How to Control the Temperature / Heat on a Weber Kettle Grill - Part 2, High Temp Cooks
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ต.ค. 2024
- If you’re having trouble zeroing in on a targeted temperature range at the beginning of a cook, then maintaining the temp that you want throughout the cook, this is the method I use. If it works for me, there’s no reason it shouldn’t work for you.
If you want to give this method a try on a 350 degree cook, the amounts of charcoal shown below should burn out to 1.25-1.5 hours before the temp starts to drop.
• Fuel Supply (unlit coal): 70
• Heat supply (hot coal): 55-60 coal
• Place hot coal in a pile on top of the unlit coal
• Vent Setting Top: 2/3 open
• Vent Setting Bottom: Fully open
• After the lid is placed on the grill allow 15-20 minutes for the grill to come to temp.
• Clean grates and place meat on grill.
• After placing the lid back on the grill the temp should stabilize in 15-20 minutes. Fine tune the temp if needed using the top vent to 350 degrees.
Click link below to watch my video on controlling temps on low and slow cooks.
• How to Control the Tem...
To contact me directly via email you can contact me through my website:
kettlepitmaster...
Brilliant!Thanks to you, I realize that I have been using my weber grill completely wrong for 30 years… I have constantly struggled with starting out with the grill at 500° and then trying to bring that down and having the heat run out before I was done cooking… thanks for making me feel foolish, but
more than that Thank You for showing me the right way to do it. Done it twice in the past two nights and it works perfectly and I am very happy
HI Jeff, I had the same problem so I set out to get the grill to perform they way I wanted and once i figured it out I thought I'd share my new found knowledge with others and save people a lot of aggravation.
Kettle Pitmaster / I just installed the same thermometer you have here next to my vent. And got an instant read one as well.
Question- how much temperature difference is there up near the vents compared to on the grate with the food? And does that matter when choosing the proper cooking temp?
HI Jeff, I never checked the difference but to me it does not matter because I only use the thermometer as a way to gauge the approx temp = approx time of the cook. In other words after a few meatloaf cooks I know when the lid gauge is showing 325 F it takes about 2 hours until it's done. If I switched to a grate gauge/thermometer and at 325 it took 2.5-3 hours, next time I'd know to adjust my heat up 25-50 degrees to compensate. It's all trial and error. 6 of one and half dozen of the other. No right way and no wrong way. Just different ways or techniques. You use what ever you are comfortable with what or works best for you. - Hope this makes sense.
This is why I'm subbed to you. You basically have the easiest, most common sense approach to cooking on a kettle.
+PUNKem733 Thanks for the kind words, P733, and thank you for subscribing.
Wow, this is youtube at it's very best. Watching your no-nonsense videos is like getting a masters degree in bbq-ing on a weber grill!!!
Your videos should be required viewing for anyone buying a Weber Kettle - in fact, I bet Weber would sell more if they put your link in their manual. So thanks!!
You're welcome, Patrick, and thanks for the vote of confidence. Weber likes to use coals that are completely ashed over.
Just wanted to say these videos have been amazing. It has made kettle cooking very easy and consistent for me. Well done.
Very helpful vid for this newbie!! 15-20 mins usually for any interaction. and the startup too. counted the coals, then added hot... Thx!!
