The most important aspect of grilling and barbecuing is learning to control the grill temperature. The fact is, too many amateur grillers toss a ton of charcoal in the grill, pour lighter fluid all over it and fire it up. That’s not BBQ, it’s burned food. Plus it wastes a lot of charcoal.
I use the “Minion Method”, named for Jim Minion, a champion BBQer. I use this in my Weber Performer and my Weber Smokey Mountain smoker, but it will work in any charcoal grill.
Put the amount of charcoal in the grill that you think you may need. For grilling it’s probably half of what you normally would use. Seriously. Then light 10-12 briquettes in a chimney starter. If you don’t have a chimney starter, get one. However, since you need to cook now just go ahead and use the lighter fluid and light the small pile of briquettes, NOT the WHOLE pile! A better way to light the charcoal is with paper towels with one of them soaked in cooking oil to act as a wick.
When the starter coals are lit at least half way you can begin placing them on TOP of your main pile of coals, spreading them evenly around. I wear a welding glove or tongs when moving coals around.
Leave the vents fully open and the lid cracked open, NOT off. This promotes more airflow, but you can still read the temperature on the lid. If you don’t have a thermometer in the lid, drop an oven therm through a vent hole.
If you’re BBQing and want the temp to be 250*, you’ll start adjusting temps at about 200*. If you’re going for 350*, start at about 250*. The point is, the higher target temp you’re looking for, the more lead time you need to slow the heat build up. Yesterday I was looking for 400* and started messing with the vents at about 300*.
Start by putting the lid fully on and closing the BOTTOM vents to 50%. You’ll notice the temp will start climbing more slowly after a few minutes. With about 50* to go, shut the vents down to 25% or less. I had mine nearly closed to maintain 400* for about an hour and a half.
If you’re going to use your grill like an oven, put the food on the grill opposite the fire and close the lid. Don’t open it! Every time you open the lid you give the fire a nice breath of oxygen which can cause temperature spikes.
The fact is, if a potato takes and hour in the oven, it’s going to take about an hour on the grill. Don’t peek, just watch the temperature.
As for the top vent, leave it open unless you just can’t get the temp under control.
If you need to cook a steak, or burgers with your meal, cook the veggies first and move them as far from the fire as possible, then remove the lid, open the vents and let the fire heat up. Your veggies will stay warm while you grill the other food directly.
When done cooking, close all vents and put the lid on. You might be amazed by how little charcoal you’ll need cooking this way. Just give yourself time. It’ll take at least 30-45 minutes to get the grill up to temp.
Hope this helps you save some food from the burnt bin. Now get cooking.
Filed under: BBQing and Grilling, Food | Tagged: barbecue, barbeque, charcoal, grill, kingsford, minion method, weber, weber grill
I was reading your post about grilling and it is really helpful. I have a few questions though. I have a Weber 22.5″ kettle and am trying to get acquainted with it. I tried grilling tonight and I wanted the temp to get to about 350 so grill some burgers. I don’t know if I didn’t wait long enough or maybe I should try the “Minion” method; but, I could never get my temp down to that. I almost had the bottom vent completely closed and I was still hovering around 450. I am using a grate thermometer too–should I get a needle one to stick in the vent?
Like you mentioned earlier, should I just light about 10-12 coals in the chimney starter, additional fresh coals in the grill, then place the warmed chimney coals on fresh coals? Thanks!
Jeff, the problem is you were trying to get your “temp down to that”. the trick is to catch the temps on the way up, not to bring them down. It’s much easier that way and takes less time.
Last night I did a London Broil with about 12 lit coals on top of a bed of unlit. At 300* I closed the bottom vents about 75% of the way. It held at 400* untli I was done.
Good luck and get grilling!
Ken,
Thanks for the great information.
I’m trying ribs on the grill for the first time tonight with my Performer and this article should help me a ton.
Thanks again.
Adam, I hope it did help. My best buddy just did a 6 hour brisket flat using this method and the meat came out great. He did have a few highs and lows, but with proper monitoring things came out great.
Again, I hope it all worked out well.
Ken
Ribs came out pretty decent for the first run. I did have a lot of trouble getting the temperature down initially; it shot way up right away before I could try and control it (any suggestions?). Once I got it down, I had no trouble maintaining the temp though.
Thanks,
Adam
Hey Adam–I did exactly what Ken suggested and my temps worked perfectly. After I got my coals lit in my starter chimney, I put them in the grill then closed the vents about 3/4 and my temp hovered around 380-400, with minor adjustments here and there. Towards the end, I found myself opening the vents little by little so i could maintain the temp.
My issue is that I wanted to hold the grill at about 250-275. The grill went up to about 400+ immediately and took me a little to get it back down and then I was able to hold it at the desired temp; I wasn’t able to hold it at 250-275 initially.
Hey Adam–You may need to go directly to the source of this problem–heat. Most of the heat comes from the coals, so, if you want to lower your temps, you need to use less coals.
Adam, Jeff is right. Next time use less lit coals. I typically use 10-12 lit on top of the unlit. You just need to adjust the number of lit coals you’re using.
Also, catch the temp on the way up.
For 250-275 I’d use about 8 coals. At 200 I’d shut things down.
It’s much easier to keep the temps low then it is to bring them down.
I’m glad you guys are responding here. It makes me feel good to know I can help out.
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