Tell me about charcoal grills

[Augie]

7 hours ago, sherpa said:

We have two.

The Mrs. uses the Weber for simple stuff, like hamburgers.

I use the Primo XL, a high quality, US made Kamado.

 

Lump charcoal only. Briquettes are full of glue to bind. That's the crap that's left over when they burn out.

I use a DigiQ controller for temp control, which is critical on low/slow cooks, and for anything I really care about.

For pizza, I just open everything up and let it get to about 500.

 

 

I don’t even know anything about charcoal. I’ve always been a gas guy. (Sure, have fun with that!) My son is a CPA and one client he spent a bunch of time on was a charcoal manufacturer. Learned a lot about the process on that assignment. 

[sherpa]

40 minutes ago, Augie said:

 

 Is Kamado a style? 

 

As I understand it, Kamado is a ceramic construct.

What I do know is that they hold moisture and heat much better than a Weber or other grills designed for short, kinda hot cooking.

 

My Primo will go for 15 hours on a not full load of lump, and whatever I cook will retain moisture far better than an indoor oven, and certainly better than any Weber, but that's using the DigiQ to control temp, which is does to the degree.

 

If all that's needed is to cook the basics, a Weber is fine.

 

If you want to do pulled pork, brisket or chicken/turkey low and slow, or anything really fast and really hot, like pizza, a Komado is the way to go, and as they say on the Nakid Whiz, (a Komado site), if you use briquettes, the terrorists have won.

Edited August 13, 2019 by sherpa

[Gugny]

50 minutes ago, ShadyBillsFan said:

 

Pizza on a grill?    
I guess ...  who's have thunk it?

(some drunken college kids I bet) 

 

How cute.

 

Do you have a matching one in manly colors??

 

 

I've been making pizza on the grill all summer.  LOVE IT!

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

36 minutes ago, LeGOATski said:

I think it only comes in pink, because..you know...pigs are pink.

 

the "girly" eyelashes threw me off 

[Seasons1992]

Always go "fresh" Match Light charcoal. 

 

I agree with a standard Weber kettle as well.

[Augie]

6 hours ago, sherpa said:

 

As I understand it, Kamado is a ceramic construct.

What I do know is that they hold moisture and heat much better than a Weber or other grills designed for short, kinda hot cooking.

 

My Primo will go for 15 hours on a not full load of lump, and whatever I cook will retain moisture far better than an indoor oven, and certainly better than any Weber, but that's using the DigiQ to control temp, which is does to the degree.

 

If all that's needed is to cook the basics, a Weber is fine.

 

If you want to do pulled pork, brisket or chicken/turkey low and slow, or anything really fast and really hot, like pizza, a Komado is the way to go, and as they say on the Nakid Whiz, (a Komado site), if you use briquettes, the terrorists have won.

 

OK, I’m learning more about this now. Looks to me like the Primo is thou$ands rather than hundred$. We love our son, but......?

 

How long do these things last? There is a Vision C series from Home Depot for $500 with 302 inches of cooking space. For $700 there is the big brother with 604 inches (by having two racks rather than one), plus an electric ignition and a removable ash tray. He didn’t want to mention that and seem greedy, but if these things last a long time I don’t want to go cheap. He may be married with kids in high school and need double the room to cook for the football team! (We used to feed the football team A LOT! Mountains of pizza boxes in our trash!)   

 

Apparently the ash tray slightly impairs maintaining the perfect seal and temp. One review said you just had to check it every couple of hours. That seems like a minor trade-off if it eases cleaning that much, but then...I have no idea how you clean them! Lol

 

The extra $200 seems well worth it. His GF is a vegetarian (so no slow cooked meats for her!) but I know when I grill veggies quite often and they take up a lot of space. 

[Augie]

6 hours ago, Gugny said:

 

I've been making pizza on the grill all summer.  LOVE IT!

 

I’m not sure what happened to out pizza stone! We used to make a lot of pizzas on the grill. We started slowly, though. Our first few pies were shaped like Texas, Tennessee and Kentucky. Eventually things “rounded out” some with practice. Then......the wife ditched gluten and dairy. Bye Bye pizza! It was fun to have people over and have everybody do their own thing. Made for a nice evening. 

[US Egg]

Tell you about charcoal grills ? 

 

Well there's this:

 

 

Edited August 14, 2019 by I am the egg man

[CoachT]

I cook with coal a lot, definitely get a charcoal starter. Saves you time, energy and you'll get perfect coals every time.

