*Charcoal* BBQ/Grilling

willabur

blue note wrote: »

That's interesting. What is the actual difference on a kettle bbq between weber quality and the likes of the char broil one? I remember seeing reviews of it and it seemed excellent. Basically a high quality kettle bbq. But what extra do you get for buying weber?

I'm on my third weber at the moment. Latest one is the GBS which was about 350 quid. I would bbq at least once a week all year around, many times a week during the winter.
The quality of material is alot better in the newest one. Its a much larger kettle so more cooking space. The cooking grate is of a higher quality than the cheaper kettles also. Thicker, easier to clean, no rust.

As previous posters have said make sure you get a starter, it saves so much time.
Don't skimp on charcoal also. E.g. the stuff you get in lidl is terrible, breaks down into sand and clogs up bbq. You want something that burns clean smoke and settles into an ash that you can clean away quickly

redved

Looks like KJ1 is available from thepavilion.ie from 10th May. Might be an error, thanks for advice above

blue note

Oh I already have a weber. I got the original kettle and I wouldn't get to use it every week, but it's probably 50-100 times a year. I did a ponchetta yesterday. Jesus it was good.

But even though I didn't splash out for even the mastertouch, so only spent something like €150 I'm still not convinced the webers are actually better. A charcoal bbq is a simple thing. I just reckon if you get a half decent kettle bbq that it'll work fine even for slow cooking. I'd be very surprised if the high end char broil one isn't comparable to a high end weber. But I'm no expert, so happy for someone to show me I'm wrong.

Eric Cartman

Johnny_Fontane wrote: »

If its the one with the hinged lid, you may need to do a hack on the springs to get it to close properly.

I have one and its a great piece of kit.

Couple of things -
1. Use decent charcoal/lumpwood - or at least a mix of some good stuff with some of the cheaper stuff. The best stuff is in a blue 12kg bag. Corrigans in Drumcondra (a butchers) have it for €20. The Weber briquettes are good for long cooks


2. Buy a starter chimney. Invaluable. €5 in tesco.

3. Invest in a simple thermometer/temp. probe - its invaluable. I have this one, it even bluetooths to my phone and comes with a clip to attach to inside of bbq. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Inkbird-Bluetooth-Thermometer-Temperature-bluetooth/dp/B06WGMDSBL

4. Start slowly - don't attempt a 10 hour brisket in your first week. Practice makes perfect. Always good to note how the bbq decreases in temp, best way to actually do this is to do a normal bbq (say burgers, sausages etc.) and then afterwards, just keep an eye on the temperature (allayed with your vent settings) to give you an idea of how it decreases. You can get 3/4 hours of good temps out of a basic chimney load of fuel (no snake method etc.).

5. Be careful of wood chunks and using them too much. The smoke can be very strong from even two pieces of something like hickory. Can overpower everything.

I've just realised that none of the above relate to the 5750 - but they all relate to it too!

Im an absolute chimney starter convert now, i bought the weber one for the craic and cannot believe I was wasting my time with lighter fluid and other crap for years.

Cheers for the advice on the charcoal, The weber briquettes are actually pretty good but I must get a bag of that.

boksmashoffice

Hi Guys,
Invested in a smoker from Homebase. I was Wondering what charcol people use and where they get their wood from from.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thnaks a million

The chan chan man

boksmashoffice wrote: »

Hi Guys,
Invested in a smoker from Homebase. I was Wondering what charcol people use and where they get their wood from from.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thnaks a million

What’s the seal like on the homebase smoker? If its not properly sealed you won’t hold the temp long rnough. That was the case with some of the aldi ones I saw before. You could buy a gasket kit online which will sort out any gaps if needed.

If using briquettes I’d go for the Weber ones. Lump charcoal, the big blue bags of restaurant charcoal are great. You can get weber wood chunks in most garden centres (not wood chips, chunks). Don’t use too much though. 2 chunks is plenty (for me anyway!). Overly smoked food is not nice to eat.

chases0102

Hi all,

Looking to get a Weber Master Touch.

