Is it Possible to Use Charcoal on a Gas Grill?

 

Cooking your foods using gas grills enables you to generate their own kind of heating without having the desired aroma and taste of charcoal whether you are cooking meats, poultry and seafood. Charcoal can also be added onto your gas grill but it will require more time than when you are using gas grill. You will find the ash resulted from your burning charcoals will dirty your gas grill and a little bit hard for you to clean the gas grill. You should always use approved or recommended fuel source for your gas grill.

To use charcoal on a gas grill, you need:

  • Gas grill
  • Gloves
  • One bag of charcoal briquettes
  • Food
  • Charcoal poker
  • Spatula
  • Plate
  • Newspaper
  • Matches
  • Grill brush
  • Sponge
  • A fire extinguisher (for emergency usage)

Using Charcoal with Gas Grill

Is it Possible to Use Charcoal on a Gas Grill

  • The first thing that you need to do is to remove the gas components of your grill in order to avoid any accident such as fire or explosion.
    • Then you need to remove the propane tank and for those of you who have a gas grill that comes with a tubing right at the grill’s base, it has to be remove as well.

 

Always make an effort to check your gas lines for any leaks. If you notice of any leakage, DO NOT use the grill. You need to also have at least 1/3 of your gas tank contain gas before starting to do any grilling. This is to avoid you from running out of gas while you are cooking.

  • You also need to remove the grid which is the upper grill rack for placing your meat or vegetables when you are cooking. The grid is also use for covering the lower part of your grill from the flames beneath it.

 

If the need arise for you to use a heat diffuser, you should only use ceramic briquettes, lava rocks or meat plates.

  • Then, you need to crumble at least five sheets of newspaper to turn it into balls before scattering it around the bottom of your grill.
    • The newspaper balls should be placed below the charcoal so that it can easily catch fire when you want to start grilling.
  • Next step is to stack your charcoal briquettes like a pyramid right at the bottom of your gas grill.
    • You can also use a couple of matches in order to light the charcoal and newspaper balls from around its edges.
    • For getting them going, you might need to blow on the embers steadily.
  • The charcoal must be left to flame up until it starts to dies down a bit for at least 10 minutes.
    • After 10 minutes, you will find that the charcoal will turn into a thin coating of gray ash over each briquette.
    • Take the poker to spread the charcoal around the grill.
    • After this the grill rack can be replace.
  • Always ensure that the grill rack is clean or you can use a grill brush to clean it or even use a damp sponge to do a quick brushing.
    • When you feel that the grill rack is really very hot, you can place your meat or vegetables onto it.
    • You can also proceed to brush them with your favorite seasoning, marinade as well as olive oil.
    • The cover can be open or shut. By shutting the top of your grill during cooking, it will help you in making the meals much hotter and help seal in a flavor-like charcoal.
  • Even though it is not a problem for you to use charcoal on a gas grill, it also have some disadvantages like
    • Damage to your gas grill due to the burning of ashes from the charcoal. Ashes resulted from charcoal grilling need to be clean regularly out of your grill. However, when you are using charcoal on a gas grill, even if you think that you have already clean most of the ashes, some of it might still remain. As a result, the ashes can some time clog your fuel lines as well as the burners thus making it more difficult for you to clean the gas grill. You might also end up having a damaged grill which could not be use any more.
    • When using charcoal briquettes, it can infuse lighter fluid which can add bad taste to your meals and even to your health.
    • It does not mean that if you do not use charcoal you could not add nice flavor to your meals. There is other ways that you can do to add flavor to your meals and avoid damaging your gas grill such as by wrapping soaked hardwood chips in aluminum foil. You simply poke holes in the packet in order to allow the smoke out and it can be placed right at the corner of your gas grill. The heat that comes from your gas grill would be able to release natural smoke flavor through the wood chips thus able to add flavor to your meals.

    Always remember that whenever you want to use charcoal with gas grill

    • You must make sure to open your grill’s air vent if it uses one. By doing so you would be able to increase the airflow and assist the charcoal to burn much better.
    • When you want to remove your gas grill components you must ensure that they are properly connected. The gas burners can also be use to light up your charcoal. You simply need to add a newspaper and the charcoal before pressing the button for lighting them.
    • It is important for you to set up the grill on a nonflammable surface and it must also not place near anything that could easily caught on fire.

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