How Much Lump Charcoal To Use In Kamado

To assist you save charcoal and coin, this article explains how to measure charcoal and how much to use for different grilling and smoking applications.

They say time is money. They should also say charcoal is coin — who wants to waste matter either? In fact, let's have this a step farther and say that food is money if y'all're a serious griller. (And, if you lot're reading this, you either are or accept intentions of becoming a serious griller.)

Ok and so. At present that we know that time, charcoal, and food are all coin, I'one thousand going to tell y'all how to save all three — no, four — things.

By using the correct corporeality of charcoal for the job, you tin can cook your food in the right amount of time, no wasting annihilation.

But, how much is the right amount?

To figure that out, I'll share the most applied way to measure out your charcoal consistently and then cover all the variables, like charcoal type, cooking manner, and what'south on the menu.

Fourth dimension'due south a-wasting — allow's start saving!

Contents (Jump to Topic)

ane First, Accept a Consistent Way to Measure
2 Type of Charcoal Matters
three How and What Yous're Cooking Matters
- three.one Grilling vs Smoking
- 3.two Rapidly Grilling a Burger?
- 3.three Roasting a Prime Rib?
- 3.iv Smoking a Brisket?
4 How Much Charcoal to Use When Grilling?
- iv.1 Two-Zone Grill Setup
- four.2 Medium Heat
- 4.iii Loftier Oestrus
- 4.iv Screaming Hot Searing
- 4.5 Depression Heat
five How Much Charcoal to Apply When Smoking?
- 5.1 Low northward Slow
- 5.2 Hot n Fast
6 Final Thoughts

Outset, Have a Consequent Manner to Measure

A charcoal chimney starter full of lumpwood charcoal in a kettle grill

Measuring charcoal isn't similar measuring spices or sauces — you tin't put it in a measuring loving cup or merely "add together a pinch."

You could go by weight, but allow'due south see a show of hands-on who has a calibration handy when they're grilling? Right.

Some grillers advise fractions of a bag, like half a handbag, a quarter of a bag, and then on. That'due south neat (assuming nosotros know the size of the bag), but it actually should be more precise.

Others volition count out individual pieces. That's not a bad way to get, merely given the variance in sizes, it may non be precise plenty for general guidelines like ours.

Our suggestion is to use a charcoal chimney and interruption it down accordingly — ane/four full, 1/2 full, a full chimney, etc. Most chimneys are similar in size, so this is accurate enough for our purposes.

Using a charcoal chimney also helps you continue rails of your charcoal usage, so you can arrange for future sessions. For example, if you light half a chimney to grill a few burgers but observe you only went through perchance half of that, you'll know to use 1/4 chimney side by side time. Like shooting fish in a barrel-peasy.

For anyone who doesn't own one, or if yours needs replacing, check out our Ownership Guide to the Best Charcoal Chimney Starters.

Type of Charcoal Matters

A close up of unlit lump charcoal next to briquettes on a weber grill

Now that we've established our measuring arrangement, we demand to consider what kind of charcoal we're burning.

There are 2 basic types of charcoal for cooking: briquettes and natural lump forest charcoal. They burn differently from each other, which changes how much charcoal you'll crave for your cookout or fume session.

You can learn more near lump charcoal vs. Briquettes here. In a nutshell, though, lumps are naturally formed and look similar the chunks of wood they once were, and briquettes are manufactured products that are fairly uniformly shaped.

Lump charcoal burns very hot (upward to 1400 °F or 760 °C) and fast.

Briquettes fire somewhat cooler (peaking nigh grand °F or 538 °C) and slower than lumps.

Recollect, these are the temperatures right on the surface of the charcoal, non what you get up at the grate.

But what this means is, you tin can get hotter quicker with lump, but briquettes last longer. And this translates to needing less lump to hit the same high temps simply needing more for longer cooks (and vice versa for briquettes.)

Nosotros take this into account in our recommendations afterwards.

How and What You lot're Cooking Matters

Oh expect, another variable. Yup, the food you're cooking and the way you're cooking it, impact how much charcoal you'll demand.

Permit's break information technology downwardly.

Grilling vs Smoking

Grilling is all about high temperatures and short cooking times. Smoking is the verbal opposite. Oddly, though, it doesn't have a significant impact on how much charcoal you demand.

For example, you may need a full chimney of briquettes to build up the intense oestrus needed to sear burgers for an hour at your backyard cookout. But, you'll also go through a full chimney smoking all 24-hour interval at 250 °F.

The difference here is more about how much you light at once, how it's distributed across your grill or smoker, and how yous control the airflow. Oxygen is fire's fuel, call up — the more than there is, the hotter the burn down burns.

Quickly Grilling a Burger?

If you're literally grilling a unmarried burger, you might want to rethink your life decisions. That'southward a lot of fuel and effort for one burger!

But if you're cooking for the fam, you'll want to low-cal upward a full chimney of briquettes or 3/4-total for lump charcoal to brand 'em sizzle on the grill.

Roasting a Prime number Rib?

Roasting isn't quick and hot like grilling, but information technology'due south not low n tiresome like smoking, either. Instead, you need medium temperatures (around 350 °F) for a few hours. (Estimate 12–xiv minutes per-pound.)

To achieve this, y'all'll demand to fill your chimney about 2/3–3/4 of the way and probably divide the charcoal in half for parallel configured two-zone cooking.

Smoking a Brisket?

A big, bad brisket may need to smoke all twenty-four hour period and all dark. Just, since smoking happens at low temperature (250 °F is nearly average), you lot won't burn through your charcoal quickly.

