How To Control Grill Temperature

Mastering Vents: Using Vents to Control Temperature

Wood and charcoal grills are notoriously volatile. And so let us show you some techniques to Control Temperature with Vents.

Many grillers think of wood and charcoal grills as wild animals, with minds and a will of its own. Flames and estrus licking up and destroying the nutrient at information technology's own convenience or simply not providing enough heat to cook the food through.

Fortunately, this is an animal that can be tamed. By merely understanding what is going on in the grill nosotros can develop strategies to command the temperature.

What Fuels a Charcoal or Wood Grill?

This is the part that escapes a lot of people: What fuels the grill?

Well, the answer we get back is ordinarily: "Charcoal or forest, obviously".

And, yes, that is true. Merely, nosotros are missing an of import factor, the oxygen. Oxygen besides acts as a fuel and that's where the command comes in.

There are two ways to control the heat, either command the charcoal/ wood or control the oxygen.

What we are going to talk virtually today is using the vents to command the temperature of the grill by decreasing or increasing the corporeality of oxygen feeding the burn.

Keeping the Lid Down

The first thing that you volition want to do if y'all are going to command the temperature is to cook with the chapeau down.

The reason for this is that if you are cooking without a lid on the grill then it is incommunicable to control the level of oxygen entering the grill and the gases leaving the grill.

Two Types of Vents

As I mentioned above there are two types of vents, ane to take in oxygen to feed the burn down and ane to get rid of the gases.

The Lower Vent or Intake Damper

The intake damper is usually positioned on the bottom or underside of the grill. Oxygen enters through this lower vent and fuels the charcoal or wood.

Burn down needs oxygen to continue burning. If you close off the supply then the fire volition only burn out.

The more y'all open up this vent, the more oxygen (or fuel for the fire) will enter the grill and the temperatures will soar.

More ofttimes than not, this will exist the chief way y'all will control the heat of the grill – by either endmost the vent more to reduce oxygen levels and decreasing temperature or opening the vent wider to increase oxygen menstruum and temperatures.

The Lid Vent or Frazzle Damper

Much the aforementioned as the intake damper, the exhaust damper cannot be closed for any menstruation of time otherwise gases similar Carbon Monoxide and Carbon Dioxide will build up inside the grill and starve the burn of much needed oxygen required to go along burning.

However, the frazzle damper does not just release the gases and smoke, it also serves the dual function of leaving a gap that needs to exist filled. This creates an airflow where the gas is released from the exhaust damper, more oxygen is pulled in through the intake damper to make full the vacuum.

Agreement Your Grill

In lodge to understand the temperature of your grill you need to exist scientific and treat it equally an experiment. In order to truly understand what works and what doesn't we can but alter one affair at a fourth dimension.

So, I would recommend understanding the intake damper first. Leave the lid vent open completely and record what temperatures you reach at diverse stages of having the lower vent open up (eastward.chiliad. quarter open up, half open up, three quarters open and fully open),

It is likewise a great thought to look to your favorite recipes. What temperatures do they call for? Try and figure out, using the lower vent, how you lot can reach those temperatures for a sustained period of time.

Make sure that you record the ready-upward (i.e. how much wood/ charcoal y'all have added and the position of both vents).

Summing things Upward

Using these methods and beingness careful to tape the set-up and position of your vents will make it much easier to follow any recipes that specify temperature or volition simply afford you more control over the cooking temperature.

If, through experimentation, you are unable to find the temperature that you require there could exist two further reasons that we will cover at a later engagement. These are the amount of wood/ charcoal itself and the possibility of leaks in your grill if the lid does not fit tightly into the base.

Permit us know on Twitter , Facebook or Instagram how your grilling is going and if yous have any questions about using the vents to control heat on your forest or charcoal grill ship us a message!