How Much Charcoal to Use in a Grill? Extraordinary BBQ

Knowing how much charcoal to use in a grill will not only save you money, but will also help you maintain an efficient fire. Even slow cooking is a vital part of grilling temperature. Using the right amount of charcoal will give you the perfect flame and control every time.

Maintain the grill temperature with charcoal

To figure out how much charcoal to use in your grills, it’s best to start by understanding a few basic principles. It is also important for us to be on the same wavelength as the methodology.

If you are using charcoal with lighter fluid, you can use a different amount of charcoal than when using a charcoal chimney.

It just depends on the exact time you start charcoal cooking. It also depends on how thin you spread the coals.

20 lit briquettes will burn your hot dog if you cook on them within 15 minutes of being lit. However, it will barely cook your hot dog if you cook it 60 minutes after the ignition.

Charcoal grilling basics

There are two factors we want to influence:

• How hot do we want the grill to be?
• How long do we want the grill to be hot?

The temperature of your grills will be determined by how more charcoal you use and how much air is available to the charcoal. In general, the more fuel and more air, the hotter the grill.

How long the charcoal burns at the desired temperature will depend on how the charcoal is positioned and lit.

How to set up the charcoal?

When it comes to grilling, we are big fans of the 2 burner setup.

The dual zone method gives you more control over your cooking space, allowing you to control the temperature more precisely and cook with direct and indirect heat. It also consumes less fuel than traditional installations.

Setting up a 2-zone brewing unit is very simple.

All you have to do is stack the charcoal on one side of the grill. This creates a “hot zone” where you cook with direct heat. The other side of your grill is the “cold zone” where indirect heat is cooked.

The two-zone cooking method is great for situations where you need to brown a piece of meat well, but constant high heat is not suitable for the entire cooking process.

For example, a chunky tomahawk steak needs a good searing on the outside, but its thickness means that cooking grate it over very high heat will either burn the outside or leave the middle undercooked.

Using the 2-zone method, you can do most of the cooking over indirect heat, bringing it to a perfect medium rare before roasting it all the way to the hot side, in what’s called the back-frying method.

How do you know how much charcoal to use?

Figuring out how much charcoal to use on a grill is one of the first steps to becoming a grill master! Luckily, the process of determining how much you need is pretty easy!

Just because we have to start somewhere, I’m going to make two assumptions:

• You’re cooking on a 22″ Weber charcoal grill.
• Are you using Kingsford briquettes

Kingsford 22″ kettle and charcoal are the most popular brands of charcoal grills. If you are using something else, please use this information as a guide and make changes accordingly.

How much charcoal do I need for BBQ?

A very simplistic way of discussing how much charcoal to add for a BBQ is based on how much you fill the charcoal chimney.

You can imagine that a 25% full chimney will produce less heat than a 100% full chimney.

To expand on this, here is my general rule of thumb for cooking different dishes at different temperatures using Kingsford charcoal:

• Low heat (think tender white fish or using coals to light a smoker) – fill the chimney 25% full
• Medium heat (hamburgers, sausages, hot dogs, etc.) — the chimney is 50% full.
• Medium-high temperature or for a full medium-temperature grill (consider more charcoal in the grill) – fill the chimney to 75%
• High temperature (roasting and searing steaks) – fill the chimney 100%

It is now clear that there are many factors involved. The way you distribute the coals plays an important role in the heat your grill experiences. If you drop a 50% medium heat chimney in one place and don’t spread it.

You will have one isolated area of ​​heat directly above where you dumped the coals. If you distribute this 50% full chimney over the entire area of ​​the grill, your heat will drop because the embers will be more spread out.

Does it make sense? Therefore, for my purposes, I basically always use the following two grill zones.

I dump the lit chimney (see photo above) on the right side of the grill, and when the coals are ashed, I spread them on the right side of the grill, leaving the left side of the grill without coals (for indirect heating).

Roughly speaking, the above percentages will work well for you if you follow this rule. The cooking temperature is estimated after the coals have decomposed and are mostly covered with ash.

How many coals do I need for 225 degrees?

Usually, around five lit coals will get you up to 225-250 °F. Spread unlit coals evenly on one side of the coal grate. Place the lit coals evenly among the unlit coals. Place your food above the coals and put on the lid.

