I’ve come to the realization that grilling over charcoal just isn’t for me, I have tried numerous times to try to like this but I just can’t do it anymore. Tonight was the final straw. Gas grill was out of commission with the burner tubes in the process of being replaced.

I brined up boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into sandwich size, then coated with a seasoning paste with oil. Got my charcoal started with a chimney, then placed that into the grill and piled more charcoal briquettes on top and waited…and waited…and waited. It was an hour just getting the charcoal to the white hot stage, then I’m putting my chicken on and it’s either on freaking fire or doing nothing. Ugh

In all that time I could have heated up the gas grill, cooked and eaten and be cleaning up in the time it took for me to get the damn charcoal going.

I think I am done trying to grill over charcoal and I’ll stick with my gas grill from now on, it’s just not feasible for me at this point.

I’ll keep the charcoal for doing smoking, I think running a charcoal snake and a kettle works very well for smoking meats, I’m just not good at grilling with it.

Maybe other people here have better luck with charcoal, but I’m not sure if I’m doing something wrong here or what.

I like cooking over charcoal, did propane for years, got tired of gas grills lasting 3 to 7 years then falling into a pile of rust.

Agree starting up the lump coals takes time, and it's a bit more of the ceremonial process of cooking over lump coal. You have to make time for starting it up, if not it can turn crappy quick.

I got the Kick Ash Basket for the birthday and a butane/blower starter, fire up the flame, hit the coals, then turn on the blower to accelerate the start up.

Have to admit many times its just me and a piece of chicken or burger, steak and it's a lot of production and waste of lump charcoal for one item.

Might get me a small counter top propane grill for those times I just want a quick cook...

Unless you were doing a ton of chicken breasts what fits in the chimney was enough. They will get plenty hot in the chimney and when you dump them keep them in a nice pile off to the side. Then put your chicken breasts on the other side and use indirect heat.

With that said I’m now either gas or pellet.

I only use charcoal, sold my gas grill a few years ago. I use a chimney and I takes 15-20 minutes for the lump charcoal to be ready. I don’t wait for it to be completely white, when I see some white and it stops putting off smoke I dump it. When dumping the charcoal for burgers, steak, chicken or chops the charcoal is dumped on one side of the grill. This way I can sear the meat about 1.5 minutes per side then move it to the other half of the grill so it cooks slower with indirect heat. If I’m cooking hot dogs or bratwurst I dump the charcoal in the center and cook those on the outer edges. But nothing wrong with sticking with the gas if that’s your preference.

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Originally posted by 1s1k:
Then put your chicken breasts on the other side and use indirect heat.

But isn’t that basically roasting the chicken? I want grilled chicken, not roasted or baked.

Yep, one of the keys to successful grilling with charcoal is to keep half the cooking surface free of charcoal. You can cook directly over the charcoal for searing, then move the food away to cook indirectly.

Putting the lid on also stops flare-up.

I am a lump hardwood guy ... I look at it as a romance, like shaving with a straight edge ... some things to me are best taken slowly.

Starting charcoal you should use a chimney, highly recommended and much faster than trying to build the perfect pile, not to mention the amount briquets in a chimney is usually just enough to cook a meal. Gas is great as there's minimal clean-up and you don't have to worry about dumping ash....I get it.

Crumple-up a newspaper or one of these at the bottom, light and give it 15-20 minutes to get going. Once flames are coming out of the top and the briquets are half ashed-over, dump it into the grill, arrange coals so you have an indirect cooking area. Put the grates on, give it another 10-minutes for the grates to heat up, clean, oil and start grilling. Move your meat between direct and indirect heat, and use the cover to help the cooking process.

Also pro-tip, pull the meat you plan to cook out of the fridge at-least an hour before grilling. If you're attempting to grill cold meat, you're starting at the far end of the thermometer, by the time the insides are edible the outside is likely over-cooked, dried-up, or, charred.

We used charcoal over a beach trip as the rental had a built-in fire-box like you'd use at a park or pavillion. While the taste was great, it was really hit or miss on how fast the briquets would get white hot. My wife did comment on how my burgers tasted better with charcoal than on the gas at home.

