Hello I bought a cheap kettle grills with my housemates and we've been using it with moderate success for a year but I still feels like it's not performing great.
I've looked around and most similar models seem to have a secondary grill where you place charcoal and some holes on the bottom while mine only has holes on the upper sides and has a full metal basket to place the coals in which I think may be the culprit for our problems with keeping the temperature up (we wanted to sloow cook some meat but by putting the lid on the temp was dropping a lot (warm).
Are we supposed to put the coals into the basket or what? Thanks for any help
by boshibobo
7 Comments
Get a smaller grate for the coals to burn on under the main grate. This will allow for better air flow on your charcoal and more consistent burning.
Is the problem that you haven’t been able to achieve liquid state with what appears to be 10 lbs of lump in one go?
u/bluegrassgazer is right. Use a charcoal grate below your cooking grate. You may need to drill more holes under the charcoal grate for air flow.
If you are in the US, rather than waste a lot of time trying to fix your current grill, I would just look on Craigslist for an inexpensive Weber kettle.
Everyone else is correct. The reason is AIRFLOW. Fire and coals need air to get/stay hot. In fact, all modern (good) charcoal grills have adjustable vents that allow you to control the airflow which in turn controls temperature.
So the grate will allow air to get under the coals. But without holes in the bottom, you would only be able to grill with the lid off.
You’re also using Natural Lump. Which is fantastic and I love it, but for a cheap little grill like this, briquettes might be better for you. They will work well in a single thin layer and provide even heat. Grilling with lump works better when it’s.. well… in a lump, and you can get a nice big pocket of heat going.
In addition to the airflow issues, check out some stuff on the snake method for longer low and slow cooking.
As others have said. Drill some holes in the bottom pan, get a smaller grate to sit the coals on. And massively reduce the amount of charcoal you’re trying to burn at the same time!
Steel bucket underneath will catch most of the ash.
Or, just keep an eye out for a cheap second hand Weber kettle. I messed around with cheap kettles for 10 years before I got a proper Weber and the difference is night and day. I would have saved a lot of money if I’d got the Weber to start with. Bit like the parable of Vines’ boots.
A grill like this isn’t meant for low and slow cooking. It’s meant for fast direct cooking (burgers, chicken, steaks, etc) You need to cook with the lid off or the coals will smother and you with get dirty over smoked meat.
You can drill holes as others suggest, but there’s not really an easy way to make it adjustable to regulate temp throughout cooks like that. The modifications it would take to make it a real smoker you’d be better off making one from scratch.
Best option is use this for basic cooks and search the internet for a small cheap vertical smoker or an adjustable kettle.