You’ll also want to wipe down the inside of the lid and bowl using a mild soap. After cooking, the best way to put out hot coals is to close the lid and shut both the upper and lower vents to cut off the oxygen supply. Closing the lid and vents will extinguish the coals, but it may take a while for the coals to cool down. If you’re looking for an affordable, all-around great charcoal grill, the Weber Original Kettle Premium 22-Inch Charcoal Grill should be your go-to choice. Our reviewer liked that it worked well for all skill levels. If you want to spend a little less, you can downsize to Weber’s 18-Inch Kettle Grill and still experience the brand’s quality.
If you like to switch up your cooking style once in a while, you’ll love The Original PK Grill & Smoker. This model delivers the best of both worlds, and it’s perfect for both casual grillers and professional chefs. For a lower price point and a little less grilling space, check out the Weber Original Kettle 18-Inch Charcoal Grill.
Another powerful draw of these grills is the intense smoky flavor they create in the food they cook. They’re versatile too since they can use either traditional charcoal briquettes or lump charcoal as fuel. Cooking over charcoal takes longer than cooking with a gas grill, and we typically need to add more fuel during cooking to keep our grills above 350 degrees F for the full duration.
To help you choose the right one, we sent a few of the most popular models to the homes of our testers. They spent weeks cooking outside to properly test a grill’s temperature control, heat retention, and post-dinner cleanup. They also assessed how easy it is to set up out of the box, and if any features help or hinder getting your barbecue experience.
The enamel is baked on at 1,500F – which is enough to hold up to any heat you throw at the grill as well as potential rust and burn through problems. Typically, prices drop in the Winter months when demand is low and increases in the Summer when demand is high – If you’re in the market for a new grill, always wait till Winter. The only thing extra that you need for assembly is a mallet or hammer to tap the wheel hub caps on. Everything else that you need to assemble the grill comes packaged.
Similarly, you’ll probably have to scrape stuff off the lower charcoal grate, though possibly not after each use. It’s a fairly large grill with lots of primary cooking space. Grilling for a large family or a crowd of guests is no problem. We love this grill, and it always appears highly in our roundup of the best charcoal grills available. Although it’s not a purpose-built smoker, it is certainly possible to do some smoking on your charcoal grill with the help of the charcoal snake method and some good temp control via the vents.
But we also opened our search to include charcoal grills of different designs. The fact that the kettle shape dominates the charcoal-grilling field doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the ideal. The world of the charcoal grill is essentially back to basics – returning to the original experience of cooking over an open fire. Light the charcoal with a Rapidfire® Chimney Starter, watch as the coals transform into a glowing heat source, practice controlling the temperature, and enjoy the process as the food cooks.
It’s large enough to grill an entire dinner during the week, or a bunch of burgers at your next barbecue. With premium features, such as a hinged cooking grate for easily adding charcoal while grilling, and the One-Touch™ cleaning system with high-capacity ash catcher. The lack of a simple lid hook feels like a design oversight and removing and replacing the ash catcher isn’t as smooth as it should be because the damper handle gets caught on the legs. There’s no function for pushing the ashes into the catcher, either, so it has to be done manually with a grill brush or other tool. I also worry about longevity, mainly because the handles, ash catcher, and lid damper are identical to the same parts on the worst grill we tested. Cook delicious burgers, juicy steaks, game-day hot dogs and yummy veggies to perfection with a new weber q or Weber smoker grill from Ace Hardware.
Experience the evolution of the iconic Kettle where charcoal grilling meets low-and-slow smoking. With a push of a button, coals are lit and the smell of barbecue will soon embrace the neighborhood. Whether smoking, grilling, or even baking, the Summit® Charcoal Grilling Center is the answer to any craving and the ultimate backyard kitchen. With a push of a button, the coals are lit, and the essence of BBQ fills the air. The Performer® Deluxe charcoal grill performs from beginning to end.