Facts! I have NEVER waited until all the coals at the top are ashed over. You will have almost spent all the coals at the bottom. As soon as it stops smoking and you see those flames it's go time.
Totally agree. I'll let the lit coals get to about 2/3 of the way up the chimney then I'll dump them. If you wait until all the coals are ashed over, you're just wasting fuel and time.
That's what I do now. I used to always be unsure about when to flip my coal. I found that the coal was too ablaze for too long when I let to go longer also
you know! I dont have a chimney starter but the same thing is what Ive learned! I would wait till my pile of charcoal was ashed over and when I finally started the bottom were little pieces and It kept going out so fast...
I couldn’t agree more. As soon as you have clean smoke in the chimney and you see some flames starting to show it’s time. Also when I dump I distribute the barely lit coals evenly. By the time the grills finished preheating you are good to go👍🏻
Awesome, I’ve always waited for the top ones to get white before dumping them out of the chimney. Takes forever. Now with your demonstration, I don’t have to do this. Thanks.
Once the flames start to hit the top pieces of the chimney, I dump in the slow and sear. Hot coals end up on top and they eventually get the rest. By the time I dial in the vents to my desired temp the white smoke is done and we are ready to grill.
Easing into your temp is the way to go! You are totally right, getting the hot fully lit coals up high does the most good and they are on the bottom and come out last.
If saving time is your goal, use your leaf blower at the lowest setting to increase the airflow to the chimney and it will cut your wait time exponentially.
I actually never heard of waiting until it was ashes over. I always just waited until there is no more white smoke coming out of the chimney, which is about 15 minutes. Glad I've been doing it right the whole time 👍
I recently got a chimney and started using it. I would wait until the top was ashed over but would notice my coals would burn out sooner. Essentially because I used some of it's cook time to wait until the top is ashy. Was going to start pulling it earlier and this just reaffirms my thinking! Thanks for the video!
Usually by the time that I'm starting to cook, I'm already starving and I cannot wait until all of those briquettes are lit completely. I figured that they will catch on as I pour them in, and so it's usually just half of them that are totally lit. I have waited once or twice for it to go all the way up and be completely ashed over but it did seem like a waste to me. I've never had any trouble really just letting it get mostly lit and feeling extremely hot. Everything cooked well and I think it lasted a lot longer for me.
When you grill out in the winter months in the mid west, I always wait and let them all ash up. Plus I use royal oak charcoal chunks for the most optimal heat. Damm right, I have steaks on the grill in a snow storm.....
I have a small Smokey Joe. So I only use 1/2 a chimney. When I can see glowing orange on the bottom briquettes and flames licking up the side of the chimney I dump. Its really close to what you're doing.
I have the smaller size Weber chimney and I find it far more useful than the full sized one, even on my 22". The only time I use the big one is if I'm doing burgers or hot dogs or something and I need a large amount of hot coals, over the whole area of the grill. When using a SnS or baskets (which is most of the time for me), I find the smaller chimney a much better option.
Excellent vid, very scientific. I'm a lumpwood man myself but I do use a starter chimney and dump it out as soon as the thick smoke starts to drop off, not when it's completely gone but when I can see it's starting to settle down. That way all the dust and stuff has a minute or two to settle and for the kettle to warm up before I start to load in the goodies . If you can see visible ash on the top of the coals before you dump it out you're just wasting fuel.
Yeah, I stopped doing this years ago for several reasons, but the main reason was that the completely ashed-over charcoal didn't burn as long. However, I also don't use briquettes - only lump charcoal, which typically burns hotter and cleaner than briquettes.
It just depends on the quality of your briquettes. I use only additive-free hardwood briquettes with 5% vegetable starch binder. Easier and cleaner to handle than lump, ready quicker. I only use lump for slow cooks now
That's a myth. Briquettes and lump are effectively identical when it comes to burn temp, and usually briquettes actually retain that heat slightly longer. Lump ignites perhaps a little quicker due to the fact that pre-ignition, it contains more air, but there is no truth to the often-repeated myth that lump is hotter or cleaner. If anything, most lump charcoal (other than the very expensive stuff) often contains all kinds of junk, including nails, rocks, building materials (remember where the cheaper brands are sourcing their wood), not to mention you inevitably pay for a fair amount of coal dust and tiny, useless bits of coal in the bottoms of the bags. I like lump now and again, and I'll treat myself to a bag of the nice stuff here and there, but there is nothing superior about it in terms of the results it delivers, and pound for pound it's more expensive in almost every case.
When I first started I used to wait for the charcoal to be mostly ashed over. I now do as you do and as long as they all appear to be partially lit, I pour them in the kettle baskets.
I stopped getting it to white hot as well. I saw everyone talk about it but didnt care to do so. - It takes too long - Temperature seems too hot - Just too lazy to wait for all to get white hot - Once white, it crumbles too easily - Nowadays i just pour them in once the top gets a hint of fire on it. Works perfect!
also if you fill the chimney up and wait for everything to turn white before you pour it out you'll have half a chimney of coals lol. now you have to add black briquettes anyways to finish your cook
Yes your right. I always dump the charcoal when the top ones in the chimney are just barley catching. My logic is if I wait till there all white then the bottom ones will be partially gassed out and therefore less cooking time.
