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Charcoal Grill Buying Guide | How to Buy a Charcoal Grill
Choose Your Charcoal Grill’s Configuration
Location, location, location. No, we’re not talking about real estate — well, we sort of are — we’re talking about your backyard, and more specifically, the charcoal smoker or grill that’ll soon be in it. You need to consider location, along with mobility, when deciding which configuration best fits your needs. Let’s take a look at what each has to offer.
Freestanding Charcoal Grills
These models come as either a grill head on a cart, like freestanding gas grills, or a grill on legs. Mobility around the backyard (or to a tailgate) is the obvious benefit, but don’t overlook how much easier it is to clean a freestanding model than a built-in one. This is especially crucial for charcoal, which leaves behind ash inside the grill. To make cleaning even easier, many freestanding charcoal units have ash-removal mechanisms, like the ash basket on many Weber Kettle charcoal grills. This category includes portable charcoal pits for hunting, fishing, or camping trips where you need a light grill that can still deliver big flavor.
Built-In Charcoal Grills
We told you these grills have come a long way. Luxury and Premium grill brands like Blaze and Coyote have popularized built-in charcoal pits, which look like their gas counterparts and are installed the same way: by sliding the grill head into a BBQ island cutout. These grills are a natural outdoor kitchen centerpiece for charcoal purists and can add versatility alongside a gas grill, not to mention that they’re built from commercial-grade stainless steel for a stunning aesthetic.
Charcoal Grills vs. Kamado Smokers
Kamados, which are essentially ceramic charcoal smokers and grills, are a notable subset of this product category. They’re distinct in both shape (these are your egg-shaped charcoal pits) and cooking properties, the latter of which is a result of both ceramic construction and airflow. While charcoal grills exchange plenty of air during operation, kamados permit very little airflow when cooking. Our Kamado Grill Buying Guide explains these specialized cookers in far more detail, but we thought we should outline at least a few of the differences between kamados and standard charcoal models here.
Charcoal Grills
As stated above, airflow is one of the biggest differences between these two types of grills. For normal charcoal pits, the faster rate of air exchange means they’ll use more fuel per cook (so stay stocked!). Construction is another key contrast, and these models are normally made of steel ranging from commercial-grade stainless to inexpensive, painted metal. Steel is a great conductor of heat, making it easy for charcoal grills to get searing-hot for burgers and steaks.
Kamado Grills
Less airflow equals more than just greater fuel efficiency — without dry air passing over food, it retains more moisture for juicy and tender results. That’s one of the biggest draws of kamados, which also wield the excellent insulative properties of ceramic. Unlike steel, ceramic takes much longer to get hot, but it also holds and radiates heat toward food for extended stretches. Kamados are best for experimental grillers who want to try different, indirect cooking styles.
Special Note: Still on the fence? Spend a little time with our article explaining how charcoal grills stack up against kamado grills, then be sure to come back and finish up here. Reading the whole thing will make our copywriters very happy.
What Size Charcoal Grill do You Need?
Seems like a simple question, right? Actually, we don’t think you can properly answer it until you’ve considered 3 other questions:
- How many people will you grill for on a normal basis?
- What’s the maximum number of people you’d need to grill for at once?
- How often will you grill for that maximum number of people?
Once you’ve estimated those totals, you’ll have a much better idea of just how big your charcoal smoker or grill really needs to be. Keep in mind that size is about more than how many burgers you can fit at one time — with charcoal cookers, having a wider grilling surface means you can create dual-zone grilling setups and enjoy the versatility of indirect cooking. If you plan on trying two-zone grilling (why wouldn’t you?), you’ll need a grill large enough for you to bank charcoal to one side of the charcoal basin. But before we go too far down that path, let’s first figure out which grill size best fits your needs.
Small Charcoal Grills
No more than 26 inches wide at the widest points of the cooking grates, small charcoal grills are perfect for couples and smaller families that love BBQ. They’re also great on-the-go cookers at tailgates and camping trips with a few close friends. You’ll have no problem grilling some burgers, a pack of hot dogs, and maybe even a side or two, but these grills generally limit you to the use of direct heat only.
Medium Charcoal Grills
Consistently feeding a large family is easy with medium charcoal cookers, which have grates that measure between 27 and 33 inches in width. With room for both main dishes and sides, these grills are also reliable workhorses that can crank out a few batches of food during parties. Though grills of this size don’t offer much mobility, they give you enough space to arrange dual cooking zones for greater versatility.
Large Charcoal Grill
Is your backyard the place to be for gamedays, the setting for extended-family get-togethers? Yeah, you’ll need a large charcoal cooker. Their cooking surfaces are at least 34 inches wide, allowing you to use virtually any setup or cooking technique you can dream of. Sear 20 steaks over direct heat at once, use indirect heat to simultaneously smoke 6 Boston butts, or put both to work at the same time.
