Ok. Soooo I have always cooked with gas grills. We bought our first charcoal grill and have no clue how to use the dang thing. Is there supposed to be a fire? Is there supposed to just be coals? Is it supposed to smoke? How do I know when they’re lit? Does this picture look like the charcoal is heating up? Idk what I’m doing here 😅
by kwhit9876
6 Comments
Looks like it was poorly lit. You should invest in a charcoal chimney starter so all the coals are lit evenly. you wont be able to cook anything they way it is now. You want the coals grey or glowing red producing heat.
Spread evenly
Squirt a little lighter fluid on the charcoal
Build a pyramid
Squirt a little more lighter fluid
Light in a couple places.
Fire will die down
Make sure the charcoal is getting oxygen
Once charcoal has turned white spread them out to make a nice bed of coals.
Place grill on top.
Let the grill get hot, 4-5 minutes.
Clean grill with brush or foil
Wait about 2 minutes before adding meat/veggies
Getting a chimney starter will save you any future headaches with getting charcoal lit nice and hot. When I first started I was also really confused with what the hell I was even doing. With the chimney you’ll have hot coals in 15 minutes no problem.
I was in the same spot a couple of weekends ago!! Everything I have read since, says what everyone is saying here. Get a chimney starter.
Yeah just get a chimney, fill it up and put a fire starter under it. Wait until the coals are white coated and dump it all into that pan. Put your grate back on, close your lid and open your top vent and bottom vent all the way and let your grates warm up for a bit.
I have the same grill as you and I don’t even bother only doing half, just spread out your charcoal evenly across the whole bottom after you dump it out of the chimney.
You should pile them up in the center and use some lighter cubes or even fluid to light it. Some folks don’t like the taste or smell but it eventually burns off. You can also use a charcoal chimney to hold a bunch of charcoal and get it lit and wait for it to be an even white layer.
It also depends on what you’re cooking and how much. If you’re only going to make a few hot dogs or burgers, that’s plenty of charcoal but if you have more food, you’ll need to add coals as you go. They need to be all white to get going. You have to then spread them around and keep an area with less or no charcoal to allow for a cooler side as food cooks to avoid burning. Try holding your hand over the coals when they’re lit. If you can hold them there for more than 2 seconds then it’s not hot enough. You have to keep lit coals together and touching for them to stay hot.
It looks like this grill has that wire rack so once you’re done adjusting the coals and get this rack on, you can’t move it around much when food is on it so you have to experiment for the amount of food you have. It’s just like the gas grill but with the coals for heat and they burn down and lose heat. Fanning the coals or using a small battery fan helps me keep the coals lit and super hot.