That is why the higher quality stuff is worth the money. BnB burns longer because the "drop" when fully lit is very minimal. Kingsford, has a lot of "drop" so you are wasting more. That is why I found that I get more cook time with less BnB vs Kingsford, so the cost is actually the same if not less for the BnB.
usually 15 minutes is all it takes - when there's no smoke and you can see red in the middle holes its time to go. I've recently experimented with homemade starters smearing vaseline between 2 cotton round makeup pads and it works seemingly faster than my all time favorite tumbleweeds, but even cheaper and fun to make. I make up a crap load and store them in an old Folgers coffee container.
i agree w everyone saying the coals on the bottom would be done, so a good middle ground works for me. i try and arrange my fuel once i dump it in to where to the unlit coals are underneath and optimal for the type of grilling. cheers everyone
In my (limited) experience, 5 - 7 minutes gets all the charcoal in the chimney lit well enough for cooking. Waiting for all of it to turn white significantly reduces the amount of charcoal that goes into the grill, thus reducing the amount of cooking time available, requiring the charcoal to be recharged, that is, another chimney of charcoal.
Good job, had a feeling it was a waste of time. Especially since the charcoals at the bottom would burn up before getting used. I'll start by going 2/3 ashed from now on.
I don't use a chimney because of all the initial smoke, but instead light the briquettes with a heat gun for about 4 minutes. Then wait about 10 more minutes to get a nice even red glow across all the briquettes in a nice pile before spreading them out a bit more (depending on the type of grilling). I really only do this because it smokes significantly less even though it's a small amount of extra effort. But since you mention that it's better to 'burn off the smoke' first to avoid getting that early (dirty?) smoke on your food, I wonder if that is an issue? It seems to burn clean once I start grilling though.
Never heard of “ashed over” My coals are ready when the white smoke is gone and I have a flame on top. Top coals only have small ash spots by then but still 99.5% black. Good job dispelling what appears to be a stupid bbq myth and boy are there many.
I stopped using briquette charcoal because my wife would start feeling ill after cooking our meal with it, but she felt fine after I changed over to lump charcoal. We determined that the difference between the two charcoals had to be the binding agent used in the briquette style charcoal. After switching I found that lump charcoal lights off faster and hotter.
I recently had been trying to wait until the top briquettes were white because I remembered hearing that and just couldn't do it. There was a roaring fire and clean smoke, so I just went with it like always. I'm able to get a second full-length, full temp cook out of most fresh batches of charcoal when doing it that way or will supplement with a few new briquettes. Much more economical.
I just started lighting it in my slow n’ sear with some tumbleweeds. Once the coals around the tumbleweeds get going, you can just stir the charcoal around and it will all light pretty evenly
Dunno why this video was recommended to me, but this is exactly what I do. I get solid amount of leftover coals when making weekday most meals. If you let the top coals get white you’ve cut their cooking life in half just getting them started it feels like.
Interesting test. I have a couple of things I do, and I'm not gonna change. I never use lighter fluid or those white cubes. Three balled up sheets of newspaper is enough unless it's monsoon season. [The color supermarket weekly flyer ads burn best.] It always takes the time to drink one beer, before the chimney coals are flaming. I use about 13 Kingsford briquets on the bottom for a positive light [No Black Magic here, just enough to cover the bottom holes.]. The next layer in the chimney is a few inches of partially-burned Mesquite chunks. [In the days of Steam Trains, pre-burned coal was called Coke -- predates the cola drink.] The last half is topped with new mesquite charcoal lumps. An alternate is to cut down season-aged mesquite branches [1 - 2'' D.] with a 20 volt circular saw and get some 2 - 3 inch pieces. [These can be recycled on another cook if not fully consumed.] When my first beer's gone and flames of 9 to 12 inches are leaping out of the chimney, I put on welders gloves and tip the coals into my grill. I let them settle for a few minutes, then brush last weeks grease off the rods with a Grill Daddy -- steam action. Time to cook.
I let it get to the point of flames out the top of the chimney then dump into my Weber charcoal baskets. The unlit coals will be under the fully lit coals and in 5 minutes good to cook. Your bottom coals are dust if you wait for the top coals to ash over.
Different charcoal obviously burns at different rates. I either use the Slow n Sear or a Vortex most of the time. I think dumping in/rotating from top to bottom works best when using a chimney. If you don’t watch and you use the competition style charcoal, your charcoal has already burned down about a third faster than regular charcoal. Not a big deal for faster cooks, but slower cooks require more fuel, time, effort and cost. A little smoke isn’t going to kill you ghat much faster than getting everything clean, esp. if you are going to use some wood chunks to smoke with.
Yeah, I'm cheap... i never wait till is ashes over, as half the coals at the bottom have burned off. I typically wait till i see flames coming out of the cylinder, and pour it out. I may use a coal rake to even out and mix unburnt coals with lit coals. You provided a good tip here... as briquettes aren't as cheap anymore.
Few things to mention - All the elitest in the chat saying Briquets is not Charcoal when almost every Brisquet manufacturer calls it as 'Charcoal Briquets'. - Most ordinary people who just grill once in a while or have no idea about BBQ call briquets as Charcoal. My wife and all my 'ordinray' friends will say 'Lets buy more charcoal', 'I need more charcoal'. They won't they 'Lets go buy some briquets' - Oxford Dictionary: 'Charcoal': a porous black solid, consisting of an amorphous form of carbon, obtained as a residue when wood, bone, or other organic matter is heated in the absence of air. - According to Oxford Charcoal is a more wide term. Charcoal is simply a form of carbon. Briquets, lump charcoal are all charcoal
Wait, you drink beer when you grill too? I drink beer when I grill! We gotta tell more people about this, it's an amazing combination. Also drinking beer when you're not grilling is pretty great too, which is what I'm doing now
Cooked over wood and multiple charcoal types for decades. The equipment and fuels have become nearly cost prohibitive. We now support some of the great local BBQ joints and spend more time playing with the grandkids.
