Making the weber smokey joe burn hotter

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LT72884

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Ello all. As most of you know, i have moved to an apartment complex and they allow small grills. I have a weber smokey joe gold and i love it for my mini wsm conversion, but for grilling, i just cant get it hot enough. I am using regular KF blue. I am trying to get the steak and or chicken as close to the coals as possible. I have drilled a one inch hole in the bottom of the grill for more airflow but what else can i do to keep the coals red hot? install a fan? Or any mods to get the coals closer to the meat?

thanks

Matt
 
Use lump or better charcoal. I only use trader joes charcoal in my mini.
 
Leave a circular hole in the coals about the size of a hockey puck in the center of the charcoal grate. You will get even heat and it will burn hotter.

Edit: That trick works on the Silver. Don't know how to make the Gold burn hotter since the intake vents are above the coals.
 
I have two SJG grills and I would say use lump and light it in a chimney so it can get screaming hot, and grill with the lid off.
 
hmm, ok cool. i will try it out with lump. though it is scarce round here. haha. i have 25 bags of KF blue im trying to use, just need to get that hot as well. haha

thanks
 
LT72884 said:
hmm, ok cool. i will try it out with lump. though it is scarce round here. haha. i have 25 bags of KF blue im trying to use, just need to get that hot as well. haha

thanks
Click to expand...
The reason I say lump is because it burns hotter, plus I like the flavor it imparts better also. If you have that much KB laying around make sure it is HOT when you cook. No black coals. But lump will work better.

If nothing else the KB will work well for smoking when you are using that as a MWSM.
 
Can you cut a slightly larger charcoal grate from expanded metal so it sits higher in the grill and closer to the grate? Or maybe some fire bricks to raise up the coals?
 
Cook your steaks over the chimney when lit & the lump/briq's are really HOT using the grate from the SJ.
 
Hmm, i just found a 50 pound bag of lump in my garage. average size is about 4 inch diameter and 8 inches long. Its giant stuff. Ill use that to grill and keep the ro for smoking. I just had some ribs from a friemd of mine from his nice giant stick burner. The best i have ever had. He uses oak splits. It tasted soooo good. For some reason stick burners impart a totally different flavor than a charcoal cooker with wood chuncks. Anyway, gonna use the mesquite lump for grilling and get the coals closer somehow with fire bricks. Or just go caveman like i have in the past. Haha. Anyway, keep the ideas comin. Thanks.
 
Mesquite lump... you will have all the heat you want and then some. Mesquite burns HOT and it works well with beef.
 
Try lump as everyone suggested. Also, I put 3 damper vents in the bottom of my mini so it is just like wsm. Also, I created a charcoal ring to help pack in the charcoal. If the extra dampers don't do the trick, you can always put another vent damper in the lid. I did this on all my wsm to cook above 300.
 
+1 for lump and chimney starter. That booger gets over 700. Fajita 3 min a side
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9150E352-3F09-4200-9E2F-543CF0E65722-1194-00000193E84673DD.jpg

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[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOiCw2qumBA&feature=youtube_gdata_player"]J$ fajitas on the smokey joe - YouTube[/ame]
 
i'll ad another thing. just get a silver on cl or yard sales. then use which ever is appropriate. if this is just not an otion then go ahead and modify the gold by installing a vent kit on the bottom of the gold. a lot of foks did this on their sj platinums.
 
mbshop said:
i'll ad another thing. just get a silver on cl or yard sales. then use which ever is appropriate. if this is just not an otion then go ahead and modify the gold by installing a vent kit on the bottom of the gold. a lot of foks did this on their sj platinums.
Click to expand...
A vent kit as in the 3 hole damper or is it another type vent kit? I was thinkin of adding a pc fan near the bottom of my smky joe gold and have a pupe vent moving air into the fire.
 
LT72884 said:
A vent kit as in the 3 hole damper or is it another type vent kit? I was thinkin of adding a pc fan near the bottom of my smky joe gold and have a pupe vent moving air into the fire.
Click to expand...

I put 3 dampers in the bottom just like the wsm. You can get the damper kits off ebay. I can leave the bottom vent closed on the sjs and not have ash falling out the bottom. Some put a can over the vent, but I see no need to do that.
 
I used expanded metal to make this I get great temps using lump.

7hI86.jpg
 
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