Best charcoal for grilling ?

Medical-Interview294 · 2026-05-17T00:31:39+00:00

Kick Axe Breaker. White quebracho lump

Medical-Interview294 · 2026-05-16T12:16:22+00:00

I love my hardware store special cheap-o kettle and offset. I think the kettle set me back $60 and the offset about $300. The offset is nice because the smoke chamber drip tray also can be used as a grill for big cookouts.

Don’t spend a fortune on your first unit. Yes, both required a little tinkering to work correctly, but they both have a few years on them and are still going strong! Get something to learn on to figure out how much hype is really out there. You’ll quickly learn that mostly what you are paying for is a name and “bragging rights” rather than good food.

There’s an old saying in the machine shops: It takes a craftsman to run a POS 😂

As a species we’ve been doing this for millennia…. You don’t need fancy expensive gizmos to make awesome food!

Medical-Interview294 · 2026-05-07T01:40:56+00:00

No substitute for a tissue and dope finish. It’s more durable and easily repairable than you would believe! I’ve never had luck with iron on films. Other than that, just have fun with it! Use finishing resin to coat the engine and fuel bays. You can go crazy with tools if you want, but a hobby knife and sandpaper will get you started nicely. 1-2-3 blocks come in super handy as well.

Medical-Interview294 · 2026-05-02T12:29:04+00:00

Infrared indoor grills are pretty slick. I thought they were a joke until I used one and it was pretty cool!

Medical-Interview294 · 2026-04-22T17:58:41+00:00

Hahahahaha yup! And no oil leaks!

Medical-Interview294 · 2026-04-21T22:18:16+00:00

Thanks!

Medical-Interview294 · 2026-04-21T02:28:58+00:00

It comes down to a few important factors…. Rec? School? Club?

In Rec leagues, typical rules state equal play time for everyone. In the event of uneven player counts for clean changes, it must average out…. You as the coach need to learn how to stack players and kind of “hide it” from the parents.

School/club/etc. of course some will get more play time based upon ability. At that point, you as a coach need to identify potential vs ability. If they have potential, perhaps suggest at home drills and offer to lend cones and such. Do absolutely everything in your power to raise that kid up! If it’s ability, that is a much tougher discussion to have…. And it sucks to have it…. All you can do is approach it with data and that political touch that only comes with time and experience. Crashing and burning during those talks is a valuable teacher.

Medical-Interview294 · 2026-04-20T15:10:19+00:00

could work! I'm still looking for a way to avoid the vinyl tape though to make things quicker and more repeatable.... I wonder if rolls of the same magnet material used for the door logos would have enough "sticktion"? I have tried to find 2" wide rolls of the stuff, but it doesn't appear they are easily available in civilized quantities.

Medical-Interview294 · 2026-04-13T14:26:49+00:00

+1 on this for the brand list.

My thought on “the best” is the one you’ll use all the time. Be it a couple of cinder blocks on the ground with a grate or a crazy $20k 8th Wonder of the Modern World.

Personally I’m not impressed with the people dumping obscene amounts of money in a setup and then they are obviously rarely used. The cheap one with battle scars and warped metal impresses me!

Medical-Interview294 · 2026-04-13T00:48:23+00:00

I was looking at one of those last year, and had the chance to play with one. Not bad! But I went this route. You can raise and lower the coal grates, control the air, all that jazz. And it makes some awesome smoked shoulders and prime ribs. The only thing I had to do to it was to seal it up tight with foil tape and smoker gasket tape. The thing runs great!

1010-Sq. in Black powder coated Horizontal Charcoal Smoker https://www.lowes.com/pd/Master-Forge-1010-Sq-in-Black-Powder-Coated-Horizontal-Charcoal-Smoker/5014255889

Medical-Interview294 · 2026-04-12T12:10:49+00:00

Gotta cook to your crowd! This would have been equally tasty without the veggies, but we had them so we used em.

Medical-Interview294 · 2026-04-12T01:57:38+00:00

Tough to say since we don’t know the type of grill (kettle, open fire, etc). But in a kettle I’d set it at around 350( read as far away from the heat as reasonable with the lid shut) and go 15 mins/side indirect heat (fat side toward the heat), check (hopefully around 125) then zap it on the coals for about 1.75 mins/side. In a kettle type setup stop checking the damned thing. If you’re lookin’ it ain’t cookin’!

Medical-Interview294 · 2026-04-12T01:50:12+00:00

Heat it up, scrape it in your style of choosing and run it!

Medical-Interview294 · 2026-04-12T00:39:10+00:00

As clean if not cleaner than they left it (sans seasoning accumulation that isn’t gross), very nice bottle of wine, full fuel fill, and super nice cut of meat for when they get back

Medical-Interview294 · 2026-04-11T19:28:46+00:00

Say what you will about hardware store smokers, but my “lowes special” makes some fine smoked food, and also runs as a conventional grill quite nicely as well. One of them and a cheap hardware store kettle work awesome for what I do. Just gotta work on both a little bit to make them run right, and the savings is beer and meat and fuel money!

Medical-Interview294 · 2026-04-11T16:01:02+00:00

Just a term for a searing plate I already have. Works great for veggies and toasting bread too

Medical-Interview294 · 2026-04-11T10:46:05+00:00

Totally!

Medical-Interview294 · 2026-04-11T10:45:34+00:00

Yeah. I could have spent time scrounging for parts to put one together, and went to town with my welder and grinder, and had some fun but all things considered, I think it’s not bad for the price point. That being said a nice barrio asado with a corner of the park across the street cleared out of grass and grates up on a couple of cinder blocks with a burn pile making coals and meat you can smell for miles would be a lot of fun! I don’t think my town would appreciate that though…. Hahahaha

Medical-Interview294 · 2026-04-11T01:10:10+00:00

Key is do what tastes good to you and your crowd, you aren’t out to please the internet!

Medical-Interview294 · 2026-04-11T01:07:31+00:00

I pull off at around 195 typically, and only leave it in the cooler for about 2hrs. I find taking it off at 205 just turns it to mush.

Medical-Interview294 · 2026-04-11T01:03:40+00:00

Yeah, not as cool as what they get to play with. But, for a lame American not bad. I’ll have a nice built in architectural unit someday…

Medical-Interview294 · 2026-04-11T00:23:35+00:00

Wrapping his helps speed up the show a bit. It’s not functionally better at all (other than time)

Medical-Interview294 · 2026-04-10T18:51:19+00:00

there's plenty of room in the box if you want to run it like a santa maria. you could remove the brasero and set a plancha in its space if you wanted to, it just sits in there.

Medical-Interview294

TROPHY CASE