I see there’s the Master Touch, and the Master Touch Premium. About 80 Euro difference in price - is it worth the extra?

Also, just wondering if anyone has bought either recently, there seems to be a difference of a few quid in price between places. Many thanks.

thejaguar

chases0102 wrote: »

I see there’s the Master Touch, and the Master Touch Premium. About 80 Euro difference in price - is it worth the extra?

I've seen this question answered a few times on here, it comes up quite a bit - one such answer below.

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=113752295&postcount=3775

If you have a search you'll probably find a bit of discussion about it and various people's experience.

blue note

As far as I can see there's very little difference between the mastertouch and original kettle too. The Ash catcher is better, you get a rubber thing on the top vent so it doesn't get hot and you get the hinged grill so you can refuel more easily. They're all improvements, but as regards how it works as a bbq it sounds like they don't make a difference to me.

Wolftown

Just a note on charcoal - Surefire wood are selling 2 x 12kg bags of the blue bag restaurant grade, including home delivery for €37.

It's great quality charcoal and it's the cheapest I can find with delivery included.

Blisterman

Where's the best source for smoking wood? The Weber bags are quite small for the price, and I wouldn't mind finding buying larger quantities.

Quin_Dub

Blisterman wrote: »

Where's the best source for smoking wood? The Weber bags are quite small for the price, and I wouldn't mind finding buying larger quantities.

For smoking though , you really don't need very much - one or two chunks per cook is more than enough to give the required flavour.

Anything much more than that and you overwhelm the taste.

So the typical bag you'd get from Weber would probably get you 20+ cooks.

bamayang

I know this gets asked every year, but can someone help. I have a charcoal chimney but I always end up having to put a little piece of fire lighter under it.
I usually ball up newspaper and light the paper, I get a good bit of smoke but the coals don’t start to fire until I cave in and put in the fire lighter.

Anyone any tips?

Quin_Dub

bamayang wrote: »

I know this gets asked every year, but can someone help. I have a charcoal chimney but I always end up having to put a little piece of fire lighter under it.
I usually ball up newspaper and light the paper, I get a good bit of smoke but the coals don’t start to fire until I cave in and put in the fire lighter.

Anyone any tips?

Tumbleweeds are the only job..

One is more than enough.

Lidl always have them for dirt cheap when they do their "Garden/BBQ" Specials every year , which should be coming up soon.

Grab a few boxes when they do and you're sorted.

T-b0n3

Wolftown wrote: »

Just a note on charcoal - Surefire wood are selling 2 x 12kg bags of the blue bag restaurant grade, including home delivery for €37.

It's great quality charcoal and it's the cheapest I can find with delivery included.

It's charging me €45 for delivery. Seems to suggest it's only free for bulk pallet delivery. Did you get free delivery for 2 bags?

thejaguar

bamayang wrote: »

I know this gets asked every year, but can someone help. I have a charcoal chimney but I always end up having to put a little piece of fire lighter under it.
I usually ball up newspaper and light the paper, I get a good bit of smoke but the coals don’t start to fire until I cave in and put in the fire lighter.

Anyone any tips?

Quin_Dub wrote: »

Lidl always have them for dirt cheap when they do their "Garden/BBQ" Specials every year , which should be coming up soon.

Grab a few boxes when they do and you're sorted.

The Lidl ones are great.

willabur

I have a looft lighter which speeds up the process greatly. I use it in combination with the chimney. Coals are good to go in about 10 mins

bamayang

Thanks, I’ll keep an eye out for them. I was starting to feel very inadequate!!

Brian?

bamayang wrote: »

I know this gets asked every year, but can someone help. I have a charcoal chimney but I always end up having to put a little piece of fire lighter under it.
I usually ball up newspaper and light the paper, I get a good bit of smoke but the coals don’t start to fire until I cave in and put in the fire lighter.

Anyone any tips?

