"Jim" wrote in message

Couldn't see how 2 sheets of paper was gonna make all this charcoal ash
up so I set it on my turkey fryer base and turned on the gas.

Yep, them engineers at Weber don't have a clue. Glad you thought to do
something different rather than try following the instructrions.

Don't know if I went overboard or what, but by
the time the top pieces ashed over, the chimney was about half full.
Didn't know what to do so I threw it in the kettle. Chucked the wet
hickory on, put the top grate on and thew on the meat.

It smoked like crazy

Soggy wood does that.


Problems came in that I'm sure I didn't have enough charcoal..

You lost a bunch of it getting it started using the space shuttle booster.



How can I get the temp up? More charcoal would obviously help but I won't
have time to wait for another chimney full to be ready. Did I ruin the
lump by feeding it the steady flame from the gas burner? I'm thinking I
didn't need the newspaper at all if I was gonna use the gas burner.

And you don't need the gas burner with the newspaper. Lump starts much
easier than briqettes and you can add lump at any time withoug having to
start it.



Also, a good bit of the cooked charcoal fell through the grate. I've read
somewhere that the spacing on the Weber charcoal grate is really a bit
wide. Would it be ok to lay a piece of chicken wire or somesuch over it
to prevent small pieces from falling through?

Sure, why not?



Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...want to use it some more
this weekend.

Vents opened properly?
--
Ed
http://pages.cthome.net/edhome/

"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in
:


Yep, them engineers at Weber don't have a clue. Glad you thought to do
something different rather than try following the instructrions.

Technically the chimney wasn't made by Weber but smart-ass comments are oh
so helpful. Thanks much.


You lost a bunch of it getting it started using the space shuttle
booster.

See, that was so much better...thanks.


And you don't need the gas burner with the newspaper. Lump starts
much easier than briqettes and you can add lump at any time withoug
having to start it.

Even better...good info. I'll try it.


Vents opened properly?

Yep, had both the bottom cleanouts open and the vent in the lid.

Jim wrote:
Soaked the chips for a few hours...was in no rush, waiting for the
wife to get home from work.

Never... ever... soak ya chips. Unless ya want steamed food. Leave
em as is and set them to the side of your pile of lump. Better yet,
get chunks next time rather than chips. Same process, longer smokin
period.

Cracked open the box of lump which had some huge pieces (as tall as
the chimney). Stuck 2 sheets of today's newspaper under the chimney,
then filled it with the lump.

Couldn't see how 2 sheets of paper was gonna make all this charcoal
ash up so I set it on my turkey fryer base and turned on the gas.
Figured I could keep that going and the time it took for the lump to
be ready should be greatly reduced. Don't know if I went overboard
or
what, but by the time the top pieces ashed over, the chimney was
about half full. Didn't know what to do so I threw it in the kettle.
Chucked the wet hickory on, put the top grate on and thew on the
meat.

Unlike charcoal that has to ash over before ready for use, lump only
needs to get burnin to be ready for use. No need to fill the chimney
full of lump. Unless ya got some little ol' dinky chimney, use half
a chimney full to get started.

Problems came in that I'm sure I didn't have enough charcoal...Oh, I
stuck the probe of my digital thermometer (not a Polder, but works
just as well) through half of an apple (yeah, an apple....didn't
have
a potato handy) and set it near the food. Temp never got above
270...food took forever to cook. The burgers were real tasty, the
sausage had more of a smoked flavor to it (low heat, lots of
smoke....duh) but it seemed a but undercooked so we threw them into
the nuker for a minute just to be safe.

For burgers, ya need a good hot fire up near the cookin grate. Build
ya a hot enuff fire that when ya hold ya hand over the fire at the
place you'll put your patties, ya can't keep it there more than a
couple secs. Them burgers'll cook up good then.

How can I get the temp up? More charcoal would obviously help but I
won't have time to wait for another chimney full to be ready. Did I
ruin the lump by feeding it the steady flame from the gas burner?
I'm
thinking I didn't need the newspaper at all if I was gonna use the
gas burner.

Ya only need one chimney of lump to get ya fire started. When it's
ready, dump in onto ya fire grate; then add more unlit over the top of
it til ya get the fire I mentoned above. Then it's time to cook. How
long will it take for the unlit to get goin? Not too long; maybe
another 10 minutes if ya leave the cooker open and there's plenty of
air circulatin inside.

Also, a good bit of the cooked charcoal fell through the grate. I've
read somewhere that the spacing on the Weber charcoal grate is
really
a bit wide. Would it be ok to lay a piece of chicken wire or
somesuch
over it to prevent small pieces from falling through?

