Do you want to know how much charcoal to use for grilling? If not, you’re in the right place. There was a time when people used to cook on Coals without any smoker or stove, but these days, even cooking has different types, like grilling.
Obviously, this is not like the old cooking where you had to put your food on the fire, and your food would get cooked, However today, you need to use charcoal for grilling.
And, when you use too much charcoal for grilling, you have to spend too much money buying it. Therefore, using the correct amount of charcoal is a crucial thing for you if you like grilled meats.
Therefore, in this piece of writing, I will tell you everything about using the right amount of fuel while grilling. Ensure you read this piece of writing till the end, so you don’t end up missing something vital.
Without lecturing more, let’s head over to the topic.
Table of Contents
How Much Charcoal to Use For Grilling?
To use the right amount of charcoal for grilling, you have to figure out how much charcoal you should use. Don’t worry; it’s not that difficult.
There are some factors that we are going to focus on for figuring out how much charcoal we should use. I’ll mention each factor profoundly, so make sure that you read this article completely.
1) How Hot Do You Want Your Grill To Be?
If you use too much charcoal then the grill’s temperature would be high due to having air available to it. When there is more air and fuel, the hotter the grill will be.
How long the charcoal consumes at the temperature you need will rely on how the charcoal is organised and lit. Did you get it? Let me give you some instances to make it easy for you to understand.
2) Hot and Fast grilling For a Number of People
Suppose you need to barbecue up a platter of burgers and a couple of chicken drumsticks for a number of people. Here you will need some high hotness for about 60 minutes.
60 minutes time is just for giving you an example; you may also be spending more time grilling the food. Like, some of you may cook the chicken drumsticks and the burgers separately; this way, not only will it take more time to be grilled but also consume more charcoal.
Now, you will put charcoal in the chimney until it gets full, which may take around 9 Briquets of Kingsford that cost you around 4.5pounds.
After you put the fuel into the chimney, now, Utilize the fireplace to fire up the charcoal and, when the coals are ashed over, spread them equally across the charcoal mesh. And ensure that the base and top air vents are totally open.
3) Hot and Fast Grilling for two(2.5 lbs)
There are only you and your Girlfriend/Boyfriend, and you want to enjoy eating the Ribbeys task and some chicken drumsticks.
Now, compared to the above example, you’ll use fast heat for a short time period as the food is less and it’s being cooked just for two people instead of a crowd. So, this is the way, you can give it a shot.
Fill the fireplace half full with around 45 briquettes of Kingsford Blue. Utilize the fireplace to fire up the charcoal and, when the coals are fired up, dump them into a heap in the focal point of the charcoal mesh.
Keep the base and top air vents totally open. This way, The charcoal will consume hot for longer than you truly need, yet will be hot enough in the time you use it for some genuine burning activity.
4) Slow Grilling/Smoking (1.5 lbs )
Some food can be cooked on fast grilling while some on slow grilling. You can’t cook all the foods either on slow grilling or low. We’ve already talked about the fast grilling, now it’s time to how much charcoal will be used for grilling at low and slow grilling?
Let’s say, you don’t have to cook food for a crowd, there is only you and your friend who have to have the food, like ribeyes or stuffed park chop.
Then this is what you can do, you use around 30 briquettes, which cost around 1.5 pounds, and mound them on the left half of the barbecue.
And then, you can fire up one side of the charcoal bed with either a paraffin wax shape or even a propane light. Allow the fire gradually to consume across the charcoal bed while your meat cooks on the contrary side of the barbecue.
Now, you may ask that what if the fire gets put off before the food gets cooked? Then, you can put 5 to 10 more briquets in it and fire it up again on the top of the charcoal.
5) How Would You Determine How Hot Your Grill Is?
A lot of you have been asking this question over and over that how you can check the hotness of the grill. So, there is no rocket scient to do that; your hand will do the trick for you.
Yes, you heard that right; you’ll touch your hand to the grill to determine how hot your grill is. It may look dumb, but this is how I do it all the time. How can you know how much hot is the grill?
Count the number of seconds you can put your hand on the grill before you start feeling pain. Let’s say, you could hold the grill for about 5.6 seconds, then it means that the grill is at low heat.
When you could spend only 4.6seconds touching the grill before you start having pain, then it shows that the grill is at medium heat. Same like that, when you’re able to hold the grill for about 3.6seconds, then it means that the grill is at medium-high heat.
And, as lower the time goes, the heat increases with it. Wasn’t it a fun and easy trick to attempt? I hope so. But what if you’re the kind of person who perceives pain ab it late or soon than other people?
It’s possible that people have different sensations, and you may have more or less pain-bearing capability than other folks.
In this case, just remember that normally a person can hold the grill for about 2seconds.
6) What is the Cheapest Way to Light Up Your Chimney?
If you’re on a budget and want to save money on fuel, then there is another way of lighting up your chimney without spending a penny. Simply, you can burn some of the newspapers or anything like wrappers to fire up your Chimney.
All you will need is a newspaper or any wrapper, and cooking oil which will surely be available at your home.
Just light some of the newspapers and put some of the drops of the oil on them, and it will start burning without hitting your bank. However, this won’t’ be as easy as you can burn the charcoal or any other fuel, but still, you can give it a shot if you don’t want to spend money.
7) Should I Grill Burgers with the Lid Open or Closed?
This is the most frequent question asked by meat lovers, so it’s crucial for me to answer this question in this post only.
Shrimp, burgers, and pork cleaves don’t take so much time to cook.
Leaving the barbecue top-up will slow the cooking system by lessening the temperature around the meat. For thicker cuts, you need to close the top to keep the temperature high,
Point to Note
Hey Meat lovers, I hope now you guys know how much charcoal to use for grilling. I have tried to explain everything using less technical words so you can understand better. Burning too much fuel can be expensive and also can burn your meat, so itç crucial to master the way of using the right amount of fuel while grilling.
When you properly use charcoal while grilling, it not just saves you a lot of money but also makes your meat tasty and look good. Usage of the charcoal will depend on the time you spend grilling your meat.
Like some people put the meat on the smoker, put the fuel in, and then go away from it and start partying with their friends. Meanwhile, the fuel keeps on getting consumed burning the meat along with it.
So, if you’re such a person, then you’ll have to change yourself in order to save fuel.
Or else, nothing will work for you. Ensure that you are around the smoker when your food is getting grilled, not just to save fuel but also to look after whether or not the food is getting cooked well.
And follow the tips and the examples that I’ve given above, I’m sure that will help you out grilling using the right amount of charcoal. If you have any Confusion in your mind, put them down.