I use wood on offset bbq and sometimes cook on the gas grill. When my grandkids come over, I get them involved in cooking. That is one way we spend time together.
I agree that waiting until ashed over is a waste. Especially if you’re using a chimney since the bottom coals will be ashed way before the tops do. You can smell the chem burn off in half that time. The other thing is getting some chem in your food isn’t going to make a difference. If u have ever seen kettle grill snaking coals they have zero chem burn off but u don’t taste it since it’s so small in the overall cook.
My empirical wisdom after 25+ years with the same Weber 22" Weber grill is that: 1. In order to get ANY fuel -- briquettes, lump, or mixed charcoal and hardwood chunks -- to burn properly, you MUST have a can or bottle Lawn Mower Swill in hand (PBR our Miller, never Bud, and a long-neck bottle is best). 2. The fuel in the chimney is ready when you finish the beer. On hot days when I'm thirsty, it goes a little faster than cool rainy days. I like and usually use Kingsford "standard" briquettes. I use the paraffin cubes like you show. I usually add a few hardwood chunks to the grill (for flavor) after pouring coals. I prefer rails to baskets -- they're more versatile.
@joecenturion I've never had success using the charcoal bag as the starter. I tried the tumbleweed starters for the first time the other day and found the coals were ready faster with far less smoke compared to using any type of paper.
@joeceturion, @karlrovey: For anyone who gets more than one cook from a bag (I usually get 4-5), using the bag isn't even an option. The bag is hard to light (I've tried it) and doesn't burn nearly as hot as paraffin The result is a very unreliable method. In addition to being very hard to light, the bag is loaded with ink and other chemicals. To the extent that anyone is concerned about chemicals being transferred to the charcoal or food, then nearly all paper is worse than the Weber paraffin cubes. Even brand new newsprint is usually made from recycled paper -- which means there is no way to even know what chemicals and toxins it contains. Perhaps brand new copy-quality plain white paper could be used, but even that nearly always contains chemical brighteners. The notion that starting a chimney with paper is cleaner or safer than paraffin is a woefully incorrect urban myth. The Royal Oak tumbleweed starters (the only brand I investigated) also have wax (probably paraffin). They strike me as comparable to the Weber cubes. Purists with access to wooded property could probably use the same sort of kindling that primitive campers use -- tiny twigs, birch bark, and so on. Not dry leaves, by the way -- lots of smoke and very little heat. An option that I've never tried but that at least sounds like fun is a butane or propane torch applied directly to the bottom layer of charcoal through the openings in the chimney. As a scientist and engineer, I'm very confident none of these choices makes any measurable difference to the ultimate fire (so long as we're not talking about "matchlight" charcoal). The paraffin cubes light easily and burn completely because the petroleum distillates they contain are VERY volatile. That means they're long gone by the time the food goes on the grill. The same is also true for lighter fluid, but that's a whole other thing. For newcomers to chimney starters, paraffin cubes (or perhaps Tumbleweed Starters) are far and away the easiest option. They light every time, it's easy to see and confirm that they're burning before you put the chimney on them, and they reliably start the charcoal in the chimney every time. FWIW, I always use 2 and I've never had a failure in years of use.
@@thomasstambaugh5181 I definitely agree with you. I tried the tumbleweeds because that's what the local hardware store has. If I get some paraffin wax, I could probably make some of my own (I've got a lot of suitable wood shavings from "noodling" firewood).
You are using charcoal briquettes, which is confusing to me because charcoal means lump to me. Anyway there is a lot of smoke when I use briquettes and just fire them up. The smoke is not tasty and I wait untii it is gone. When I use lump charcoal, I don't have that problem and I can put the meat on sooner and it makes a nice charcoal flavor as it slowly combusts. I have stayed away from using lump because I found it burned too fast and was using briquettes mixed with lump for longevity and flavor. I am using the firebox in my offset for grilling, which has a grate. A few days back, I removed the grate and put the charcoal right on the bottom of the firebox. This had significantly longer burn time and it burned at a lower temperature. I used much less lump charcoal, so I guess I could have added some more for more heat. I also could have played with the vents and closed the lid of the firebox. Anyway, so now I am excited to run the offset on lump charcoal without the grate to see what ribs come out like because I can get a reasonable run time instead of burning half a bag.
No starter cubes. I save a cup of bacon grease in the freezer and put a small chunk in a piece of paper folded like a square and put it in with the crumpled paper as usual. The grease helps the fire burn longer to start your coals better.
If you use lump, you'll have less "impurities" as there are no binders etc. I agree with the core of this video though, no need to wait till all is white.
Yeah, I agree, is a waste to get your charcoal in a chimney fully asked over. I've always just let it go until the smoke stopped and it was burning clean. Besides, when you pour it out, you are putting the less burned coals onto the bottom with the hot coals on top and it just makes for a longer burning fire.
I generally set up the grill with a hot side/cool side and will usually start dumping the coals in the middle then pour most on the hot side. That way I can put the coals that aren't based over on top of the ones that are.
It depends on your purpose, right? If I’m doing an 8hr low and slow smoke with the slow n sear, then I’m just getting a portion of the coals “white hot” and then going from there. But if I’m grilling fajita steaks and just need 10-15 min of med-high heat, then I’m getting the whole batch white hot…albeit a smaller batch. But I think your point is that in the latter scenario (fajita steaks), I still don’t have to wait on the whole batch to get white? Makes sense. Thanks!
What do you do to that small sized charcoal at the bottom of the bag? Most of the time it represents about 1/3 of the weight we buy for. It also slows the hell down the time to light the charcoal...
