Temperature control on a Weber Charcoal Gold

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oompappy

Sous Chef
Joined
Apr 30, 2005
Messages
665
Location
Finger Lakes NY
It's been a long time since I cooked on a weber but give this a try.
Leave the top vent open all the way and control the temp by closing the bottom vent to lower the temp or opening the bottom vent to raise the temp.
 
Hey Crusing, the temp control with those is great. When grill is empty slide control all the way to the left, that will be 100% closed. Slide it to the right until you see all the clean out slits (which are the vents) full open. Note where the handle is on the outside with those funny looking marks. No close it down to 50% open and note where the handle is with the funny marks. No when your using the grill open vents as required.
 
Good idea with the vent Nick...I just made a few scribe marks to mark out open, closed and halfway (I don't really like the little picture things on it, too much play in that for me (damn me, the engineering curse...)

Rob
 
Try a Minion burn with eight or ten lit coals on top of a half
to 3/4 chimney of unlit and run your test again.

Should be good for at least 2 1/2 to 3 hours without
having to mess with it to much.

Again just on one side as before.

Rob
 
YardBurner said:
Try a Minion burn with eight or ten lit coals on top of a half
to 3/4 chimney of unlit and run your test again.

Should be good for at least 2 1/2 to 3 hours without
having to mess with it to much.

Again just on one side as before.

Rob
With my respect to YardBurner and to qualify by saying I haven't tried it, I would be cautious about trying the Minion Method (MM) in a kettle. Not to say it can't be done, just that it might be difficult to do. I thought you said your kettle doesn't really have bottom vents to speak of Cruisin. (I have a kettle 'cousin' that DOES have bottom vents).

Unlit charcoal, when lighting up can impart a bad taste to food. As I recall Jim Minion saying 'only when there is a flame on the unlit charcoal' or in other words, in an abundance of oxygen.

This problem isn't a factor using the Minion Method in the WSM you may order because if you do it right, the combustion air is restricted. Many of us use it without issue in our WSMs.

I'll add another Jimism in here 'backpressure on exhaust venting can lead to creosote formation'. This would apply moreso when using smoking wood, but I think it may also apply to trying the Minion Method with only briquettes, no smoke wood and too much airflow. You don't want creosote on your food so you should probably leave the top vent open at all times.

So, when you try MM in your kettle, see if you notice 'that smell' of igniting charcoal.

On Edit: damn typos ....
 
OK, I'm waiting to hear the results.

Now I gotta try one with lump.

I'll measure it in quarts.

By the way I've been experimenting with blocking two of the vents on the one touch with foil to create a single intake point.

Check back with ya soon!

Rob
 
Susan Z said:
Feh! I use the Minion method on my kettles all the time. I've never detected any off taste from starting untreated unlit charcoal---after all, it's got the same stuff in the middle of the coals as there is on the outside of 'em, so wouldn't you ALWAYS think you had an off taste...?
this comes from a woman who smokes cigars AND goes through perhaps 1000 lbs of briquettes a year ... no kidding you don't taste anything 'off' :)

hey, maybe it works just fine ... just wanted to mention those two points in case they might be issues
 
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