This methodology make so much sense
Had thought of getting a smoker, was weary of doing it through a kettle but your 3 part series so far has been very informative and a great help in understanding it all better! Seeing it done and working is always great, thank you! Hope to get my first kettle and get the low and slow going! Ireland isn't faous for its BBQ so always good to see from guys who do it regularly
Hi Chris. Sounds like you’re doing what I did before I bought my kettle grill, research. I always used charcoal but I used barrel type grills. I was even thinking of going with gas this time around but when I saw how versatile these kettle grills were by watching videos I decided to try the kettle and I’m glad I did. You can grill, smoke, direct grill then switch to smoking during the cook and vice-versa if you set the grill up right. Plus you can change temps during the cook for different foods. With a designated smoker all you can do is use it to smoke but for people who are big time into smoking, a designated smoker is the way to go. If you visited my channel you can tell my videos are mainly about how to set up and use kettle grills for different types of cooks. There are tons of great grilling and smoking videos out there but very few go into detail on the set up and how to dial in on a target temp etc... I know how frustrating it can be to get a charcoal grill to do what you want it to do so I thought I’d share what I’ve learned with other kettle grill enthusiasts. In my opinion one can’t go wrong with a kettle grill because of how versatile they are. After experimenting on the kettle if you decide you’d like to do a lot of just smoking you can always pick up a designated smoker. If BBQ is not real big in Ireland I’ll bet friends, family and neighbors will enjoy some lip smacking BBQ ribs, pulled pork sandwiches, smoked pulled chicken sandwiches, a smoked pork fatty etc.. Have fun with the grill once you get started and if you have any questions along the way please feel free to contact me. You can get hold of me directly through my website’s contact page; kettlepitmasterbbq.com/contact.html. - KPBBQ
Thanks for the reply, yeah I definitely found a huge benefit in you being more specific on how to get temperatures etc, things that unless you know bbq's in and out, can be quite hard to pick up. The kettle has appealed to me definitely in terms of both smoking and grilling, your videos reaffirmed my belief I can soke what I want. Ill let you know how I get on, want to try some ribs tomorrow...If I can find anywhere still selling charcoal haha
Thank you for going through the temp exercises! It has been very helpful in my world.
Thanks for the message, Donnie.
just got done with parts 1 and 2. thank you for this! on to the next and cannot wait to fire up the grill!
Hi Sebastian. Thank you for the feedback and you’re welcome. Got a new grill or just curious to see how the setup works?
Super helpful, no nonsense. Always show the sear ;).
Thanks you for the feedback, Jimbob.
Awesome and thank you. I just subscribed. I have a large Weber grill and never used the thermometer, thought it was just a cute add on. I just started the charcoal in a chimney, threw it onto the grill grate and put the meat on the cooking grate, cover on; and that was it.
I would love to hang out with you and just pick your brain and taste your food!! You are the best!!
Great Videos. I learned alot. I think I can use these techniques and theory on my bullet smoker as well. I will try it. Awesome job. Thank you 👍 Pitmaster👍
Hi TLL. Bullet smokers utilize the minion method from what I've seen so it should work. BBQ on!!
I find it interesting that your kettle thermometer is near the vent. My Weber Kettle thermometer is directly across the lid from the vents, directly over the coals. I do believe that this gives me false readings but I am not positive. I have been putting a "candy thermometer" into the top vent to get a more accurate reading on the kettle temperature. Thanks for these very informative video's and best regards!
I address the therm opposite the lide here >> kettlepitmasterbbq.com/lid-thermometer-QA.html and here >> th-cam.com/video/BaM4OHn6K2E/w-d-xo.html
Great video sir thank you I will try this on my smoky mountain weber thank you
Darn good demo. Thanks for sharing.
Excellent video really helpful tip. Thank you
I get my grill close to temp, shut the lower vents and put the meat on. I leave them closed for a few minutes, then open it close to where it was originally. It's faster and still pretty easy to control.
Hi Seasonings2taste. Thanks for sharing with everyone.
This is awesome! Thank you. 😎
Good job. Thanks
Welcome, Ishmael, thank you for the message.
great video. I have an issue which i dont know how to solve. if i want to go from a low and slow cook (minion method) to a high heat indirect cook. is this posible to achieve without adding new lit coals? the temp seem to climb up really slow when i just open the bottom vent fully. thanks in advance for your help. kind regards
Awesome tips. Really appreciated .. Can you do whole chicken on a beer can to see how it's cooked? Thanks again
+fazjewls14 Hi Faz. You're welcome. Never did me a beer can chicken so I don’t have the holder for it. For some reason the beer can chicken never appealed to me, too much work I guess. I just throw the chicken on at 325 and BBQ it the old fashion way.
fazjewls14 look up spatchcocking chicken. I do that frequently.
Another question- 2 years later.... do you use the partially burn charcoal from the last cook? I usually keep them in the grill and use as a base for the next cook. I don't do too many really low & slow cooks. More often chicken, steak or sausages. But I am doing ribs this 4th of July.....