Just use the fire lighter. It’ll do no harm

cubatahavana

Still waiting for my kamado Bono grande. I think it’s been 2 months already. Anyone similar? Getting it from Higgins

Wolftown

T-b0n3 wrote: »

It's charging me €45 for delivery. Seems to suggest it's only free for bulk pallet delivery. Did you get free delivery for 2 bags?

Yep, definitely €37 including delivery for me. They do have other offers for 2 bags plus lighter fluid and other accessories, maybe you selected one of those bundles?

https://surefirewood.ie/collections/barbecue-charcoal/products/charcoal-2-x-12kg?variant=33056455295030

Edit- I've just tried to go through to the checkout and can see it's €45 now... must have changed just after my order

Quin_Dub

Wolftown wrote: »

Yep, definitely €37 including delivery for me. They do have other offers for 2 bags plus lighter fluid and other accessories, maybe you selected one of those bundles?

https://surefirewood.ie/collections/barbecue-charcoal/products/charcoal-2-x-12kg?variant=33056455295030

Edit- I've just tried to go through to the checkout and can see it's €45 now... must have changed just after my order

The 5 Bags of Lumpwood are still showing free delivery

https://surefirewood.ie/collections/barbecue-charcoal/products/5x-lumpwood-charcoal-5kg

So 25kg of Lumpwood for €38 delivered , just ordered it myself..

The Nal

Can someone explain to me what "Restaurant" charcoal is.

FixitFelix

The Nal wrote: »

Can someone explain to me what "Restaurant" charcoal is.

It's the old "stick restaurant or cuisine grade on and charge a little extra for the same thing".

Quin_Dub

The Nal wrote: »

Can someone explain to me what "Restaurant" charcoal is.

The only difference I have seen to be honest, is that the pieces tend to be larger than other Lumpwood products - Which I'm sure is fine in a Kamado etc. , but in my Weber kettle a decent proportion of the pieces are too big to fit in the baskets properly.

Larger pieces burn more slowly by volume I guess.

The Nal

FixitFelix wrote: »

It's the old "stick restaurant or cuisine grade on and charge a little extra for the same thing".

Thought so.

Quin_Dub wrote: »

The only difference I have seen to be honest, is that the pieces tend to be larger than other Lumpwood products - Which I'm sure is fine in a Kamado etc. , but in my Weber kettle a decent proportion of the pieces are too big to fit in the baskets properly.

Larger pieces burn more slowly by volume I guess.

Yeah but they're all usually, quite literally, mixed bags. Did a 10 hour cook last weekend on the 57cm Weber smoker and used half a bag of cheapo garden variety charcoal with two small handful top ups. Very efficient.

Not sure what the twice as expensive "restaurant" charcoal could've brought to the party.

Brian?

The Nal wrote: »

Can someone explain to me what "Restaurant" charcoal is.

It means poor value to me

budgemook

I like the blue bag because of the large pieces and I don't think it's mad expensive at 16 euro. It's better than any lump wood I've ever gotten in a supermarket as it burns longer and hotter and there's usually a load of it left in the bbq ready for the next cook. I've tried all sorts at this stage - cheaper lump wood, more expensive, weber briquettes etc but I keep coming back to the big blue bags. Whatever works for you I suppose.

One thing for sure though is the cheap bags of lump wood from Lidl are crap - the pieces are just too small so it's gone too quickly. Might be useful for a little camping BBQ but not much else.

Shakey_jake

The Nal wrote: »

Can someone explain to me what "Restaurant" charcoal is.

Restaurant grade charcoal tends not to be impregnated with parafin and other accelerants which i find the cheaper stuff does therefore restaurant grade it burns slower and lasts longer

Brian?

Shakey_jake wrote: »

Restaurant grade charcoal tends not to be impregnated with parafin and other accelerants which i find the cheaper stuff does therefore restaurant grade it burns slower and lasts longer

That's not entirely true. Most lumpwood is simply that, lumpwood charcoal. You're thinking of instant light charcoal