Figure on merely filling upwardly your smoker with equally much charcoal equally it can agree. For nearly smokers this will suffice for the cook, though you may need to top upwardly role way through. And if there'southward whatsoever left unburned at the end, you can reuse charcoal.

How Much Charcoal to Employ When Grilling?

A black kettle style charcoal grill with lit coals in , and lid hanging on the side of the bowl

This next point nosotros stress repeatedly site wide, and go into extreme detail in our guide on using charcoal grills. Above all else, you want to make sure you ready for ii-zone grilling to have complete command over your cooks.

Two-Zone Grill Setup

A two-zone grill set upwardly is where you take all your charcoal banked over to one half of your grill, with the other half of your grill empty of charcoal. This gives you two zones:

A zone and grate area directly over the coals for high heat grilling
A zone and grate area on your grill that is NOT over the coals, where the temperature is way lower.

This setup allows you lot to accept almost infinite control over the temperature y'all cook from very depression, very low, not over the coals, getting increasingly hotter as you motion the food toward the hot dress-down, right up to screaming hot if placed straight over the coals.

Weber Smoky Joe charcoal grill set up for two-zone cooking

We advise you always to fix up your grill in this manner.

With that out of the way, have you lot got a target cooking temperature range in mind? Here's how much you'll need to fill your chimney.

Medium Oestrus

If we consider medium heat to be between 350–450 °F, then nigh a 1/4-full to 1/2-full chimney of briquettes volition do the chore.

Proceed information technology closer to 1/4-full to i/3-full for lump charcoal.

High Heat

To hit the loftier temperatures needed to cook stuff like hot dogs and hamburgers speedily, you lot'll want a full chimney of briquettes to reach that 450–550 °F range.

Because lump burns somewhat hotter, three/4 of a chimney should practice it.

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Screaming Hot Searing

For insanely hot temperatures on the grate (nosotros're talking 800 °F!), you desire to endeavour the Afterburner Method. This requires one-half a chimney of charcoal and a cooking grate laid across the top of the chimney.

Never heard of it? Learn all nearly the Afterburner Method here.

Low Heat

No grilling is done at low heat, so this never comes into play.

How Much Charcoal to Apply When Smoking?

a barely style offset smoker with smoke billowing from the chimney

Smoking is a bit different from grilling. Nosotros accept vents and dampers to play with, and the sessions are usually much longer. Plus, there are unlike ways to prepare upwards your charcoal, depending on your cooker and what you lot're cooking.

Depression n Slow

This is the classic smoker style, calling for exposure to depression temperatures (about 250 °F) over a prolonged length of time, sometimes many hours.

In that location are a few variations to the charcoal ready up hither. Let's look at the most common.

Minion Method

This simple simply effective technique is ideal for long smoking sessions in ugly pulsate style smokers, the Weber Smokey Mount, and other types of vertical charcoal smokers.

Stat with a total chimney of briquettes, dump them in your smoker, and arrange them in a doughnut shape.

Make full your chimney again, but this fourth dimension just 1/4 of the way. Light this smaller quantity of briquettes and so deposit them into the middle of your doughnut once they're ashed over.

The fire volition gradually spread in all directions, giving you even heat over a prolonged period.

You tin employ lump charcoal, also, but you'll demand to advisedly conform the pieces past hand to be sure the gaps aren't too big, preventing the fire from spreading.

Click here for more nearly the Minion Method.

Charcoal Snake

The Snake is similar to the Minion Method in that you low-cal just a few coals and permit the burn down pass through them slowly. The primary difference is the arrangement — a stacked semi-circumvolve around the within perimeter of your cooker.

Y'all'll need a full chimney of briquettes (it doesn't work every bit well with lump) to build your ophidian, neatly stacked by hand. You can really depict it out for a long session with a ophidian; wanna brisket in the fume for twenty hours? Can do.

You could, of course, make a shorter snake for shorter smokes. Simply, with a long snake in place, you won't take to worry about calculation on if you're not quite in that location yet. And, you tin ever remove the unburned charcoal and save it for another time if yous don't use it all.

Desire to see my serpent? Read all about the Charcoal Serpent method here.

Kamado or Kickoff

With these smokers, nosotros can control our temperature very finer with the vents, pretty much regardless of how much charcoal we employ.

So, fill up 'er upwardly (your chimney, non your smoker!), dump information technology in, and light but a single spot for maximum duration…and so bank check out my commodity on how to utilise kamado manner smokers for how to accurately control the smoking temperature.

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Hot due north Fast

For smoking, "hot n fast" ways between 275–350 °F and for, maybe, but a few hours. For instance, you can fume a decent-sized brisket hot northward fast in possibly 6 hours instead of 12. We won't go into the pros and cons here; that'due south a conversation for some other day.

Since y'all won't be smoking for as long, you won't need as much charcoal; effigy on using 1/2 to 3/four of a chimney of briquettes or maybe i/3- to ii/iii-full for lump. Though nosotros do recommend loading the smoker with more than, as there's nothing worse than having to pinnacle up part way through a cook.

As ever, smoking with charcoal is more almost airflow direction than charcoal quantity.

Final Thoughts

I feel it'due south important to close by saying that though grilling and smoking are very much a science, they aren't always an exact science.

Charcoal pieces, even briquettes, aren't evenly sized, and they don't burn at the same charge per unit. Not all chimneys are the aforementioned volume. Some smokers and grills are more efficient than others. Weather ever plays a role in a cookout. In short, there are a LOT of variables.

Use this article every bit a guideline to become you started. Afterwards a few goes at information technology, yous'll go a experience for how much charcoal you need in whatever given state of affairs. And it'south those kinds of achievements that'll brand y'all feel like a true pitmaster.

Thank you, gang, and thanks for reading!