Anyway seems like a waste to just throw out a lot of 1/2 used coals. Sometimes coals from the edges more than half. But it would throw off a precision measurement of fuel.
Just curious what you do. I can see its possible that you don't have many leftover coals and its not an issue.
Hi Jeff, Good question. No. Any direct grilling I do I do after a long cook and because I cut my cooks that close with the amount of coals I use I do not have enough solid coal left to salvage so I open up both vents and let them reduce to ash. You're right about the partially burned coal. it will throw off the setup some so if I were you, to be on the safe side so the ribs come out good, scoop out the partially used coals and save them for the next cook. The last thing you want to do is have to add coals to the cook if the fire starts dying seeing that this is your 'maiden ribs voyage'. --- Don't forget to unfurl the flag and have it flying proudly as the ribs are cooking.
If I wanted to keep a 275-325 temp for a prime rib roast. I would need it to last at least minimum 4-5 hrs any tip or videos you have
One thing that I’ve learned is that if I need to add charcoal, and I usually do, I add it after I’ve fired it up in the chimney starter. If I don’t do this and add the briquets straight from the bag, I get lots of black smoke and makes my food taste bad. Using the chimney starter eliminates this and gives me a clean burn. Any thoughts on this?
Hi Kevin. What happens when you add unlit briquets on top of hot ones is it smothers the fire and since it can't get air it smokes like you described. Did the same thing to me the first time I did it and ruined my cook. So like you said, you need to add pre ashed-over (hot coals) or set up the cook the way I do if I know I will need to add more briquets. That is to place the hot coals (heat source) on one side so it burns from right to left. Then If I think I need more cook time I rake all the hot coals together on the left side and add more unlit coals (fuel supply) butt-up against the hot coals so it can start burning back the other way (right to left now). I explain this in one of my videos starting about the 2:50 mark >> th-cam.com/video/AIXsgPHxt6M/w-d-xo.html - The reason you can place hot coals on top and not get all that smoke is because the air can get to the fire. - Hope my explanation helps.
you know what's interesting. I was looking at my dad's weber kettle (old school) ...and it has 3 separate vents at the bottom of the kettle! 🙆♀️
I wonder why they stopped making them with 3!
Is it a kettle grill that looks like yours or a Weber smoker?
Kettle Pitmaster it's just like mine, you know the classic old school Weber kettle Grill. but the difference is that the old school ones have the same type of vent as the top of the kettle. what is your email address? I will send you a picture of it really fast.
Hi Jennie. Sorry I missed your message last night. I was out setting up the kettle for brined chicken wings. Boy did they come out good! Below is my website’s contact page. Contact me thru there if you don’t mind and I’ll reply so you’ll have my email. I don’t want to display my email on YT because of spammers getting hold of it. I am curious what your dads grill looks like. kettlepitmasterbbq.com/contact.html
Jennie I have the same grill as you, it's just that it has the 3 vents in the bottom you have to manually adjust each. The newer grills have a lever that adjusts them all together.
Seems like three bottom vents would really confuse things! If my kettle were like that, I'd close two vents and only control from one bottom vent ... the one farthest from the coals so that ash doesn't clog it up. Trying to control three bottom vetns plus the top vent would drive me nuts!
hi, i used weber charcoal. 20 pieces, 8 pieces chicken. after 40 minutes the heat is gone under 100 . my chicken needed more 10 min. when the ash cool down then i see half of the coal was burnt halfway. why heat went off before the charcoal burnt completely? vent was open till heat goes down to under 200 then i closed the vent because i need more heat but bad luck finally heat is gone . chicken was not bbq it was like baked.
HI Muna. Do you mean you had 20 hot coals on top of a pile of until coals (the fuel supply). Or just 20 hot coals total? If your fire died and only had the briquettes are burnt then either you did not have enough air getting to the coals so they suffocated and went out. Was there a lot of old ash in the kettle keeping air from getting to the hot coals from the bottom vents? Or there is something wrong with the charcoal. Maybe it got wet or its old and was exposed to a lot of humidity and or moisture.