The best way to ignite charcoal

A charcoal chimney is not only the best way to measure your charcoal, but also the best way to fire it up. Place it over some non-oil starter and let the airflow do the rest. Using a chimney starter, your hot coals can be lit and ready to cook in as little as 15 minutes.

How to use a Weber coal chimney?

For the charcoal grills, the recipe used my usual Weber charcoal chimney.

The goal of a chimney is to ignite the charcoal and provide a means of keeping the embers nearby while burning.

When operating a Weber Performer (which includes a little propane element to light charcoal), I serve the chimney either ¼, ½, ¾, or complete, relying on the application.

Then I plant the chimney over the flame hole and ignite it for approximately 2 minutes.

There is no requirement to vary longer than that. If you adhere to 2 minutes, you can prolong the life of your propane tank.

The plan is to light some embers and then the rest will ignite. If you don’t have a Weber Performer, you can utilize an olive oil-soaked newspaper or paper towel.

It’s the same principle. Just place a paper towel or newspaper under the chimney (above the grate). Use a match to light it.

In a few minutes, the coals will kindle.

Wait until they are completely incinerated in the chimney

I like to toss out the charcoal chimney as shortly as I notice the flames beginning to show up over the charcoal.

So the top charcoal is usually mostly black, now the flame has risen above the top charcoal. At this stage, I will dump the coal in one pile in the brazier.

All the coals are not fully fired yet, so I put them in one pile and put them where I want after they dry out and turn gray (about 15-20 minutes after the initial ignition).

Hot and fast grill for a few (2.5 pounds)

Let’s say you just want to cook steaks and some grilled asparagus for yourself and your lover.

You are going to want to have a high temperature for a short period of time.

In this case, I would fill the chimney halfway with about 45 charcoal briquettes.

Use the chimney to light the charcoal, and once the embers are covered with ash, toss them into a pile in the center of the charcoal grate. Keep the bottom and top vents fully open.

The charcoal will burn longer than you really need, but it will still be hot enough for the time you are using it for some serious scalding action.

Hot and fast grill for the crowd (4.5 pounds)

This example is the largest consumer of fuel and consumes about 4.5 pounds of charcoal.

Let’s say you want to charcoal grill frozen burgers and some chicken legs. This is the case when you need strong heat for about an hour.

I’m counting the hour because you can make burgers in batches or maybe you want to cook the chicken separately from the burgers.

In this case, I would completely fill a Weber charcoal chimney with charcoal. It will take about 90 charcoal briquettes, which is about 4.5 pounds of fuel.

Use the chimney to light the charcoal, and once the coals are ashed, distribute them evenly over the charcoal grate. Keep the bottom and top vents fully open.

Does the type of charcoal affect the quantity?

We’ve already covered the difference between lump charcoal and briquettes in detail, but just to give you an idea, lump charcoal has fewer additives that some claim can add flavor to your food but burns less consistently.

In comparison, briquettes can contain additives such as corn starch, borax, and limestone and produce more ash but burn more evenly and at a lower cost than lumpy coal.

If you are using hardwood lump charcoal such as pine, you can expect it to burn hot and fast, but it will also burn faster.

What is the proper way to put charcoal in a grill?

First, make sure the vent flaps are fully open. Place the starter upside down on the charcoal grate. Crumple up the newspaper and place it under the grate at the bottom of the starter. Then turn the starter over, fill it with charcoal and place it in the center of the charcoal grate.

Light the paper with a long match or a gas igniter. The flame from the paper will ignite the coals. Let the coals burn for 15-20 minutes until they are all red.

By the appearance of the coals, you will immediately understand that they are ready to start cooking. When they are white-hot and covered with a thin layer of gray ash, then they are ready. Now pour the burning coals onto the charcoal grate. Add more cold coals if needed. The heat of burning coals is more than enough to kindle cold ones.

Learn more about how to arrange your charcoal properly before grilling.

I also advise you to learn how to keep a charcoal grill lit.

Conclusion

Everyone’s slow cooking method is different, and finding the right amount of charcoal to light it is a matter of trial and error. However, by using our tips and a chimney starter, you should be on the right track to finding the right ratio for you.