That's a little different process. They call that the minion method where a few coals light the other ones. That gets a good hot fire, but keeps you cooking low and slow.
Also by letting burn to while. Your loosing all the charcoal SMOKE AS WELL,, Like burning wood until its white hot. Loosing a lot of flavor, as well as cooking. cause you can shut it down and save the wood for another cook as well
@@nategibbons172 That seem to work well to, but not always. Large pieces can burn, and be put out, to use again👉👉It all depend on? If it cure out or GREEN? I like Green wood. That seem to be where the smoke flavor come from the best. Dried cured out wood, seems to have LESS FLAVOR, and burn hotter than green wood. with less smoke
@@426superbee4 you don’t use green wood to smoke. Buy a bag of wood chunks apple, pecan, hickory. whatever you want and throw a chunk on the coals when grilling
Has the app for the spider venom gotten better? I actually returned mine because the app would not work and I was getting a probe error for the grill grate probe.
I haven't had any probe errors and I got one of the original Venoms. The Venom keeps going along, but I end up closing and opening the app to stay connected on a long cook. I mentioned that in the will it survive a rainstorm video and thought the venom was toast, but it was just the app.
you talk about charcoal, but use brickets.. that is a big difference! And even so.. it depends on what you are cooking. Brickets and a chimney, then white hot is a solid method.
If you dont want the taste of the binding polymer from your partially lit method... use lump charcoal not charcoal briquettes. Also real charcoal is more reusable.
I stopped using the chimney as it unevenly lights the coals. Also, the initial smoke wafts over to my neighbors, and that's rude. BTW, using newspaper is not better than starter fluid. Newsprint contains ink and chemicals that are not regulated like lighter fluid.
first off, thank you, this is exactly the question that's been bothering me. i have 2 followups if you'd be so kind. in your experience with the spider venom, if you need to add more charcoal mid cook, can you add them cold? or would you recommend preheating them for 12-15 minutes to burn off the 'bad-smoke' ignition components. or is there a way to add enough charcoal in 1 chimney for an entire overnight brisket cook?
@@ninjaraphThere are a number of fire starters out there. Plus you can use a brown paper grocery bag sprayed with cooking oil also. I use olive oil for mine.
Facts! I have NEVER waited until all the coals at the top are ashed over. You will have almost spent all the coals at the bottom. As soon as it stops smoking and you see those flames it's go time.
Totally agree. I'll let the lit coals get to about 2/3 of the way up the chimney then I'll dump them. If you wait until all the coals are ashed over, you're just wasting fuel and time.
That's what I do now. I used to always be unsure about when to flip my coal. I found that the coal was too ablaze for too long when I let to go longer also
Plus you can use the 5 mins as the grill preheating time
That is true with low quality charcoal.
you know! I dont have a chimney starter but the same thing is what Ive learned! I would wait till my pile of charcoal was ashed over and when I finally started the bottom were little pieces and It kept going out so fast...
I found by time the top charcoal ash over, the bottom ones are almost gone.
I couldn’t agree more. As soon as you have clean smoke in the chimney and you see some flames starting to show it’s time. Also when I dump I distribute the barely lit coals evenly. By the time the grills finished preheating you are good to go👍🏻
Couldn't agree more.
Waiting until charcoal is ashed over is like waiting until your tank is half empty before backing out of the garage and driving off
My rule of thumb is to dump the charcoal chimney when my beer is done and i need another.
Awesome, I’ve always waited for the top ones to get white before dumping them out of the chimney. Takes forever. Now with your demonstration, I don’t have to do this. Thanks.
See how it goes! You should get longer cook times out of it.
Once the flames start to hit the top pieces of the chimney, I dump in the slow and sear. Hot coals end up on top and they eventually get the rest. By the time I dial in the vents to my desired temp the white smoke is done and we are ready to grill.
Easing into your temp is the way to go! You are totally right, getting the hot fully lit coals up high does the most good and they are on the bottom and come out last.
Agtree
Same here. Even in my Weber smokey mountain I do that and have no bad flavors. I'm with you on how you do it
If saving time is your goal, use your leaf blower at the lowest setting to increase the airflow to the chimney and it will cut your wait time exponentially.
A hair dryer works too.
Portable fan also helps.
I use my air compressor with it dialed down
Clever!! @@adamferguson5
I got an electric air duster. works great for blowing the coals.
I actually never heard of waiting until it was ashes over. I always just waited until there is no more white smoke coming out of the chimney, which is about 15 minutes. Glad I've been doing it right the whole time 👍
Then you’ve never smoked meat
I bet this is marketing from Kingsford. Like when the shampoo companies put repeat on their bottles.
Its literally right on the bag
I recently got a chimney and started using it. I would wait until the top was ashed over but would notice my coals would burn out sooner. Essentially because I used some of it's cook time to wait until the top is ashy. Was going to start pulling it earlier and this just reaffirms my thinking! Thanks for the video!
Usually by the time that I'm starting to cook, I'm already starving and I cannot wait until all of those briquettes are lit completely. I figured that they will catch on as I pour them in, and so it's usually just half of them that are totally lit. I have waited once or twice for it to go all the way up and be completely ashed over but it did seem like a waste to me. I've never had any trouble really just letting it get mostly lit and feeling extremely hot. Everything cooked well and I think it lasted a lot longer for me.
When you grill out in the winter months in the mid west, I always wait and let them all ash up. Plus I use royal oak charcoal chunks for the most optimal heat. Damm right, I have steaks on the grill in a snow storm.....
