Re-posting In This Channel: Help with Timing on New Kettle

[GolfGeezer]

I originally posted in the SnS channel, but as no one responded, I thought maybe that channel is too specific. Here are my questions:

I have a couple of very nice SRF wagyu New York strip steaks I plan to grill this afternoon. The 2 steaks are about 1.5" thick, dry brined overnight. I have watched the videos on the SnS site on cooking using the cold grate method and the indirect then reverse sear.

My questions are timing. I have not cooked with charcoal, and even when I did back in the "day", I knew nothing about indirect/direct/etc - everything was nuked!

How long does the initial 25 briquette lighting and heating to get the kettle to 225*-250* take?

How long about for the steaks to get to 115* using the indirect side of the grate?

Lastly, how long does a chimney take to heat up a full load of briquettes for the reverse sear? I am using Cowboy brand charcoal for this.

Thanks for your assistance! Here is a pic of the steaks just after salting.

[STEbbq]

About 15 minutes to light and maybe another 10-15 to get to 225-250. About 30-45 minutes for steaks to 115 on the indirect side.

Ideally, the searing side would already be essentially ready when the steaks are 115. So you just move them over and sear and bang, done. If you do need to add more lit coals, maybe assume another 20-25 minutes to light and get temps up.

[Troutman]

I used to do a ton of reverse sear with an SNS and spin grate when Parish first came out with his inventions. That said I got tired of the multi-step process. First cooking on the indirect side, the coals die down during that step, reloading the coals for a quick reverse sear secondly, then the turn and spin; just too much bother. Great results, don't get me wrong, but too many steps.

Quite frankly I just commented on your comment about SVQing a tri-tip, just do that with your steaks. I find it to be convenient and pretty much full proof every time. Just my two cents worth, I think the comments above are appropriate otherwise.

[jfmorris]

I still like the SNS for 2 zones for doing a front/reverse sear technique, but myself no longer do all the spinning and cold grate part of it. And I just do it all on a half chimney of lit coals, and skip trying to light just a few coals to get a grill at 225...

[GolfGeezer]

Troutman I used to do that, but then started doing 2 zone on my gasser for steaks. More of a save time approach and the results were just as pleasing as going the SV route, particularly for prime or wagyu. I still use SV for choice cuts. Thanks again.

[jfmorris]

I am going to jump in and say that lighting it the way you've seen suggested is time consuming and unnecessary. What I do when I want to do steaks on the kettle with the SNS to do 2 zone cooking is to light a half chimney of charcoal, dump it in the SNS, and then put my steaks in the indirect zone until they reach 115ish, as far from the charcoal as I can get them. It takes 30 minutes or so to reach 115. I then just take the lid off the kettle, let the fire get a little hotter with the extra oxygen, and start flipping my steaks or spinning the grate, until I get the color I want.

I guess I am saying, the indirect will be "cool enough" with the half chimney of lit coals to slowly get the steak to 115, but hot enough to do the searing at the end of the cook after 30-40 minutes.

I will be honest though - I have two Easyspin grates, and rarely do the spinning/cold grate thing anymore, unless it's on a whim. I mostly just flip the steaks over the SNS until they get the color I want, and don't spin the grate. I've also started doing more FRONT searing, then moving indirect to let them slowly come up to the done temp I want.

[GolfGeezer]

Thanks! That is very helpful. I’m not sure what size my chimney would be considered, but 25 briquettes of the Cowboy fills it 2/3 full.

[jfmorris]

GolfGeezer my chimney is a large Weber one. A half chimney fills the SNS about half full. A full chimney is a full SNS, maybe a heaping SNS. I advise filling the SNS at least half full of lit coals.

[GolfGeezer]

jfmorris I guess mine is a “medium” so I’ll adjust accordingly. As for the whole cold grate thing, I recall the reasoning as being that it reduces seared grate marks and produces more of an overall sear like the inverted GGs or a pan produce. Not a big deal to me.

[GolfGeezer]

Thanks Troutman and jfmorris . I have been doing a 2 zone on my gasser, left 2 burners on full under grillgrates and the right 2 off. Cook the steaks on the indirect to 115*-120*, then sear on the GGs. Looks like the same approach applies. I’ve done both front and rear searing, but sort of fell into the reverse sear as a habit. I think I’ll skip the whole spin and refill idea this first time. The timing info is great as the gasser approach is much faster.

