I bought the 22.5" Weber kettle and there are some nights when I only want to grill one or two things, which only requires so much charcoal, and instead of wasting a bunch of charcoal to get the grill surface hot enough for searing, this idea came to me as I woke up this morning:
What if I could raise up the coal grate by a few inches? I could use less charcoal, get it up higher, and solve the problem. But how to do this? I thought maybe I could buy a second coal grate and sit it on top of something that’s sitting on top of the original grate. Something heat-proof a couple rocks or something uniformly shaped that’ll give me a few inches?
Has anyone ever tried something similar, or have any advice about conserving charcoal for those nights where I only want to grill a small amount?
However. . .my charcoal saving tip, if you’re not doing this already: reuse the old stuff.
When you’re done cooking, turn off all the vents and make sure the lid is on. The charcoal goes out. The next time you grill, use the pile of partially used charcoal, and add a few more fresh briquettes as needed. They’re smaller, but as good as new.
I’d cut three or more pieces of metal pipe (check the metal’s melting point) to the desired height. Pipe diameter of about two inches should do fine. Use the pipe pieces as legs for the new upper grate.
Listen, if you want to grill just a thing or two, and if you don’t want to use as much charcoal, don’t use the big grill. Go get a Weber Smokey Joe. It works just the same, but on a smaller scale. It’s fairly cheap. It even puts out its own fire when you close the vents.
Yes, but this would be, in effect, admitting to my boyfriend (and myself!) that I should have probably bought a smaller grill to begin with…
We also have a gas grill, and it was my big, fat idea to get this charcoal grill, so a third grill, I fear, is out of the question. So I’m trying to make this one work for small and big jobs!
:o
If you are looking for a good sear, then maybe you want to consider getting a charcoal chimney. Usually used for starting charcoal, it can also serve as a small grill. Once you have it going you can just throw a small, well oiled grate on top of it for some high-heat cooking.
Alton Brown seared a piece of sesame encrusted tuna over his chimney starter in the episode, The Other Red Meat.
Way back when everybody had charcoal grills, people used bricks most of the time, when they wanted to support the grates at a height not provided for. Most grills at that time had a flt bottom, and the bricks set in the bottom ok. Since Weber came out, many grills have a round bottom. You could place the bricks on the grate, and stick a wire cooling rack on the bricks, and the charcoal on the rack. You don’t want to use the wire rack to cook on, because it will slide when you go to turn the meat.
DO NOT use galvanized pipe for this. The zinc in the galvanizing will come off when heated, and is very bad for your health.
Over at a BBQ board where I hang out, members will build 2 level cooking surface, but they always use stainless steel threaded rod, nuts and washers to do it.
Getting back to the OP, go buy a couple of fire bricks for a couple of bucks each. Then get a second charcoal grate. Place the bricks on the existing charcoal grate, and the new grate on the top. You can also use the bricks to put under what you are cooking is you are trying to cook indirect.
Where might I purchase fire bricks? A grill store? Fireplace store?
I do pile all coals on one side and cook on that side, but it’s kind of hard to make a 2-level fire out of one chimney-starter’s worth of coals on one side of the grill- so much space between coals and actual cooking surface- doesn’t seem to get hot enough, hence my desire to raise up the coal grate.