Now that's real Midwest life! 🫵💯
Facts, I smoke ribs year round, winter ribs are best
I have a small Smokey Joe. So I only use 1/2 a chimney. When I can see glowing orange on the bottom briquettes and flames licking up the side of the chimney I dump. Its really close to what you're doing.
I have the smaller size Weber chimney and I find it far more useful than the full sized one, even on my 22". The only time I use the big one is if I'm doing burgers or hot dogs or something and I need a large amount of hot coals, over the whole area of the grill. When using a SnS or baskets (which is most of the time for me), I find the smaller chimney a much better option.
@@adamcoe nice thanks.
I use a chimney starter. I generally start cooking when I start seeing the top coals become white, but not completely white.
Excellent vid, very scientific. I'm a lumpwood man myself but I do use a starter chimney and dump it out as soon as the thick smoke starts to drop off, not when it's completely gone but when I can see it's starting to settle down. That way all the dust and stuff has a minute or two to settle and for the kettle to warm up before I start to load in the goodies . If you can see visible ash on the top of the coals before you dump it out you're just wasting fuel.
Yeah, I stopped doing this years ago for several reasons, but the main reason was that the completely ashed-over charcoal didn't burn as long. However, I also don't use briquettes - only lump charcoal, which typically burns hotter and cleaner than briquettes.
Agreed. Lumpwood all the way. I think it gives a cleaner flavour.
It just depends on the quality of your briquettes. I use only additive-free hardwood briquettes with 5% vegetable starch binder. Easier and cleaner to handle than lump, ready quicker. I only use lump for slow cooks now
That's a myth. Briquettes and lump are effectively identical when it comes to burn temp, and usually briquettes actually retain that heat slightly longer. Lump ignites perhaps a little quicker due to the fact that pre-ignition, it contains more air, but there is no truth to the often-repeated myth that lump is hotter or cleaner. If anything, most lump charcoal (other than the very expensive stuff) often contains all kinds of junk, including nails, rocks, building materials (remember where the cheaper brands are sourcing their wood), not to mention you inevitably pay for a fair amount of coal dust and tiny, useless bits of coal in the bottoms of the bags. I like lump now and again, and I'll treat myself to a bag of the nice stuff here and there, but there is nothing superior about it in terms of the results it delivers, and pound for pound it's more expensive in almost every case.
2nd that, only difference to me really is the less amount of ash with lump
When I first started I used to wait for the charcoal to be mostly ashed over. I now do as you do and as long as they all appear to be partially lit, I pour them in the kettle baskets.
I can smell that stinky charcoal bricketts all the way to my house.
I stopped getting it to white hot as well. I saw everyone talk about it but didnt care to do so.
- It takes too long
- Temperature seems too hot
- Just too lazy to wait for all to get white hot
- Once white, it crumbles too easily
- Nowadays i just pour them in once the top gets a hint of fire on it. Works perfect!
There's been an obsession with cooking things as hot as possible. People complain when they can't get their vortex over 600°F.
also if you fill the chimney up and wait for everything to turn white before you pour it out you'll have half a chimney of coals lol. now you have to add black briquettes anyways to finish your cook
Yep! If you wait until theyre all ashy you lose a lot of cooking time. I dump as soon as I see clean flames coming out the top of the chimney.
Yes your right. I always dump the charcoal when the top ones in the chimney are just barley catching. My logic is if I wait till there all white then the bottom ones will be partially gassed out and therefore less cooking time.
Exactly
That is why the higher quality stuff is worth the money. BnB burns longer because the "drop" when fully lit is very minimal. Kingsford, has a lot of "drop" so you are wasting more. That is why I found that I get more cook time with less BnB vs Kingsford, so the cost is actually the same if not less for the BnB.
usually 15 minutes is all it takes - when there's no smoke and you can see red in the middle holes its time to go. I've recently experimented with homemade starters smearing vaseline between 2 cotton round makeup pads and it works seemingly faster than my all time favorite tumbleweeds, but even cheaper and fun to make. I make up a crap load and store them in an old Folgers coffee container.
I made those too and they're stupidly easy and quick to make. Super reliable, effectively infinite shelf life, small and easy to store.
i agree w everyone saying the coals on the bottom would be done, so a good middle ground works for me. i try and arrange my fuel once i dump it in to where to the unlit coals are underneath and optimal for the type of grilling. cheers everyone
In my (limited) experience, 5 - 7 minutes gets all the charcoal in the chimney lit well enough for cooking. Waiting for all of it to turn white significantly reduces the amount of charcoal that goes into the grill, thus reducing the amount of cooking time available, requiring the charcoal to be recharged, that is, another chimney of charcoal.
Good job, had a feeling it was a waste of time. Especially since the charcoals at the bottom would burn up before getting used. I'll start by going 2/3 ashed from now on.
I don't use a chimney because of all the initial smoke, but instead light the briquettes with a heat gun for about 4 minutes. Then wait about 10 more minutes to get a nice even red glow across all the briquettes in a nice pile before spreading them out a bit more (depending on the type of grilling). I really only do this because it smokes significantly less even though it's a small amount of extra effort. But since you mention that it's better to 'burn off the smoke' first to avoid getting that early (dirty?) smoke on your food, I wonder if that is an issue? It seems to burn clean once I start grilling though.
Can we talk about your lawn? Wow! 👍🏼
Thanks! The LawnCareNut was a huge help, but the heat will soon turn it back to brown.
Never heard of “ashed over” My coals are ready when the white smoke is gone and I have a flame on top. Top coals only have small ash spots by then but still 99.5% black. Good job dispelling what appears to be a stupid bbq myth and boy are there many.