Choose Your Charcoal Grill Class
Already got a model in mind? Before you go picking out that charcoal pit, take a moment to see if it belongs to the grill class that best fits your lifestyle. A charcoal grill falls into 1 of 4 classifications (Luxury, Premium, Practical, and Entry-Level) based on its quality, performance, and features. We’ve given you a brief rundown of each class below so you can have a better idea of what they offer.
Luxury Charcoal Grills
- Built entirely from cast aluminum or 304, commercial-grade stainless steel for longevity
- Come with lifetime warranties from great brands and can withstand harsh settings
- Only class with split-tier, adjustable charcoal trays for extremely versatile cooking
- Packed with highly convenient features like electric charcoal starters and digital controls
Premium Charcoal Grills
- Most models constructed with all stainless steel or cast aluminum
- Lifetime warranties from trustworthy brands reflect longevity outdoors
- Adjustable-height charcoal trays are a standard feature for more controlled cooking
- Charcoal chamber doors, hidden rotisseries, & push-button ignitions for a premium experience
Practical Charcoal Grills
- Mixed materials in construction are backed by decent warranties of up to 10 years
- Won’t last as long as Luxury or Premium models, but can last a decade with proper care
- Unique cooking systems like Argentinian gaucho grills are immersive and fun to use
- Select grills have fun features like charcoal access doors, adjustable charcoal trays, and electric ignitions
Entry-Level Charcoal Grills
- Materials range from ceramic and cast iron to painted and porcelain-coated steel
- Lower quality of materials means these models need to be replaced sooner than higher-class grills
- Napoleon, Weber, and Everdure offer 10-year warranties, though others are far slimmer
- Most grills in this class are kettle cookers with small capacities that limit versatility
The Versatility of Charcoal Grills
Like a classical instrument, charcoal grills are simple devices that can be wielded by anyone — in the hands of a master, though, what comes out is nothing short of art. A charcoal smoker or grill’s results vary depending on the user’s skill, but we aren’t pointing out this learning curve to scare you away. We just want you to know that it’ll take a little patience, research, and practice, but you’ll soon be able to create results that rival your local BBQ joint. Plus, charcoal grilling can be an extremely rewarding hobby and a highly satisfying skill to master over time (quite frankly, it’s borderline addictive). So, if you’re considering taking up grilling or smoking with charcoal, your journey should start with an exploration of the different kinds of heat these pits produce and how their properties contribute to different cooking methods.
Cooking with Indirect Heat
Along with smoke production, this type of heat transfer is necessary for tasty, slow-cooked BBQ. Charcoal just so happens to be great at creating both, making it the ideal — and usually the competition-required — fuel for low-and-slow cooking. You might think only large charcoal smokers can churn out tender and flavorful BBQ bathed in smoke for hours, but any charcoal pit is actually just as capable. All you need for indirect heat is a heat deflector or a setup where your food and coals are on opposite sides of the grill, then you can smoke, roast, and even bake. We told you these things were versatile!
Cooking with Direct Heat
Most steakhouses use infrared burners to sear their beef. Why does this matter for charcoal? Well, roaring-hot coals actually radiate infrared waves in the same manner, heating only what they come into contact with instead of just the surrounding air. This type of energy transfer doesn’t disturb the moisture barrier of your meat, meaning that it gets cooked without drying out (all told, infrared heat results in 35% less moisture loss than other kinds of heat). That’s not even accounting for the amazing flavor that comes from cooking directly over the coals, which transform food drippings into tasty smoke.
The Power of Dual-Zone Cooking
Both direct and indirect heat are great on their own, but where charcoal grills really shine is their ability to use both at once. A two-zone setup is by far the most versatile cooking method known to mankind, which has been doing this cooking-over-fire thing for quite some time. Just push your coals to one side of the grill — for direct heat, place food on the grates directly above the coals; for indirect heat, place food on the opposite grates with no coals below. Certain charcoal pits make dual-zone grilling easier by design, and many brands make heat deflectors or charcoal basket accessories that help, too.
Specialty Features of Charcoal Grills
The term “charcoal grill” means different things to different people. Some see it as the standard backyard barbecue grill, others think of a ceramic cooker, and there are certainly people who picture a massive smoker loaded with fuel. The wide variety of models has naturally given rise to many unique features and cooking systems, a trend that continues alongside each new innovation. We thought we’d highlight a few specialty features to show you that this category of products has much more to offer than a cooking grate over some coals.
Ceramic Charcoal Grills
We couldn’t write this article without mentioning kamado grills. Charcoal kamados have their roots in ancient Asian cooking vessels, and today’s models take advantage of ceramic’s outstanding thermal properties. As an insulator, ceramic needs a while to get hot but is extremely efficient at trapping and evenly re-radiating heat toward food. Sounds great for low-and-slow smoking, right? Even better news: kamados have far less airflow than most other grills, meaning moisture stays trapped inside the grill body for juicy results. It’s also possible to reach high temperatures in kamados.