[Troutman]

Just one more thought, before I considered reverse searing what I'd do is fire up my kettle with a ton of charcoal in the SNS, open all the vents and let her get ripping hot. I then just cooked the steaks on the indirect side until I got them to about 122*F then let them rest tented on my stove top. The carry over usually gets them to about 130-135*F. There is a distinctive gray band with this method but frankly it didn't take away from the final product.

Great color on these porterhouses done that way.

[Panhead John]

When I’m doing steaks on the kettle I never check the kettle for temps. A good steak like you’re doing won’t require low and slow for hours to get tender, of course. I do a very similar technique that jfmorris does. I just fill the SnS about halfway or so, with hot coals from the chimney. I empty the chimney before the top layer of coals have ashed over. Leave your steak in the fridge until you’re ready to put it on the grill. I’ll put my wood chunks at the bottom of the SnS, or vortex, then dump the coals on top of em. Leave the lid off till the wood starts smoking. Then I put the lid on, close both vents about 3/4 of the way. In fact with my SNS kettle having a small smoke hole, I close the sweeper vent and just open the small smoke hole at the bottom. This will drop your ambient temps to where it’s just right for placing the steak off heat.

After about 5 minutes or so with the lid on, I take the steak straight out of the fridge and place it on the grate as far from the heat as I can. After about 10 or 15 minutes I start checking the looks of the steak and now is when you can start checking the IT. Once it’s around 115*, remove the lid and let your coals get back to flaming hot. Place the steak directly over the coals and flip several times till it almost reaches your desired doneness. I never let my steaks rest, I like em hot off the grill. This really isn’t gonna be much different than a 2 zone cook on your gasser.

[GolfGeezer]

Thanks! I’m a little too nerdy not to not use my temp tech toys, so usingFireboard Spark to monitor the grate temp, and my Combustion Inc probes for the two steaks.

[Panhead John]

Keep us posted on how it turns out, with pics!

[GolfGeezer]

Again, thanks for the very helpful input. I decided to skip the cold grate method and just load the SnS insert with a chimney of coals. I used my Fireboard Spark to monitor grate temps and my CI probes to measure the steak IT with a target of 115* before setting up and reverse searing. This was a very different experience as PJ noted it would be from my gasser.

First, I used some old Weber lighter cubes to light the chimney - never again! Horrid black, smelly smoke which burned off, but left some ashy carbon debris. Defintiely going to use the puck stuff that Troutman got from Amazon, but I also found at Ace Hardware (and cheaper than Amazon).

Dumped the chimney in and ran into my first issue - regulating the temp for the indirect cook portion. I had both top and bottom vents wide open, put the lid on without the steaks with an eye to getting the temp up to 200* and then throttling the vents. Well, the cooker temp shot to over 370* within minutes! I quickly closed the bottom all the way, closed the top to 1/4 open and opened the smoke hole 1/2. It took 30 minutes to get the kettle down to 270*-ish.

Then did the indirect - another 20-30 minutes to get to 115*. Pulled, opened the bottom and left the lid off. Put some EVOO on the steaks and fresh pepper. Then do the searing.

Result - outstanding! Even my beautiful bride loved hers and she is not a beef fan.

Below are pics from prep through finished plate. The last "issue" I had with the kettle was shutting it down. With a gasser, turn off the gas and that's it. With the kettle, even with everything closed, there were still lit coals 1 1/2 hours later. I'm headed out to finish the cleanup after this.

Brining the steaks.


Getting the kettle going.


The Money Shot! Yukon Gold mashed with chives to accompany them.

[Panhead John]

Beautiful looking steaks, perfectly done! Congrats on your inaugural SNS cook. I wouldn’t fret too much about the temps in the kettle when you put your steak in, as I mentioned, I never check mine. If it’s a little hotter than you’d like, all that means is your steak will be done a little quicker. Kettles aren’t air tight, so it’s not unusual to have some hot coals an hour or so later. Unless you want to re-use some of the coals, I wouldn’t worry about it too much. 👍👍

[PGH_RAM]

Looks like you nailed it. Nice work!

[Troutman]

I actually prefer a hot kettle, gets to the point. See that wasn't so hard now.