I stopped using briquette charcoal because my wife would start feeling ill after cooking our meal with it, but she felt fine after I changed over to lump charcoal. We determined that the difference between the two charcoals had to be the binding agent used in the briquette style charcoal. After switching I found that lump charcoal lights off faster and hotter.
Depending on the cook ill wait until the my starter cube of tumbleweed has burned up, otherwise once I get clean smoke I start cooking
I recently had been trying to wait until the top briquettes were white because I remembered hearing that and just couldn't do it. There was a roaring fire and clean smoke, so I just went with it like always. I'm able to get a second full-length, full temp cook out of most fresh batches of charcoal when doing it that way or will supplement with a few new briquettes. Much more economical.
Great upload, I normally leave it around 15 mins and dump in the slow n sear
Great video. Comparing side by side like that is something a regular person just can't do.
Those unused charcoals, do you plan on relighting them?
I just started lighting it in my slow n’ sear with some tumbleweeds. Once the coals around the tumbleweeds get going, you can just stir the charcoal around and it will all light pretty evenly
Dunno why this video was recommended to me, but this is exactly what I do. I get solid amount of leftover coals when making weekday most meals. If you let the top coals get white you’ve cut their cooking life in half just getting them started it feels like.
Interesting test.
I have a couple of things I do, and I'm not gonna change. I never use lighter fluid or those white cubes. Three balled up sheets of newspaper is enough unless it's monsoon season. [The color supermarket weekly flyer ads burn best.] It always takes the time to drink one beer, before the chimney coals are flaming.
I use about 13 Kingsford briquets on the bottom for a positive light [No Black Magic here, just enough to cover the bottom holes.]. The next layer in the chimney is a few inches of partially-burned Mesquite chunks. [In the days of Steam Trains, pre-burned coal was called Coke -- predates the cola drink.] The last half is topped with new mesquite charcoal lumps. An alternate is to cut down season-aged mesquite branches [1 - 2'' D.] with a 20 volt circular saw and get some 2 - 3 inch pieces. [These can be recycled on another cook if not fully consumed.]
When my first beer's gone and flames of 9 to 12 inches are leaping out of the chimney, I put on welders gloves and tip the coals into my grill. I let them settle for a few minutes, then brush last weeks grease off the rods with a Grill Daddy -- steam action.
Time to cook.
I let it get to the point of flames out the top of the chimney then dump into my Weber charcoal baskets. The unlit coals will be under the fully lit coals and in 5 minutes good to cook. Your bottom coals are dust if you wait for the top coals to ash over.
Different charcoal obviously burns at different rates. I either use the Slow n Sear or a Vortex most of the time. I think dumping in/rotating from top to bottom works best when using a chimney. If you don’t watch and you use the competition style charcoal, your charcoal has already burned down about a third faster than regular charcoal. Not a big deal for faster cooks, but slower cooks require more fuel, time, effort and cost. A little smoke isn’t going to kill you ghat much faster than getting everything clean, esp. if you are going to use some wood chunks to smoke with.
Agreed. I let it get close but never fully Ashed over. It really depends on what you are trying to do.
Yeah, I'm cheap... i never wait till is ashes over, as half the coals at the bottom have burned off. I typically wait till i see flames coming out of the cylinder, and pour it out. I may use a coal rake to even out and mix unburnt coals with lit coals. You provided a good tip here... as briquettes aren't as cheap anymore.
Can you do a test on how well the Weber rails compare to baskets and SNS?
Few things to mention
- All the elitest in the chat saying Briquets is not Charcoal when almost every Brisquet manufacturer calls it as 'Charcoal Briquets'.
- Most ordinary people who just grill once in a while or have no idea about BBQ call briquets as Charcoal. My wife and all my 'ordinray' friends will say 'Lets buy more charcoal', 'I need more charcoal'. They won't they 'Lets go buy some briquets'
- Oxford Dictionary: 'Charcoal': a porous black solid, consisting of an amorphous form of carbon, obtained as a residue when wood, bone, or other organic matter is heated in the absence of air.
- According to Oxford Charcoal is a more wide term. Charcoal is simply a form of carbon. Briquets, lump charcoal are all charcoal
When I grill I’m not so concerned about speed, a few beers while doing it makes it enjoyable.
Glad to see you're still enjoying your retirement, should have asked for more ransom money though :D
Wait, you drink beer when you grill too? I drink beer when I grill! We gotta tell more people about this, it's an amazing combination. Also drinking beer when you're not grilling is pretty great too, which is what I'm doing now
@@adamcoe salute.
I give the chimney a little shake after 5-8 minutes. You can flip the cold coals lower.
I agree. I let my starting chimney stop smoking. Then drop the coals in my Weber.
Maybe you should consider only using lump charcoal instead of briquettes, which are natural and have no fillers. Then do this test all over again.
Cooked over wood and multiple charcoal types for decades. The equipment and fuels have become nearly cost prohibitive. We now support some of the great local BBQ joints and spend more time playing with the grandkids.
I use wood on offset bbq and sometimes cook on the gas grill. When my grandkids come over, I get them involved in cooking. That is one way we spend time together.
@@brianzachary5618 agree. Ours are a little too young yet.
Great tips! Nice lawn!
We've gotten a lot of rain lately. It'll be hot soon enough and it won't look as good, but I'll enjoy it while I can!
This mans lawn is superb!
Always use natural lump charcoal and you’ll never have to worry about ashing over. Throw a piece hardwood on for a smoky taste and start cooking.