Gravity Fed Charcoal
Masterbuilt Gravity Series grills and smokers changed the game by introducing a charcoal cooker that operates on the same principles as a pellet grill. Instead of arranging coals below the cooking surface, Masterbuilt designed and trademarked a vertical GravityFed hopper attached to the side of the main body. At the bottom of the hopper sits a grate where charcoal burns, creating heat and smoke that’s transferred into the cooking chamber. When ash and burned-out coals slip through the grate, gravity pulls the heavier coals from above into the fire to keep it rolling. All you have to do is fill the hopper, sit back, and let physics do its thing!
Hidden Rotisseries & Automatic Starters
The Everdure Hub II charcoal grill offers a sleek new take on the age-old technique of rotisserie grilling. At the push of a button, 2 stainless steel rotisserie poles hidden within the grill body emerge to any of 3 different positions. The poles can be raised and lowered at will, all while supporting up to 85 pounds of meat above the Hub’s wide charcoal basin (hello, suckling-pig roasts). Everdure’s innovation extends to the 4K charcoal grill, which includes a digital thermometer with multiple probes and an electric heating coil at the base of the charcoal chamber to automatically light fuel for you. See, charcoal pits aren’t so basic anymore.
Top Charcoal Grill Brands
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Charcoal Grill Advantages
High Heat
Unlike gas grills, charcoal pits have no max temperature setting. That means you can get them as hot as you want (within reason, of course).
Versatile Cooking
Charcoal can produce both direct infrared heat and indirect heat. Depending on the grill’s design, you can grill, smoke, sear, bake and more.
Dual-Zone Cooking
Arranging dual zones on a charcoal pit is incredibly easy — just bank some or all coals to one side, and multiple cooking styles are yours.
Incredible Flavor
When direct-heat grilling, charcoal instantly vaporizes food drippings into smoky, aromatic flavor particles that work wonders for flavor.
Juicier Meats
Charcoal placed below food cooks it using infrared heat, which results in less moisture loss when compared with other types of heat transfer.
Easy Wood Flavor
By simply adding wood chips to the top of your coals, your pit becomes filled with wood-fired flavors. No need for smoker boxes here!
Less Expensive
Because they lack highly priced components like burners and valves, charcoal pits generally cost less than gas grills at the point of purchase.
Sense of Pride
Many consider charcoal grilling a skill passed down from one generation to the next, making it a tradition you can share with others.
Final Considerations
Charcoal smokers and grills: pretty simple, right? We hope you’ve got a better handle on them than when you started reading, but we can’t consider our job fully done until we review a few more key points that should factor into your decision. Things like temperature management and cleaning can be tricky with charcoal, so be sure to carefully review our pointers before you make your big purchase.
Temperature Management
Though temperature control can be difficult to master on charcoal grills, it’s absolutely essential. There are 2 main ways of managing temperature inside a standard charcoal cooker: by controlling the fire through stoking the coals or adding more fuel, and by adjusting airflow with control mechanisms (usually steel air dampers). Both methods ultimately manipulate the combustion of your charcoal fire, with a bigger fire creating higher temperatures, and vice versa.
A temperature controller — like any Pitmaster IQ regulator — is a really convenient way to manage airflow, and therefore temperature. However you do it, we highly recommend a good wireless or remote BBQ thermometer, preferably one with enough probes to keep an eye on the internal temperature of both your food and your grill.
Availability of Accessories
Charcoal models are known for their versatility, but that’s often a function of the grill’s available accessories. The Weber Mastertouch, for instance, greatly expands cooking potential through a variety of plug-and-play accessories integrated into its Gourmet BBQ System. A few must-have charcoal grilling accessories regardless of brand: an ash tool for cleanup and stoking the coals, a charcoal chimney for easy ignition without the chemical taste of lighter fluid, and an electric charcoal starter like the Looftlighter for all the gadget guys out there. And don’t forget to invest in a good grill cover, which will protect your pit from the elements and extend its lifespan.
Ease of Cleaning
Speaking of your grill’s lifespan, proper cleaning is the key to any charcoal pit’s longevity. Charcoal ash left in the bottom of your grill will wreak havoc, especially if the ash is wet — at that point, it becomes high in alkalinity and literally eats away at the steel. Additionally, ash can mix with food drippings to create a sticky, flammable mess just waiting to ignite.
To make cleaning easier, look for grills that have an easy-clean mechanism, such as an ash basket or drawer that can be pulled out or removed from the grill. Many charcoal pit manufacturers provide ash tool accessories or slide-out ash pans to assist in cleanup. Trust us when we say this — if you have to break out a Shop-Vac or turn the grill over to remove ash, you won’t enjoy using that grill for very long.
No matter what your cleanup system is, be sure to never dump ashes in your yard or garden because wet ash takes on the caustic properties of lye and can burn your pets’ paws. You shouldn’t have to choose between Fido or Whiskers and lighting up the pit on Saturday afternoons.
That’s it for charcoal pits! If you’ve got more questions, our charcoal grilling experts will be more than
happy to help. Just give them a call at 1-877-743-2269 and
say the magic word charcoal
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