Portable Charcoal Grills

WSS

Rock Stacker
What makes you think I haven't in my decades of grilling? I use a Weber LP grill for a reason now.

I assumed that since you said "you only use LP now". My bad. It is just a difference of opinion. I prefer the carcinogens and taste of wood compared to LP. All good.
 

WeLikeCamping

Explorer
As usual, I'm late to the party. Two comments - 1 - those throwaway easy light grills you buy at the grocery? Don't. They aren't worth the effort. 2. Check out the Volcano - https://volcanogrills.com/product/volcano-3-collapsible-grill-stove/

I have the Volcano 3 and it works great as a grill, or as a portable firepit, and is legal to use under some Fire restrictions. (always check first!). It has a propane burner, but can easily use charcoal. It's best for no more than two or three people, and it's kinda lame for a firepit, but some fire is better than no fire.

(okay, three things)
Whenever I have a fire in the ground, it always gets drowned before I leave. I'm talking swimming-hole drowning. If I've built a firepit, I dismantle it and bury the COLD coals. Rake stuff around and you can barely tell a firepit was there.

Edit - in the desert, one should ALWAYS have plenty of water.
 

DortchRules

New member
That is what the Hibachi was designed to cook. Don't try it with a 3″ Porterhouse or such. A 1″ steak will be great. Get a full bed of charcoal burned down to glowing red embers and you will have a great steak.
 

ricoisme26

Active member
In case anyone is still trying to figure out a charcoal grill solution we went cheap and got a Weber go anywhere.


If you cut the grill grate in half you can pack the grill with everything you need similar to what you see in that video. We line the bottom with foil which makes clean up quick. The chimney starter gets you grilling in less than 15 minutes and the grill is relatively thin so it cools down fast when you are done.

We don’t take it every time but sometimes the gas griddle just doesn’t cut it.

But what do you do with the hot charcoal when you are ready to pack up? that was my initial question, I wasn't as worried about the grill itself, think steel cools of quick enough that it'll be cool enough to put in the bed of my truck before i'm done eating. its the charcoal that would still be burning I was concerned with. anyone consider something double walled to contain the hot charcoals? I had read on a BBQ site/forum/cookbook/interwebs that if you snuff out the charcoal when you're down cooking it can be used again, eliminate need to carry loads of charcoal, once you did it a few time could begin to estimate the "right" amount to take.
 

ricoisme26

Active member
The UCO grill arrived.I like it, just what we need. Here are some info mercial pics.

Right from amazon:



The BBQ bag it needs to fit in:



The old grill (which needed rocks stacked to make use of):



Old next to new:



Out and assembled, even comes with a hot grill lifter:



The bag it fits in is OK,I have better canvas bags:



All zipped up, a little room left buy not much. I widdled this down from a Pelican 1550 that was full. All total I shaved 30lbs off my rear rack the last go around.



And it fits, even with the bag. The folks at ATC are either lucky or put a lot of thought into their product:



The cutting board still fits, I was able to fit my extra baking paper and aluminum foil in there too.



Here is where the BBQ kit rides now:





Even has picnic blanket in there:



Blanket removed to show off grill kit:








;
seriously envious of the packing efficiency here. Makes me want to step my game up big time
 

Captramrod01

New member
But what do you do with the hot charcoal when you are ready to pack up? that was my initial question, I wasn't as worried about the grill itself, think steel cools of quick enough that it'll be cool enough to put in the bed of my truck before i'm done eating. its the charcoal that would still be burning I was concerned with. anyone consider something double walled to contain the hot charcoals? I had read on a BBQ site/forum/cookbook/interwebs that if you snuff out the charcoal when you're down cooking it can be used again, eliminate need to carry loads of charcoal, once you did it a few time could begin to estimate the "right" amount to take.

If you fully load that Weber mini chimney starter its about enough charcoal to put a single layer down on the grill. That gives about 20 minutes to do your grilling and another 20-30 to completely burn out. Trying to snuff out the charcoal is going to take much longer for everything to cool down.

If you don't have an 1hr+ for lunch, you probably shouldn't be using the charcoal grill.
 

rajacat

Active member
If you fully load that Weber mini chimney starter its about enough charcoal to put a single layer down on the grill. That gives about 20 minutes to do your grilling and another 20-30 to completely burn out. Trying to snuff out the charcoal is going to take much longer for everything to cool down.

If you don't have an 1hr+ for lunch, you probably shouldn't be using the charcoal grill.
I decided to follow Expedition Portal's advice and bought the
KAMOTO OPENFIRE PIT .
I haven't used this with charcoal yet but with a bed of kindling it would probably do well. Note the tray beneath it that collects anything that might filter through the firebox proper. With charcoal when it's time to break camp, I would take each piece and deposit it in a bucket of water to be totally safe.
1603134512362.png
 

Riptide

Explorer
If you fully load that Weber mini chimney starter its about enough charcoal to put a single layer down on the grill. That gives about 20 minutes to do your grilling and another 20-30 to completely burn out. Trying to snuff out the charcoal is going to take much longer for everything to cool down.

I've eaten some pretty darn good steaks cooked over the charcoal chimney starter. Yep, not much cooking area. But, they obviously draw in air pretty well, and get the charcoal glowing pretty fast. And easy to dump. Just come up with a little grate to sit on top.
 
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geojag

Active member
I have used the UCO flatpack quite a bit, I probably use it more canoe camping than anything. There isn't much heat regulation, but it works pretty good and takes up almost no space. It also makes a nice little firepit if not much heat is needed.
 
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Avali

New member
Especially popular here at thebarbec is the 26" Weber kettle. Gives you a lot of room to work with as well as the option to smoke with it. I think you can't go wrong with anything Weber, but the extra space on the 26" definitely helps.
 
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