 

Lighter fluids will ruin the taste and can be dangerous. Lady my mom knows got burned this year at a picnic.

 

and that's the bbq I got .. it was like $300 brand new and you get both gas and coal/smoker. 

[Say When...]

On 8/12/2019 at 7:15 PM, Augie said:

My son is looking into nice charcoal grill. As you may already know, I’m far too lazy and convenience oriented for such things. If I had room for both, I would have both, but I don’t. I know there was already a thread on this a while back, but I went back 20+ pages and searched “grill” and came up empty (but got some laughs looking at the old threads!). 

 

Any advice on what works best for you? Pros and cons? Anything to avoid? Best and worst brands? Best value? I know a lot of you know this stuff inside out. I know @plenzmd1, @CountryCletus, @Gugny and others are pros in this regard. Your suggestions are appreciated. Thanks! .

 

about 3 years ago Charbroil introduced the gas2Coal line and i grabbed the middle-sized grill in the line and have never looked back.  In fact i've gone online and bought every individual part so i can frankenstein my original grill and keep it operational in this dastardly Florida weather.

 

has a charcoal pan that extends the entire surface area, I can lump up charcoal (Kingsford applewood) in 1/3 sections so i can utilize the direct/indirect heating based on my audience.  Use the gas to heat up the coals, once they start turning gray, turn the gas off and start cooking.  it will also allow soaked smoking chips and i'll sometimes cook on straight applewood if i really want to infuse that smoky flavor, you can regulate heat through propane as necessary, I'm really happy with it and it's a price you cannot beat.

 

it's a simple design, comes in 3 & 4 burner.

 

https://www.charbroil.com/gas2coal-3-burner-hybrid-grill-463370519

 

 

 

[BillsFan4]

I love my Weber grill. Very well built. Heavy duty. Holds the heat. 

 

All Weber (charcoal and most gas) grills come with a 10 year warranty too. 

 

 

 

 

Does anyone use one of those wood chip fed grills (pellet grill)?

 

https://www.traegergrills.com/pellet-grills/other-grills/junior-elite-20-pellet-grill?utm_source=google&utm_campaign=1823216362&utm_kwd=&gclid=Cj0KCQjw4s7qBRCzARIsAImcAxYq6jE8yb_pH02y5hDqll_U9Msj3oNaOvSZEVGTgxntYxIIRaguKAIaAlPYEALw_wcB

 

I’ve heard a bunch of people say that they have an even better taste than charcoal. 

My uncle (who’s a huge food nut/chef) swears by his. 

Edited August 14, 2019 by BillsFan4

[AlCowlingsTaxiService]

If you have the time, a Weber kettle will do an awesome job at a reasonable cost.  Always been curious about the Green Egg, but not at that cost.  Already spent a pretty penny on my Weber Genesis gas grill

[Gugny]

54 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said:

I love my Weber grill. Very well built. Heavy duty. Holds the heat. 

 

All Weber (charcoal and most gas) grills come with a 10 year warranty too. 

 

 

 

 

Does anyone use one of those wood chip fed grills (pellet grill)?

 

https://www.traegergrills.com/pellet-grills/other-grills/junior-elite-20-pellet-grill?utm_source=google&utm_campaign=1823216362&utm_kwd=&gclid=Cj0KCQjw4s7qBRCzARIsAImcAxYq6jE8yb_pH02y5hDqll_U9Msj3oNaOvSZEVGTgxntYxIIRaguKAIaAlPYEALw_wcB

 

I’ve heard a bunch of people say that they have an even better taste than charcoal. 

My uncle (who’s a huge food nut/chef) swears by his. 

 

@Cripple Creek

[Augie]

27 minutes ago, AlCowlingsTaxiService said:

If you have the time, a Weber kettle will do an awesome job at a reasonable cost.  Always been curious about the Green Egg, but not at that cost.  Already spent a pretty penny on my Weber Genesis gas grill

 

We bought that with our house 10 years ago. Not sure how long they had it or how old it is, but it does the job! Good size too. Every year my wife threatens to get a new one when they go on sale, but I really don’t know why. Being hooked up to the natural gas at the house is new to me. What a game changer! 

 

 

.

Edited August 14, 2019 by Augie

[plenzmd1]

2 hours ago, BillsFan4 said:

I love my Weber grill. Very well built. Heavy duty. Holds the heat. 

 

All Weber (charcoal and most gas) grills come with a 10 year warranty too. 

 

 

 

 

Does anyone use one of those wood chip fed grills (pellet grill)?