I agree that waiting until ashed over is a waste. Especially if you’re using a chimney since the bottom coals will be ashed way before the tops do. You can smell the chem burn off in half that time. The other thing is getting some chem in your food isn’t going to make a difference. If u have ever seen kettle grill snaking coals they have zero chem burn off but u don’t taste it since it’s so small in the overall cook.
I use briquettes very rarely i prefer to use lump charcoal it gets hotter and gives a better flavor in my opinion 🤷
My empirical wisdom after 25+ years with the same Weber 22" Weber grill is that:
1. In order to get ANY fuel -- briquettes, lump, or mixed charcoal and hardwood chunks -- to burn properly, you MUST have a can or bottle Lawn Mower Swill in hand (PBR our Miller, never Bud, and a long-neck bottle is best).
2. The fuel in the chimney is ready when you finish the beer. On hot days when I'm thirsty, it goes a little faster than cool rainy days.
I like and usually use Kingsford "standard" briquettes. I use the paraffin cubes like you show. I usually add a few hardwood chunks to the grill (for flavor) after pouring coals. I prefer rails to baskets -- they're more versatile.
Instead of paraffin cubes I use the paper bag the charcoal came in.....no waste and you paid for the bag so may as well use it.
@joecenturion I've never had success using the charcoal bag as the starter. I tried the tumbleweed starters for the first time the other day and found the coals were ready faster with far less smoke compared to using any type of paper.
@joeceturion, @karlrovey: For anyone who gets more than one cook from a bag (I usually get 4-5), using the bag isn't even an option. The bag is hard to light (I've tried it) and doesn't burn nearly as hot as paraffin The result is a very unreliable method.
In addition to being very hard to light, the bag is loaded with ink and other chemicals. To the extent that anyone is concerned about chemicals being transferred to the charcoal or food, then nearly all paper is worse than the Weber paraffin cubes. Even brand new newsprint is usually made from recycled paper -- which means there is no way to even know what chemicals and toxins it contains. Perhaps brand new copy-quality plain white paper could be used, but even that nearly always contains chemical brighteners. The notion that starting a chimney with paper is cleaner or safer than paraffin is a woefully incorrect urban myth.
The Royal Oak tumbleweed starters (the only brand I investigated) also have wax (probably paraffin). They strike me as comparable to the Weber cubes.
Purists with access to wooded property could probably use the same sort of kindling that primitive campers use -- tiny twigs, birch bark, and so on. Not dry leaves, by the way -- lots of smoke and very little heat.
An option that I've never tried but that at least sounds like fun is a butane or propane torch applied directly to the bottom layer of charcoal through the openings in the chimney.
As a scientist and engineer, I'm very confident none of these choices makes any measurable difference to the ultimate fire (so long as we're not talking about "matchlight" charcoal). The paraffin cubes light easily and burn completely because the petroleum distillates they contain are VERY volatile. That means they're long gone by the time the food goes on the grill. The same is also true for lighter fluid, but that's a whole other thing.
For newcomers to chimney starters, paraffin cubes (or perhaps Tumbleweed Starters) are far and away the easiest option. They light every time, it's easy to see and confirm that they're burning before you put the chimney on them, and they reliably start the charcoal in the chimney every time. FWIW, I always use 2 and I've never had a failure in years of use.
@@thomasstambaugh5181 I definitely agree with you. I tried the tumbleweeds because that's what the local hardware store has. If I get some paraffin wax, I could probably make some of my own (I've got a lot of suitable wood shavings from "noodling" firewood).
So what happens with charcoal or briquettes when you need to add more to a grill for long cooking times or using the snake method?
You just add them to the grill. Most Weber grates now have a section by each handle that lifts up for easy access.
I can swear the same thing, I would go through more on the fuel when leaving them ash over. Easily I would go almost a whole bag.
I usually just wait until the smoke clears up.
which is why we mostly use our gas BBQ (even though we have 3 briquette style Weber bbqs)
Waiting for them to all ash is like burning money. You're paying for that heat might as well use it
You are using charcoal briquettes, which is confusing to me because charcoal means lump to me. Anyway there is a lot of smoke when I use briquettes and just fire them up. The smoke is not tasty and I wait untii it is gone. When I use lump charcoal, I don't have that problem and I can put the meat on sooner and it makes a nice charcoal flavor as it slowly combusts. I have stayed away from using lump because I found it burned too fast and was using briquettes mixed with lump for longevity and flavor. I am using the firebox in my offset for grilling, which has a grate. A few days back, I removed the grate and put the charcoal right on the bottom of the firebox. This had significantly longer burn time and it burned at a lower temperature. I used much less lump charcoal, so I guess I could have added some more for more heat. I also could have played with the vents and closed the lid of the firebox.
Anyway, so now I am excited to run the offset on lump charcoal without the grate to see what ribs come out like because I can get a reasonable run time instead of burning half a bag.
No starter cubes. I save a cup of bacon grease in the freezer and put a small chunk in a piece of paper folded like a square and put it in with the crumpled paper as usual. The grease helps the fire burn longer to start your coals better.
Dude, the weber cubes are like $5 for 24. It makes things so much easier to just grab a cube.
If you use lump, you'll have less "impurities" as there are no binders etc. I agree with the core of this video though, no need to wait till all is white.
Interested in your video to find out about this and 13 sec in a damn ad. UGH. Great video btw!
Bro, you know your stuff!
Yeah, I agree, is a waste to get your charcoal in a chimney fully asked over. I've always just let it go until the smoke stopped and it was burning clean. Besides, when you pour it out, you are putting the less burned coals onto the bottom with the hot coals on top and it just makes for a longer burning fire.