Order another charcoal grate from Weber if ya can't find one locally.
Put it crossways from the other one. Should take care of most of your
drop-thrus.
--
-frohe
Life is too short to be in a hurry

Did I ruin the
lump by feeding it the steady flame from the gas burner?

Pretty much. You burned it all up before you used it.

I'm thinking I
didn't need the newspaper at all if I was gonna use the gas burner.

Correct.


Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...want to use it some more
this weekend.




You don't need to wait for lump to ash over. Just get it burning and use
it.


TFM®

"frohe" wrote in news:Ensxe.99354$PR6.93421
@tornado.texas.rr.com:


Never... ever... soak ya chips. Unless ya want steamed food. Leave
em as is and set them to the side of your pile of lump. Better yet,
get chunks next time rather than chips. Same process, longer smokin
period.

Hmm....I'm not really trying to smoke though. I used less wet chips
tonight and didn't get near the smoke (no kidding, hehe). Was supposed to
do steak, but unexpected company came, we didn't have enough to go
around, so dinner turned into burgers again. Ah well, I'm still figuring
things out so no big deal.


Unlike charcoal that has to ash over before ready for use, lump only
needs to get burnin to be ready for use.

Didn't know that...


No need to fill the chimney
full of lump. Unless ya got some little ol' dinky chimney, use half
a chimney full to get started.

Used a full one again tonight and this time, just used the newspaper.
MUCH BETTER! Highest I saw my thermometer go was 320 though. Still don't
know if that's high enough for grilling.


For burgers, ya need a good hot fire up near the cookin grate.

That's a problem with Weber kettles, isn't it? Non-adjustable cookin
grate.


Ya only need one chimney of lump to get ya fire started. When it's
ready, dump in onto ya fire grate; then add more unlit over the top of
it til ya get the fire I mentoned above. Then it's time to cook.

See, this is also something I didn't know....figured what you put in the
chimney "is" your fire. Didn't realize you need to add on unlit stuff to
it...though I did do this tonight as a test, but started cooking
immediately (mistake obviously).


Order another charcoal grate from Weber if ya can't find one locally.
Put it crossways from the other one. Should take care of most of your
drop-thrus.

Good idea!

Thanks for the help

"TFM®" wrote in news:r9vxe.138995$VH2.71802
@tornado.tampabay.rr.com:


Did I ruin the
lump by feeding it the steady flame from the gas burner?

Pretty much. You burned it all up before you used it.

I'm thinking I
didn't need the newspaper at all if I was gonna use the gas burner.

Correct.


Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...want to use it some more
this weekend.


You don't need to wait for lump to ash over. Just get it burning and use
it.

Thanks....seems I'm learning alot. Did better tonight but not ideal yet.

Jim wrote:
Hmm....I'm not really trying to smoke though. I used less wet chips
tonight and didn't get near the smoke (no kidding, hehe).

Sorry but I gotta ask - if ya ain't tryin to smoke anything, why ya
addin chips at all? Grillin or Qin, chips/chunks "smoke" the meat.

Highest I saw my thermometer go was 320 though. Still
don't know if that's high enough for grilling.

320°F is "ok" but you won't get a good sear on the meat at that
temp... Add more lump!

See, this is also something I didn't know....figured what you put in
the chimney "is" your fire. Didn't realize you need to add on unlit
stuff to it...though I did do this tonight as a test, but started
cooking immediately (mistake obviously).

Look at your chimney as if it were a measurin cup. If it takes 2
chimneys to get a fire where ya want it, use 2 chimneys. If it takes
3 chimneys to get a fire like ya want because it's wet and cold, use
3. Get it?

--
-frohe
Life is too short to be in a hurry

In article ,
"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote:

"Jim" wrote in message

[SNIP]
I've read somewhere that the spacing on the Weber charcoal grate is
really a bit wide. Would it be ok to lay a piece of chicken wire or
somesuch over it to prevent small pieces from falling through?

Sure, why not?

Isn't chicken wire galvanized? If so, it would probably produce toxic
fumes when the zinc starts to burn. Besides that, chicken wire is so
thin that it wouldn't last very long. Maybe a piece of expanded metal
mesh would work better.

--

A waist is a terrible thing to mind.

In article ,
"frohe" wrote:

Jim wrote:
Also, a good bit of the cooked charcoal fell through the grate.
I've read somewhere that the spacing on the Weber charcoal grate is
really a bit wide. Would it be ok to lay a piece of chicken wire or
somesuch over it to prevent small pieces from falling through?

