I use the weber chimney for the 18" kettle-about 3/4ths full. For those of you using the 22" grill, is there any reason to consider the larger Rancher chimney?

Hey Steve,

What is a rancher chimney?

Q'n, Golf'n & Grill'n.... too many choices!
Gary

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Petrone:
I use the weber chimney for the 18" kettle-about 3/4ths full. For those of you using the 22" grill, is there any reason to consider the larger Rancher chimney?

Steve, I find that one chimney for the 22.5" kettle is not enough. I usually add some unlit on the grate and dump a very full chimney on top of the unilt and go from there. This holds true especially when using lump since it doesn't pack all that well in to a chimney. As already mentioned, Rancher chimney, as in a chimney made just for the Ranch Kettle?

Perhaps I need to clarify, the co. making Rancher charcoal, The Original Charcoal...makes an oversize chimney starter. It can be found at Costco-if my memory serves me right, it is stainless too.

I'm a beginner but I've found that one chimney full is plenty to sear and cook steaks, burgers, etc. I used 3/4 chimney for my first slow and low cook. My mistake was starting out at a too high temp (350). The second time I did a slow and low I used 3/4 chimney but I adjusted the vents by closing them almost all the way to bring the temp down to 225. The last hour I had to add a few new coals to bring the temp up a little. Patience is key. It takes the grill a good 5 - 10 minutes to react to changes.

petercoh: for low and slow on a kettle, try a mini minion method with just 5 or 6 lit briquettes on a pile of unlit. You'll find it much easier to dial in a tartget temp on the way up.

For searing, you'll get better results if you use more than one chimney of lit. I do it like Bryan.

I haven't seen this rancher chimney.

Thanks Dave ! A couple of questions:
1. When you're doing direct cooking as Bryan describes do you need to wait for the unlit underneath the lit charcoal to burn ? I think the answer might be yes.

2. The mini-minion method - at what point would you add the soaked wood ? Would you add the wood and on top of that the unlit coals ?

Thanks !

Steve,

This is mostly dependent upon fuel type and desired fire.

I would say if you use mostly lump you'll benefit from the larger chimney.

I've found that a weber full of briquettes provides more than enough for searing steaks and the like, although with lump I wind up using about 2 chimneys full.

Hi Petercoh,

When doing a direct cook you're not going to be doing anything like the minion method, but yes I would definitely say wait for the unlit to ash over if you wind up mixing lit and unlit.

I would add the wood immediately since with MM you're looking to get started right off the bat with your cook and let the fuel slowly catch in order to provide a long sustained low temp burn. I wouldn't soak the wood either, that might snuff out the fire since you'll only be starting with a small amount of lit. Keep the vents regulated and the lack of oxygen will prevent the wood from catching a flame.

Or you could just use two Weber chimneys. It's always good to have a backup!

quote:

Originally posted by joec:
Or you could just use two Weber chimneys. It's always good to have a backup!

Absolutely! I have three for when I fire up my Ranch Kettle for a big cook.