 

https://www.traegergrills.com/pellet-grills/other-grills/junior-elite-20-pellet-grill?utm_source=google&utm_campaign=1823216362&utm_kwd=&gclid=Cj0KCQjw4s7qBRCzARIsAImcAxYq6jE8yb_pH02y5hDqll_U9Msj3oNaOvSZEVGTgxntYxIIRaguKAIaAlPYEALw_wcB

 

I’ve heard a bunch of people say that they have an even better taste than charcoal. 

My uncle (who’s a huge food nut/chef) swears by his. 

My friend bought one..but he is lazy and hardly ever uses. From what he told me though..use as a smoker is great..but no way can a Traeger be used as a grill to sear. Lots o guys on the competition circuit use pellet smokers

[Cripple Creek]

7 hours ago, BillsFan4 said:

I love my Weber grill. Very well built. Heavy duty. Holds the heat. 

 

All Weber (charcoal and most gas) grills come with a 10 year warranty too. 

 

 

 

 

Does anyone use one of those wood chip fed grills (pellet grill)?

 

https://www.traegergrills.com/pellet-grills/other-grills/junior-elite-20-pellet-grill?utm_source=google&utm_campaign=1823216362&utm_kwd=&gclid=Cj0KCQjw4s7qBRCzARIsAImcAxYq6jE8yb_pH02y5hDqll_U9Msj3oNaOvSZEVGTgxntYxIIRaguKAIaAlPYEALw_wcB

 

I’ve heard a bunch of people say that they have an even better taste than charcoal. 

My uncle (who’s a huge food nut/chef) swears by his. 

I like mine.  It's finally broken in and I'm getting used to it.  It took some adjusting but I'm happy with what I've done.  I have a medium size Weber that I still use for steaks, but anything you want to smoke you can do with the Traeger.  

 

When I did brisket or shoulders on a Weber I was adding coals and wood chips all day long.  That's part of the experience, but, now I can enjoy the day whilst making fabulous food.

[RaoulDuke79]

On 8/13/2019 at 6:09 PM, Augie said:

 

OK, I’m learning more about this now. Looks to me like the Primo is thou$ands rather than hundred$. We love our son, but......?

 

How long do these things last? There is a Vision C series from Home Depot for $500 with 302 inches of cooking space. For $700 there is the big brother with 604 inches (by having two racks rather than one), plus an electric ignition and a removable ash tray. He didn’t want to mention that and seem greedy, but if these things last a long time I don’t want to go cheap. He may be married with kids in high school and need double the room to cook for the football team! (We used to feed the football team A LOT! Mountains of pizza boxes in our trash!)   

 

Apparently the ash tray slightly impairs maintaining the perfect seal and temp. One review said you just had to check it every couple of hours. That seems like a minor trade-off if it eases cleaning that much, but then...I have no idea how you clean them! Lol

 

The extra $200 seems well worth it. His GF is a vegetarian (so no slow cooked meats for her!) but I know when I grill veggies quite often and they take up a lot of space. 

I researched kamado grills for months. They are very versatile i.e. smoking, searing, grilling and you can even bake in it if you so choose. Big Green Egg is probably the most commonly known, but as others have mentioned there are brands such as Primo and Kamado Joe that are really good, but also really expensive. I ended up getting the Louisiana Grills model from Costco. It was $599, but we had reward money so I ended up getting it for around $300. I've had mine for about 5 months know and here's what I can tell you about it. This is the only one I've ever cooked on so I don't have anything to compare it to.

 

1. They are HEAVY. The gross weight of the entire package was ~300 lbs. Me and my buddy had a hard time loading it into my truck. I believe this is pretty much par for the course for all ceramic type kamado grills.

2.  Use hardwood lump charcoal only. The briquettes, especially those with lighter fluid in them will leach into the pours of the ceramic and will screw with the flavor.

3.  Depending on which style you buy, some accessories come with the grill. A heat deflector is pretty much essential for indirect cooking/smoking. The one I bought came with the grill which is another reason I chose it.

4. There is a learning curve regarding temperature adjustments and damper settings (I'm still learning). However, once you get the temperature set, it holds amazingly well for a long period of time. You can start it before you go to bed and it will be the same when you wake up.

5. Mine doesn't have a removable ash tray. I have to remove the fire box to  clean out the ashes which weighs 40-40 lbs. It doesn't have to be done every time, but you need to make sure the ashes are clear to help the air circulate.

6. If you plan on doing any smoking, make sure you get a good thermometer. I used a wired blue-tooth thermometer. Mine just busted so I need to get another.