Order another charcoal grate from Weber if ya can't find one locally.
Put it crossways from the other one. Should take care of most of your
drop-thrus.

I found a Weber charcoal grate at Home Depot. I'm using it in my ECB,
though.

--

A waist is a terrible thing to mind.

In article ,
Jim wrote:

"frohe" wrote in news:Ensxe.99354$PR6.93421
@tornado.texas.rr.com:

[SNIP]

No need to fill the chimney full of lump. Unless ya got some
little ol' dinky chimney, use half a chimney full to get started.

Used a full one again tonight and this time, just used the newspaper.
MUCH BETTER! Highest I saw my thermometer go was 320 though. Still don't
know if that's high enough for grilling.

[SNIP]

Ya only need one chimney of lump to get ya fire started. When it's
ready, dump in onto ya fire grate; then add more unlit over the top of
it til ya get the fire I mentoned above. Then it's time to cook.

See, this is also something I didn't know....figured what you put in the
chimney "is" your fire. Didn't realize you need to add on unlit stuff to
it...though I did do this tonight as a test, but started cooking
immediately (mistake obviously).

Additionally, as I pointed out in another thread, you can put a layer of
hickory chunks on top of the burning charcoal and let it burn down to
coals. This may add enough heat to do the job, and it also lends a bit
of smoke flavor to your meat.

Stan

--

A waist is a terrible thing to mind.

In article ,
"frohe" wrote:

Look at your chimney as if it were a measurin cup. If it takes 2
chimneys to get a fire where ya want it, use 2 chimneys. If it takes
3 chimneys to get a fire like ya want because it's wet and cold, use
3. Get it?

Whenever I need more coals than one chimney can provide, I use a simple
"extender" which almost doubles the amount of coals. Just take a large
(39 oz) coffee can with the top and bottom cut out, fill your chimney
almost full of lump, then set the can on top of the charcoal and fill it
with lump.

--

A waist is a terrible thing to mind.

On 03 Jul 2005, you wrote in alt.food.barbecue:


Whenever I need more coals than one chimney can provide, I use a simple
"extender" which almost doubles the amount of coals. Just take a large
(39 oz) coffee can with the top and bottom cut out, fill your chimney
almost full of lump, then set the can on top of the charcoal and fill it
with lump.

hmmmm.....good idea.

Jim wrote:
Got it...have dumb question #4: Any real need to leave the lump in
the
chimney for more than 15 minutes? Seems if all I'm really trying to
do if get it started, I could dump it into the kettle and start a
2nd
one. Or would it be better to just put unlit on the hot ones just
dumped?

I use those Strike-A-Fire starters under my chimney. They take about
10 minutes before they've burned through and go out. After that, it's
lump dumped to the cooker. Yeah, you could get it started, dump it in
and start another chimney if ya want, but why? You already have lump
goin so let it start the unlit you add.
--
-frohe
Life is too short to be in a hurry

"frohe" wrote in news:Q37ye.108949$PR6.98832
@tornado.texas.rr.com:


Yeah, you could get it started, dump it in
and start another chimney if ya want, but why?

Didn't know which would be easier (or quicker).


You already have lump
goin so let it start the unlit you add.

Sounds good to me....if I end up doing steaks tonight, I know I'm gonna
need a good hot fire.

On 4-Jul-2005, "frohe" wrote:

Jim wrote:
Got it...have dumb question #4: Any real need to leave the lump in
the
chimney for more than 15 minutes? Seems if all I'm really trying to
do if get it started, I could dump it into the kettle and start a
2nd
one. Or would it be better to just put unlit on the hot ones just
dumped?

I use those Strike-A-Fire starters under my chimney. They take about
10 minutes before they've burned through and go out. After that, it's
lump dumped to the cooker. Yeah, you could get it started, dump it in
and start another chimney if ya want, but why? You already have lump
goin so let it start the unlit you add.
--
-frohe
Life is too short to be in a hurry

I like those Strike-A-Fire starters also. I break them in half and light one
end of both pieces. I place the lit pieces on the grill in parallel with lit
ends opposite each other. Set the full chimney of lump on top and go
away for a few minutes. When fire begins to show at the top, I dump
it into the pit and add some fresh lump direct from my lump bucket on
top. Open the chimney and set draft at 10%. Wait until the dome
reaches 250°. Start cooking.
--
The Brick® said that (Work harder; millions on welfare depend on you. )

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