Bringing this guy home with me soon. Have never used charcoal, only ever done propane. Hank Hill will be pissed at me.
While I’m excited to get going, I know I’m a beginner. What are some must have items or mistakes you made when you first started? Any and all advice welcomed. Chimney starter and coal rake are already secured, so got that covered. Thanks!
by houston_longhorn
18 Comments
for high heat grilling, lump charcoal and a 2 zone set up are your friends
That’s so purdy….
If you just gotta get it dirty…. vortex.
Temp control at most. A full chimney is not always required. You can always add more fuel.
Other than that you’re ready to go. Thermometer is a must.
Wal-Mart is going to be your best friend. They have their Expert Grill accessories which are quality and super affordable. Get a Chimney for sure and also the Fire & Flavor fire starter cubes (cheapest for what they are. They also have great prices on different types of Wood (hickory,apple,cherry,mesquite) and tons of coals.
Charcoal get at Sams Club or Costco (if you can) they have great prices and right now Costco has their Kirkland Briquettes, 30LB for 15 bucks.
Lastly get a Slow and Sear. Helps if you want to do some 2 zone cooking by separting the coals and also has a water champer for smoking. If you dont’ want to spend that much lookup Bro n Sear, its a DIY version without the water chamber.
Happy Grilling!
Here’s a long list to throw at you since I’m a beginner myself (approaching about a dozen cooks on any grilling method so far. I’mhoping to make it to novice soon.
Make sure to have a hinged grate so you can adjust your coals as needed without having to remove it. Learn how to make firestarters rather than having to buy them. Get a water pan. Learn how the airflow affects the coal temperature. Learn how to smoke/slow cook with the snake method or other planned burn coal strategies. Learn how to use briquettes first, then jump to lump charcoal, then learn how to incorporate woods. The 1st one is very controlled, the other brings in the variable of different sized pieces, and finally the last one brings in different sized pieces, different wood types, different moisture contents, it’s a whole bag of cats that’s taking/taken me awhile to get the hang of. Most here are masters of temperature and smoke control and don’t discuss it much. The learning curve has been tough for me.
Don’t buy a bunch of accessories right away. People will recommend all sorts of stuff but honestly most of them won’t improve your cooking.
In my opinion the only “must haves” are a chimney and an instant read thermometer. If you want to smoke meat, an ambient air/meat thermometer will greatly increase your chances of success.
My brother
https://preview.redd.it/psy1ae9438vg1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c5a089aa967f0d2a56fae2a77f2009d4c556af8f
Vortex as others have mentioned, is an easy choice.
There’s a ton of accessories that I love that vary in “must have” priorities for me. Gathering stuff over time as you decide how committed you are, and what stuff you enjoy cooking.
My list kind of in order of “priority”:
Must haves:
Grilling tools (for me, this is long food tongs and a spatula, I don’t use a BBQ fork)
“dirty” tongs for coals, opening hot cooking grates, or touching other hot/dirty stuff
Instant read thermometer
Grill gloves or latex gloves with liners (I have some extremely high heat fabric style and high heat rubber coated ones)
Small hand broom to brush ash into the Ash catcher
Metal bucket for collecting ash or partially used coals (I have two, one I use for ash, which I use for gardening, and one I use for unspent coals which can be reused)
Extremely useful no matter your cooking style:
Vortex
WiFi or blue tooth temperature probe unit
Raised rack (Slow n Sear makes an awesome one that essentially gives you another half kettle worth of grill space, for me this is a must have)
From there, if you really get into it nice to have extras:
A Santa Maria attachment (my new favorite toy)
Rib rack (holds the ribs on their side for more space efficiency)
I am a huge fan of Slow n Sear products, I have the Slow n Sear deluxe, drip n griddle pan with roasting rack, their easy spin grill grate, the raised rack like I mentioned before. The Slow n Sear is fantastic for doing low and slow, the griddle pan is good as a catch pan, or as a small griddle.
That’s all I can think of now.
Happy grilling!
Slow n Sear is a great addition to the arsenal
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I use a Vortex look-alike a lot. I also use the charcoal baskets for regular two zone bbq.
I just got the same grill a few weeks ago! Been lurking in this subreddit for a few years though. I’ve done some good wings and a moderately successful rack of ribs so far!
So far my mistakes have been pulling things too early. I’ve been smoking rather than just plane Jane grilling and I’m finding temp is more of a guidance rather than hard and fast like it is on a gas grill.
Both my chicken and ribs were done temp wise, but could have used some more time on there. If you decide to do some smoking just remember learning is part of the process and you might not get it right on the first try.
Enjoy your purdy green grill, I sure as heck have enjoyed mine so far!
Weber Charcoal Heat Controller. You can put charcoal in the middle of the center cone for high heat cooking just like a vortex. If you put the charcoal on the outside and use the diffuser plate, the entire grill surface is unlocked for indirect heat cooks or smoking.
I can smoke 3 racks of ribs or a whole brisket with it. You can fit a lot more charcoal in a ring pattern than you can with the snake method. This means that you can do longer cooks without having to add more charcoal as it dies out because you’re starting with more fuel but cooking at the same temp.
Also, get some tumbleweed fire starters. With my chimney, I was always looking for scrap paper or dousing paper towels with cooking oil. With the tumbleweeds, I don’t even use the chimney anymore.
Get a chimney starter and charcoal baskets. I keep a jar of cotton balls soaking in alcohol to light the chimney with. Also, when cooking burgers, about half a chimney will be plenty.
That coal rake you got is underrated.
Welding gloves.
I like short tongs.
Next time at the store grab a bag of wood chunks. Then some St Louis style ribs. A rub. Sauce. Bank the coals to one side, a few chunks, meat on the either. Bottom vent 3/4 closed, adjust with the top vent.
Vortex, Vortex, vortex!!!!! 🙂
Others have given great advice. One thing I WILL say though is DO NOT GET A WIRE BRUSH. There’s plenty of stories of people that have to get surgery to remove wires that got into their throat. I recommend scrub daddy for cleaning your grates, or anything that isn’t a wire brush.
This has all been so helpful. I’m excited to be part of the Weber fam. Really appreciate you guys, I’m noting everything that’s been said!
I got my first weber master touch over the winter. I got the grey 22 master touch on Amazon. I bought a cheap cover, the weber chimney and a pair of high heat gloves.
For the first few cooks I was using the charcoal rails that came with the kettle. They work good. When I go to lowes I go into the BBQ Section and see what is on clearance. One day I was able to pickup on clearance the weber heat controller and a kingsford half chimney for 37 dollars.
After that the accessories I bought a lot from walmart: I got the themopro wired probes, I didn’t pay that much for it.
I get the aluminum pans from the dollar tree a few different sizes. about 2 weeks ago I picked up the weber charcoal baskets and bolts to make the “bro n Sear”.
Finally, I get my Charcoal from walmart B&B for 10 bucks a bag. I also get the Weber wax cubes pack at lowes for 6 dollars a box.
I am still learning vent settings. what had helped me is a a video from Mr. Flavorsmith. and marking your bottom vents (full open / half open /quarter open). I will link the video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1AFuWwIN0Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1AFuWwIN0Y)