7. The lump charcoal is tougher to light than briquettes. They make fire starters that help, but I found it best to use a benzene torch.

8. Once you're done cooking, the grill is going to stay hot for a while. Even with all the dampers closed. By a while I mean a few hours before you can put the cover back on.

9. So far I've cooked 2 briskets, wings,  pizzas, steaks and a pork butt. The first brisket I did, I made a lot of mistakes along the way and it wasn't good. The second one kicked ass. The pizzas are awesome once you figure the method out. You'll need a pizza stone which is also extra. I screwed a few of those up too and am still working on my technique. My goal is to smoke a turkey for Thanksgiving, and I need to do a few practice trials first.

10. I wasn't sure how much I was going to get to use the grill and I'm certainly no master chef, so I didn't want to drop $1K right out of the gate. I believe this and most likely the Vision  are good starter grills.

 

I believe this is the newer version of the one I got. Again, it was $699 on costco.com, but was only $599 in store. https://louisiana-grills.com/shop/grills/charcoal/lg-k24-black-lg

 

Have fun and happy hunting.

[Augie]

We took the kids to NC on vacation, and one stop was a trout farm. Three ponds, small, medium and large. Who wants to catch a small fish? Straight to the big fish pond. This just may be how Jesus did it. That pond had so many trout in it you just might be able to walk across it!  Signs everywhere say “you caught it, you bought it!”

 

You didn’t even have to bait the hooks! Just throw it in the water - they bite! We bought a LOT of trout that day. They were kind enough to smoke our 6 month supply for us. I lost the ability to truly enjoy smoked food after that. 

 

Some people love smoked food, but I could go the rest of my life without EVER seeing smoked trout again! 

 

[Augie]

14 minutes ago, RaoulDuke79 said:

I researched kamado grills for months. They are very versatile i.e. smoking, searing, grilling and you can even bake in it if you so choose. Big Green Egg is probably the most commonly known, but as others have mentioned there are brands such as Primo and Kamado Joe that are really good, but also really expensive. I ended up getting the Louisiana Grills model from Costco. It was $599, but we had reward money so I ended up getting it for around $300. I've had mine for about 5 months know and here's what I can tell you about it. This is the only one I've ever cooked on so I don't have anything to compare it to.

 

1. They are HEAVY. The gross weight of the entire package was ~300 lbs. Me and my buddy had a hard time loading it into my truck. I believe this is pretty much par for the course for all ceramic type kamado grills.

2.  Use hardwood lump charcoal only. The briquettes, especially those with lighter fluid in them will leach into the pours of the ceramic and will screw with the flavor.

3.  Depending on which style you buy, some accessories come with the grill. A heat deflector is pretty much essential for indirect cooking/smoking. The one I bought came with the grill which is another reason I chose it.

4. There is a learning curve regarding temperature adjustments and damper settings (I'm still learning). However, once you get the temperature set, it holds amazingly well for a long period of time. You can start it before you go to bed and it will be the same when you wake up.

5. Mine doesn't have a removable ash tray. I have to remove the fire box to  clean out the ashes which weighs 40-40 lbs. It doesn't have to be done every time, but you need to make sure the ashes are clear to help the air circulate.

6. If you plan on doing any smoking, make sure you get a good thermometer. I used a wired blue-tooth thermometer. Mine just busted so I need to get another.

7. The lump charcoal is tougher to light than briquettes. They make fire starters that help, but I found it best to use a benzene torch.

8. Once you're done cooking, the grill is going to stay hot for a while. Even with all the dampers closed. By a while I mean a few hours before you can put the cover back on.

9. So far I've cooked 2 briskets, wings,  pizzas, steaks and a pork butt. The first brisket I did, I made a lot of mistakes along the way and it wasn't good. The second one kicked ass. The pizzas are awesome once you figure the method out. You'll need a pizza stone which is also extra. I screwed a few of those up too and am still working on my technique. My goal is to smoke a turkey for Thanksgiving, and I need to do a few practice trials first.

10. I wasn't sure how much I was going to get to use the grill and I'm certainly no master chef, so I didn't want to drop $1K right out of the gate. I believe this and most likely the Vision  are good starter grills.

 

I believe this is the newer version of the one I got. Again, it was $699 on costco.com, but was only $599 in store. https://louisiana-grills.com/shop/grills/charcoal/lg-k24-black-lg

 

Have fun and happy hunting.

 

THANKS! Great info and I’ll ask my son to check back and read over it. 

[Gugny]

2 hours ago, Cripple Creek said:

whilst

 

Mine.