@@KettlePitmasterBBQ thanks , this was my first time charcoal grill experience. it was brand new from nepoleon brand .yes i used weber charcoal 20 pieces. it took 1 hour to get white ash color then i put the chicken. for 8 piece of chicken thigh do i need more charcoals? yes i bought the charcoal too brand new weber brand ,i also used 3 pieces of weber lighting cube. if the charcoal was old then i would not know because i bought it last week from homedeport. what else i could do wrong that cause charcoal went off? should i move the charcoal around every now and then? how do you keep them burning to the end?
@@munazarin923 - 20 coals is not near enough. Watch this video. This is just one way you can set up a kettle grill for cooking chicken indirect. >> th-cam.com/video/q5Ywc7Z-KZo/w-d-xo.html
Nice tips, both parts 1 & 2; question: when do you add wood? And I subbed...
Hi Stephen. If I place the hot coals in the middle of the fuel supply, I place a large chunk on the hot coal when the meat goes on and add a piece once an hour or so depending on how long the cook is. If I use the setup with the hot coals on one side (for a low and slow), I place a chunk of wood on the hot coal when the meat goes on, and place chunks of wood side by side on top of the coal (fuel supply) so the wood chunks catch on their on as the coals gets hot.
Sounds good, thanks!!!
I use cowboy lump charcoal. Does the heat control stay the same as with the Kingsford briquetts?
Hi Stuart. I have no idea, I only ever used Lump coal for direct grilling. I'm sure if you experiment with it you can get it to work I've seen other vids of people doing L/S with lump coals. See if you can find some and see how they setup the Kettle.
How often do you close/re-open the bottom vents to clear the ashes, or don’t you bother with that at all? Just wondering if the ashes block the bottom vents at all. Thanks.
Hi Brian. On long cooks like pulled pork I might run the sweep to clear the ashes. Before I do I remove the food so I don't get ash all over it. If I want to use the drippings I remove the drip pan also so no ash gets in it. Rule or thumb is; if I'm maintaining at the temp I want I don't worry about it. A few times the temp dropped and I could not get it back even though I knew I had enough fuel to raise the temp. That told me the air flow was blocked from getting to the hot coals. Clearing the ash allowed me to get the temp back.
So, did you find the temp was not getting hot enough when you used the same vent settings from low'n slow just with more lit coals
The more hot coals you start the cook off with the higher the temp in the grill. Example: If you start eh cook off with 2 hot coals will will have not (very little heat). But if you start the cook off with 100 not coals the you will have a lot of heat. And the more hot coals there are the more unlit coals will start to burn thus raising the temp. It's a balance. See my website where I already did the math. >> kettlepitmasterbbq.com/Charcoal-Amounts-and-Vent-Settings-for-a-Weber-Kettle-Grill.html
if I want to cook 4 chicken thighs. how many lit coals do i need to start off with and how many unlit coals.
should my vent settings be 1/4 open on bottom and 1/3 open on top?
Hi Jennie. The amount unlit coals you need depends on how long you need the heat. And the amount of hot coals depends on how hot you need the kettle (fire). Cooking indirect people cook chicken thighs anywhere from 275-400 F. At 275 cook time is about 1.25-1.5 hours for a done internal temp of 175. At 400 for about .75-1 hour. Since I don’t know what temp you want, use my charcoal amounts document for the hot coals amount and the vent settings and this should get you with 25 degrees of the temp you want. As far as unlit coal (the fuel supply); I’d use about 75. At a low heat of 275 this should give you heat out to about 2 hours. At 400 degrees this amount should be good to about 1-1.25 hours. --- I cook my thighs at 300-325. For this cook I’d use 75 unlit coals, 30 hot coals, set both vents to 1/2. As soon as the hot coals are placed on the fuel supply put the lid on immediately to keep too many unlit coals from starting to burn. Once the lid is on, in 20-25 minutes the kettle should stabilize around 300. If you need to adjust the temp up or down use the top vent. - The only way to learn what works best for your kettle & the type of charcoal you use is to do one cook and if it’s off, adjust the next time. But my amounts should get you close enough that you can easily adjust. Let me know how the cook goes.
Kettle Pitmaster thanks so much for the speedy response!👍👍👍
I'm going to go with your suggestion of 300-325.
And yes it makes sense what your saying. It's kind of like a science. Once you learn what temp a certain amount of coal will immediately put out.
