make weird flavors on the meats.

Use papper towels sprayed with pam to ignite the coals in the chimney. Clean and works everytime.

If you are using the weber to smoke foods, then make sure you have a thermometer near cooking grate level. Temps from cooking grate to top of the lid vary by about 40-50*F. make sure you have Thin Blue Smoke comming out of the smoker rather than white.
img_902565_0_0620caf5cfcf3c382bf5c3b3a40e94ef.jpg

notice the right hand smoker has blue smoke.

If using the minion method at any time, please use 100% all natural charcoal, be it briquittes or lump. KF blue will make your food have an off taste due to so many chemical binders.

For roasting chickens via beer can method, use in-direct with foil mod. Foil mod is where you wrap half of the charcoal grate in a piece of foil. acts as a shroud for the air. helps make the fuel last longer.

Oh and dont forget to enjoy using it. haha
 
WOW lots of good info, LT. Thanks.

Please explain the difference in smoke color.

Blue smoke means it has less solids floating around. Wood has a substance called lingen(i think thats the correct spelling) which makes up the cell structure of the wood. When wood is burning and combusting at a comfortable heat or temp, the lingen will burn clean and produces a blueish smoke. White smoke means either the wood and or coal have little to no air, causing it to suffocate which in turn adds more solids to the smoke. These solids are what gives food a very bitter stale smoke taste. Also white smoke can mean way to much wood chunks or chips. i personally always use wood chunks because they burn slower with out any need of being soaked in water.

in other words, blue means you have a clean burning fire that has good airflow. haha. Long story to answer a short question. haha.

Oh, one more thing. Just because you see no smoke from the vents doesnt mean its a bad thing. TBS(thin blue smoke) or no smoke at all is very very good.

Matt
 
Andy, bank coals on both sides of grill with a drip pan in the middle. soak some wood chips of choice (I like mesquite, some prefer other flavors) Get yourself a whole chicken, dry it, a little rub of olive oil, season it liberally with either s & p or a fave seasoning salt. Put it on the grill in the middle, and add your wood chip and cover the grill with the dome.

In 1 to 1 1/2 hrs you will have a great smoke roasted chicken. Crispy skin, very juicy, nicely flavored. (even the carcass makes great stock with a subtle smoke flavor.)

There are much fancier things you can do with your grill, and many will equal this but few will surpass it for good eats!
 
Andy, bank coals on both sides of grill with a drip pan in the middle. soak some wood chips of choice (I like mesquite, some prefer other flavors) Get yourself a whole chicken, dry it, a little rub of olive oil, season it liberally with either s & p or a fave seasoning salt. Put it on the grill in the middle, and add your wood chip and cover the grill with the dome.

In 1 to 1 1/2 hrs you will have a great smoke roasted chicken. Crispy skin, very juicy, nicely flavored. (even the carcass makes great stock with a subtle smoke flavor.)

There are much fancier things you can do with your grill, and many will equal this but few will surpass it for good eats!

Amen. Roasted chicken is awesome in the kettle. Buy yourself a 3$ beer can chick holder for a nice roasted chik. You can even butterfly the chicken and use a heavy cast iron pan to place on top.
 
good luck with your new rig, andy.

maybe it's just me, but do all people into smoking use abbreviations (that need to be defined in parenthesis, lol) far too often. i mean, if smoking is about low and slow, why rush what you type?

ijdgi. (i just don't get it) :)
 
good luck with your new rig, andy.

maybe it's just me, but do all people into smoking use abbreviations (that need to be defined in parenthesis, lol) far too often. i mean, if smoking is about low and slow, why rush what you type?

ijdgi. (i just don't get it) :)

Ya we use a ton of AFH's (acronyms from hell)when smokin food. We even name our spices after celebrities. Like brown sugar is Mick Jager. Cayene is Hendrix and so forth. OHHH my new pizza stone from redskygrilling.com just should up.. BRB
 
Ya we use a ton of AFH's (acronyms from hell)when smokin food. We even name our spices after celebrities. Like brown sugar is Mick Jager. Cayene is Hendrix and so forth. OHHH my new pizza stone from redskygrilling.com just should up.. BRB

Don't know if I'm prepared to learn a new language. Is there a Berlitz course for this?
 

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