Solution? I got a stainless wood chip smoker box and will use that on the gas setup at home. I tried it tonight with dry hickory chips and got a good smoke going about 10min in. Sadly, I ran out of propane and didn't want to swap out the cylinder from the fire table/lava rock setup. We had +2 but someone swiped an empty one from the side of the house or the shed so I'll have to order +2 refills and a net new this time around.

You gotta do what makes you happy and if that means propane then go for it.
When people tell me charcoal takes too long I usually tell them it takes me about 5 minutes to light it then I go do something else for about 40 minutes. Dump the chimney, spread it out, and go inside to get the food ready. You really need two zone cooking on charcoal to prevent incinerating things. I picked up a bag of Red Devil lump recently and there was a learning curve because it burns so hot.

Understand the sentiment. It does take time.

I do however stand by my usual mantra: If it's worth grilling, it's worth using charcoal.

quote:

Originally posted by tigereye313:
Understand the sentiment. It does take time.

I do however stand by my usual mantra: If it's worth grilling, it's worth using charcoal.

Hell to the yes! Charcoal is the only way I grill. Grill height to coal is the trick. Mine is 8-9 inches more heat more coals less heat less coals works every time. But I have been cooking on my BBQ pit for 20 something years

I'm with Pasig on this one. I love the taste that comes with charcoal or wood, but don't have the time to wait around. Rarely do I have a day when I have nothing planned or nothing I want to get done. Mix that with working a ton of ot during the week, and my little bit of extra time I may have is too precious to me to sit around waiting on charcoal. I'll stick with propane. With that said, was down in the outer banks in the spring, we did nothing all week but relax and drink and eat and I had all the time in the world for the grill to take it's time.

Hank Hill would be pleased.

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Got my charcoal started with a chimney, then placed that into the grill and piled more charcoal briquettes on top…

Did you dump the lit coals into the grill and pile unlit coals on top or did you put the chimney with the lit coals in the grill and full it with unlit coals?

If it was the former, then that’s your issue. Even the later would take longer and is extra work. Fill the chimney with the amount of coals you need and light it. Like what’s already been mentioned, when flames are coming out there top, the smoke is thin to almost clear, and the coals on top are starting to ash, they’re ready to be dumped into the grill.

Of course, if you were filling your chimney and that wasn’t enough coals, then are you using the right size chimney? Weber has two sizes and the generic one that a lot of places carry is about the size off the smaller Weber.

I bought the 26” kettle for our house in Michigan and used it twice a week. The coals were always ready in 10-15 minutes, dump the coals in, and then another 10 minutes to preheat the grill. I used the time for prep work.

Propane is easier and works well but I just prefer grilling over charcoal, or wood. For lighting the charcoal my Weber uses a gas burner which only takes about 5 minutes. Then shut the burner off, wait 10-15 more minutes and it's ready to move the pile over to one side and set the grill on and cook. The little gas cylinder lasts me a season.

When I have the time I use less charcoal but add small, split pieces of well seasoned cherry on top but instead of waiting 10-15 minutes this takes 30 or so.

After 30 years of dealing with charcoal I was tired of it. Dumped it last year and went with a Wood Pellet Grill. So much less hassle.

I have never needed more than one chimney of coal. I think you’re making this more complicated than required.

I primarily use my gas or pellet grill but still keep the Weber kettle grill around because I love the flavor of charcoal.

2 things make cooking on the Weber easy:

1. Ditch the chimneys and electric lighter crap. Dump charcoal into grill, stack it for direct or indirect, douse with lighter fluid and light. I have a huge pile of charcoal ready to cook on in 25 minutes or less.

2. Use the indirect cooking method for things like chicken, make two piles of coal on the outside edges of the grill and cook in the middle. If you want the sear and grill marks on the chicken, throw it over the coals when it's near temp.

Once I started using indirect I loved cooking on charcoal. The only things I do direct on charcoal are burgers and steaks.

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I like to use a propane torch to kick the charcoal in the ass and get it going.

Works great.
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