I generally set up the grill with a hot side/cool side and will usually start dumping the coals in the middle then pour most on the hot side. That way I can put the coals that aren't based over on top of the ones that are.
I like the taste of what I'm grilling better when it's fully lit.
It depends on your purpose, right? If I’m doing an 8hr low and slow smoke with the slow n sear, then I’m just getting a portion of the coals “white hot” and then going from there. But if I’m grilling fajita steaks and just need 10-15 min of med-high heat, then I’m getting the whole batch white hot…albeit a smaller batch. But I think your point is that in the latter scenario (fajita steaks), I still don’t have to wait on the whole batch to get white? Makes sense. Thanks!
When you want a quick high heat briquettes are the wrong fuel for the job anyway, get yourself some lump charcoal!
What do you do to that small sized charcoal at the bottom of the bag? Most of the time it represents about 1/3 of the weight we buy for. It also slows the hell down the time to light the charcoal...
I never use brickets, always lumpwood, big difference I feel.
If you can’t control temps with lump it’s user error.
Anybody who doesn't know this shouldn't be cooking with charcoal or grilling in the first place.
I see recommendations to let the coals ash over then posting slow cooks with most of the coals unlit.
That's a little different process. They call that the minion method where a few coals light the other ones. That gets a good hot fire, but keeps you cooking low and slow.
Also by letting burn to while. Your loosing all the charcoal SMOKE AS WELL,, Like burning wood until its white hot. Loosing a lot of flavor, as well as cooking. cause you can shut it down and save the wood for another cook as well
You want flavor? use a small chunk of wood
@@nategibbons172 That seem to work well to, but not always. Large pieces can burn, and be put out, to use again👉👉It all depend on? If it cure out or GREEN? I like Green wood. That seem to be where the smoke flavor come from the best. Dried cured out wood, seems to have LESS FLAVOR, and burn hotter than green wood. with less smoke
@@426superbee4 you don’t use green wood to smoke. Buy a bag of wood chunks apple, pecan, hickory. whatever you want and throw a chunk on the coals when grilling
Another great video Ryan!🔥
Thanks again for all of the support!
One wonders if the reason the mfg recommends letting the charcoal ash over is that you will use 20% more product per cook.
when i use it though it blows black smoke off it until ashed over, probably dont want that in my food
Rob Halford from the band Judas Priest has a song named White heat red hot.🤘🏻🤘🏻
My first Judas Priest concert was June 6th 1980 in Midland Texas. Good times! ✌️
@@AzTurboMini yep, mine in Houston. Heavy metal will survive, wimpy music must die. My motto anyways🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻
Your briquettes are ready when the billowing smoke stops to a trickle or less - that means your fire is healthy
Has the app for the spider venom gotten better? I actually returned mine because the app would not work and I was getting a probe error for the grill grate probe.
I haven't had any probe errors and I got one of the original Venoms. The Venom keeps going along, but I end up closing and opening the app to stay connected on a long cook. I mentioned that in the will it survive a rainstorm video and thought the venom was toast, but it was just the app.
Do you have a 26 inch , like to have a comparison between 22 vs 26
I'm not cool enough to have a 26 inch kettle. I've been able to make it work with the 22 or an extra 22 if I really need it.
Where can we find the charcoal basket?
Why don't you just pick up the chimney and give the charcoal a shake to rotate the coals around so that they all light up evenly???
Unless you want a shower of sparks hitting your face and the rest of your body, I would recommend not doing this
@@mikemccabe8015 So true. Super funny.
Don't use lighter fluid or charcoal with chemicals in it.
you talk about charcoal, but use brickets.. that is a big difference! And even so.. it depends on what you are cooking. Brickets and a chimney, then white hot is a solid method.
Thanks, I appreciate the insight.
I wait until I can see red coals at the top of the 3 vent holes on the side of a Webber charcoal chimney.
I agree with using lump Throw some apple wood on there. Oh yea
Try some pecan wood. 👌
I usually just wait till the white smoke stops then I dump my charcoal and get cooking
i do the same because if you wait too long the charcoal at the bottom will be mostly ash and useless
If you don't rise to the occasion, you fall to the level of your training...
😊
If you dont want the taste of the binding polymer from your partially lit method... use lump charcoal not charcoal briquettes. Also real charcoal is more reusable.
You are spot on!
Great information
Lump hardwood is the best. Period.
I stopped using the chimney as it unevenly lights the coals. Also, the initial smoke wafts over to my neighbors, and that's rude. BTW, using newspaper is not better than starter fluid. Newsprint contains ink and chemicals that are not regulated like lighter fluid.
Dude what’s with you buddies at sns coming out with charcoal baskets?! Wasn’t the slow n sear supposed to replace them?!?!?
I'm glad somebody said it.
@@GrillTopExperience right?! Isn’t that going backwards?!
good info
first off, thank you, this is exactly the question that's been bothering me. i have 2 followups if you'd be so kind.
in your experience with the spider venom, if you need to add more charcoal mid cook, can you add them cold? or would you recommend preheating them for 12-15 minutes to burn off the 'bad-smoke' ignition components. or is there a way to add enough charcoal in 1 chimney for an entire overnight brisket cook?
What was that white cube he used to start it?
Those are Weber lighter cubes. You can find them at any place that sells Weber stuff.
@@GrillTopExperience Thank you! Wow how did i never know about those
@@ninjaraphThere are a number of fire starters out there. Plus you can use a brown paper grocery bag sprayed with cooking oil also. I use olive oil for mine.
Use lump. 600 all day. Lights faster burns hotter longer (less cost)
Does anyone know why I would feel sick cooking with b&b
Thank you kindly...!
good vid dood!!!