**just a thought. So did you, measure the amount of heat the kettle gets from 1 briquette after 20 minutes of stabilization in the kettle?
I'm guessing if we know that, we can do the math and estimate how much heat 5, 10, 15 ect. briquettes will put off after stabilization.
Is that how you came up with your chart? This is really fun, figuring it all out....coal science! thanks again!😀
I had to chuckle at the ‘coal science’ because I jokingly use this in my video ‘How I light only a few briquettes’ (link at the bottom). I did not do the one briquette method. I wanted to get my grill to stabilize on most cooks with both vents at 1/2. This way I could swing the temp up and down using just the top vent. Then if I needed more or less heat than I could get out of the top vent I could fall back on the bottom vent. I tried starting cooks off with a different amount of hot coal but with both vents at 1/2 to see at what temp the kettle stabilized at. No matter how many hot coals I used the temp normally stabilized in about 20 minutes. Then I tried different amounts of hot coal and logged the results. These are what are on my chart doc. Like anything else, once you understand the principle behind something it’s easy to fix or adjust. For example: You’ll notice that the kettle will stabilize at say 300 with 25-30 hot coals and the vents at 1/2. But if the vents are closed or open more at the beginning of the cook the temp will stabilize at a lower or higher temp because the air supply has been increased or decreased. (Same amount of hot coals but different vent settings = different temp stabilization). It’s just a matter of playing around with this stuff on cooks where you have the flexibility to do it and you learn a lot. I don’t count anything anymore. I just dump the unlit coal in and the hot coal and I just know about where I need to set the vents to get the kettle to settle at any temp I want. And you’re right; playing around with this is a lot of fun because you are learning a skill. To me it’s like a hobby. But at the end of each play session I can feed the family so everyone is happy. Coal science statement in this vid: th-cam.com/video/FIb9rxWBQBg/w-d-xo.html
Kettle Pitmaster awesome. I definitely will be watching all of your videos. I've watched the temp vids several times already. I'm subscribed for sure!
I'm not sure if this matters but what is your rough elevation? Thanks for the videos!
Hi RBCbomber. I’ll tell you almost exactly, I checked it on my trusty topo map of my area. 300 ft. I would image that elevation does make a difference, not sure how much with a kettle grill, but a new smoker that’s out has you set the bottom vent according to your elevation. , I’m not sure of the name of the cooker, but it’s basically just a metal drum/barrel smoker with a lid and the instructions say to set the bottom vent according to your elevation then leave it there. This is the only instance I’m aware of where elevation is factored in to the performance of the cooker. Hope this helps.
Thanks for the info and video. My in-laws have a kettle and this past weekend I used your advice to smoke sausages, I was able to get the perfect temperature and everyone loved how they came out. Thanks again!
Hi RBCbomber. Sounds like a good cook to me, glad it went well. Thank you for the feedback.
i have an older weber that i bought at a garage sale that doesn't have the built in thermometer like the newer ones. i noticed you have put in your own thermometer as well. is there a thermometer you would recommend that is reliable?
Hi Tarek. I just answered a similar question so I’ll provide a link to the video page at the bottom of my reply if you would like to read that reply. Change the ‘Top Comments’ to ‘Newest First’ and look for my reply to ‘Chuck’. It should be the first (top) comment. This video is about lid thermometers so you might find this interesting and helpful. But to answer your question: I am happy with my Char-broil thermometer and I show why in the video. But from what I’ve read Tel-tru is supposed to be a reliable accurate thermometer. So I would go with one of these. Char-broil is less expensive at about $9.00 so if you don’t want to put much money into a thermometer on a used grill this would be a good choice. If it’s as accurate as mine you’ll be happy with it. th-cam.com/video/oBIXSanCBjg/w-d-xo.html
Kettle Pitmaster thanks! I used yiur video to smoke for the first time. My choice of meat was baby back ribs and it was super easy using your hints / tutorial. I adjusted the vents a couple of times but otherwise it was set it and for get it. I used a remote digital thermometer so I could do other things but the ribs turned out great! Thanks!!!
