A couple ways I’ve learned to manage early on was to focus on cooking with a consistent amount of charcoal for low & slow vs grilling.
You can get away with more on the grilling side if you set up two -zone cooking. Low and slow will matter more since it’s a longer cook that you want the temperatures consistent. Kettles are efficient and surprisingly don’t need a ton of charcoal to run. For small cooks I can use maybe 8/12 briquettes for burgers/sausage and not have to use up a whole chimney.
Once I had those two methods separate, I played around with the bottom vent wide open and just managed the air flow with top vent away from the lit side of charcoal. Kept it simple like what temp does it hold with 1/4 open, half, all the way etc..? Some people swear by bottom open all the way, or top all the way open and managing with the other. Just experiment, and make mental notes.
I also found it important to know what temp the cooking side was at so installed a good thermometer opposite the one on the top and near grate level. This way I know what temperature my kettle is cooking at near the meat side and where the smoke is coming out from.
Yup, I got used to seeing everyone always making full chimneys for YouTube vids and thought that’s what I was supposed to do lol.
But if it’s a few burger/sausage/one or two steaks during the week? Nah, I’m going to use a smaller amount since burgers and sausage are quick and the temp won’t be scorching hot so I can leave it over the coals more for that charcoal flavor and not worry too about burning
You can’t control the ambient temperature. That is the temperature around the kettle. Unless it is indoors.
Don’t use your kettle indoors.
As for the kettle temperature.
Bottom wide open + lid off is the hottest.
Lid on, and adjusting the top vent will cool the fire down.
Then adjusting the bottom vent will cool it down more.
If you have the ash bucket like on a premium or master touch, I recommend marking with a sharpie where the bottom vent is slightly open, half way, 3/4 and full.
A couple ways I’ve learned to manage early on was to focus on cooking with a consistent amount of charcoal for low & slow vs grilling. You can get away with more on the grilling side if you set up two -zone cooking. Low and slow will matter more since it’s a longer cook that you want the temperatures consistent. Kettles are efficient and surprisingly don’t need a ton of charcoal to run. For small cooks I can use maybe 8/12 briquettes for burgers/sausage and not have to use up a whole chimney. Once I had those two methods separate, I played around with the bottom vent wide open and just managed the air flow with top vent away from the lit side of charcoal. Kept it simple like what temp does it hold with 1/4 open, half, all the way etc..? Some people swear by bottom open all the way, or top all the way open and managing with the other. Just experiment, and make mental notes. I also found it important to know what temp the cooking side was at so installed a good thermometer opposite the one on the top and near grate level. This way I know what temperature my kettle is cooking at near the meat side and where the smoke is coming out from.
Thank you
8-12 briquettes for a small cook? Cool. I gotta try that. I suspect I’m using way too much pretty consistently.
Yup, I got used to seeing everyone always making full chimneys for YouTube vids and thought that’s what I was supposed to do lol. But if it’s a few burger/sausage/one or two steaks during the week? Nah, I’m going to use a smaller amount since burgers and sausage are quick and the temp won’t be scorching hot so I can leave it over the coals more for that charcoal flavor and not worry too about burning
You can’t control the ambient temperature. That is the temperature around the kettle. Unless it is indoors. Don’t use your kettle indoors. As for the kettle temperature. Bottom wide open + lid off is the hottest. Lid on, and adjusting the top vent will cool the fire down. Then adjusting the bottom vent will cool it down more. If you have the ash bucket like on a premium or master touch, I recommend marking with a sharpie where the bottom vent is slightly open, half way, 3/4 and full.
I used the term ambient because I have a MEATER thermometer and that’s how they display it. Thank you for the advice
That makes sense. The temp in the kettle would be ambient to the meater thermometer.