Hi Tarek. Thanks for the feedback on how the setup worked. Glad everything worked out nicely. Remember the trick to being able to accurately swing the temp up or down is making sure the temp in the kettle has stabilized after the last change was made before the next adjustment is made.
Kettle Pitmaster 15-20 min for stabilization right? Your advice worked perfectly for my application. I was able to keep the temp within a 11 degree tolerance according to the digital thermometer I was using aside from spikes when i checked the water pan. (253-264)
Hi Tarek. If you were within 11 degrees that’s great! Normally after an adjustment my kettle re-stabilized in about 20 minutes give or take. Sometimes a little longer depending on how much I open or close the vent. But within 15-20 minutes you should be seeing a temp change. As long as I think it will stabilize within my range I wait to see where it settles because if it's not stabilized and the vent is changed again it might get too hot or cool.
The Weber Kettle I have has the propane starter, so it starts the fire from underneath the coals as opposed to burning from the top down when using the coal chimney. Should this make any sort of difference in the amount of coals used? Also, I have a lot of lump charcoal because I use it in my Green Egg. Have you used lump charcoal in the Weber? If so what are the pros and cons? Thanks for all of the tips.
Hi grussem. California? Are you sure it’s even legal to burn charcoal out there? You probably don’t have long until they ban it out there so save up your money to move back. I didn’t realize us Pennsylvanians had a distinctive accent unless we we’re PA Dutch. Unless the Californians have a distinctive accent which makes it easy to pick up on someone from the home state.
I personally don’t recommend lighting the coal from the bottom to low and slow. Reason being; If you place unburnt charcoal briquettes on top of hot briquettes you will notice it produces a lot of gassy smoke. For some reason you get gassy smoke when the coal burns (ignites) from the bottom up but not from the top down (the Minion method). I believe this is because not enough air circulates through the coal. Have you noticed how much gassy smoke comes off the charcoal when you light the coal with the propane until most of the coal is pretty well ignited (if using briquettes)? If you place the lid on the kettle before the coal is ashed over, trust me, all that gassy smoke will get into the food and it will taste awful. Plus I would imagine it’s not very healthy. For this reason I never place unlit coal on top of hot coal if I need to extend a cook. I’ll butt unlit coal up against hot coal to get it lit to keep the cook going, but I don’t place it on top. I only ever used lump coal for searing and direct cooks and it’s always been ashed over so I don’t know how much gassy smoke lump charcoal makes when adding unlit on top of hot coal but I would not try this method with lump coal either. For a low and slow cook I’d use the “Minion Method” (placing hot coal on top of a bed of unlit coal). Place the coal in a charcoal basket to get it lit using the propane igniter then dump it on top of the fuel (unlit coal). If you are unable to do that because it will start to ignite the fuel supply, invest in a charcoal chimney.
As far as using lump coal for a low and slow, I’ve never used it but a lot of people do and love it. Lump charcoal is 100% natural wood so it produces a wood smoke throughout the cook. Start some and place it on top of the fuel supply just like briquettes for a low & slow.
The Pros & Cons are from my experience, which is limited:
Lump charcoal is all different sizes so it’s harder to maintain a constant even temp compared to briquettes which are all the same size and burn more evenly. Lump charcoal gives steaks a great taste when used to sear. I don’t think lump charcoal will burn as long as hardwood briquettes so you will need to add during a long low & slow where you might not have to if using briquettes (but I could be wrong). Hope I was able to be of some help.
And thank you for your service to this great country of ours.
Wow! I appreciate all of the tips and hints! I'm looking forward to messing around with my Weber and learning how to perfect it for me. I use the lump charcoal exclusively in my Big Green Egg and it works great, but the Egg is also designed very differently as well so it may or may not work as well for different things in the Weber. Yeah, I can't wait to get out of California. While it's very beautiful (especially Lake Tahoe) It's much to expensive and regulated out here. I appreciate your kind words, I look forward to seeing more videos. Take care.
+Kettle “BBQ” Pitmaster Well thanks a lot for this explanation ! I was wondering about the unlit coal and the bad taste it might give to food but if you put the lit coals on top it is okay. Very nice, thanks again.
Hi Carl. You’re welcome and thank you for taking the time to send your message.