Should i grill with the vents open

This is the sweet spot for letting in less oxygen to lower the grilling temperatures a bit. Closing the intake dampers partially will help you achieve the magical number degrees F, which is attributed to proper meat cooking.

Still, at it, we suggest setting the upper vents the same way you do to the bottom vents. While you might also consider closing the lid when cooking larger items such as larger sweet potatoes and bone-in chicken, the idea to keep the lid as much open as possible should still come into play. You still need to put off the fire to let your charcoal grill cool down. This is where you completely shut all the top and bottom vents. This will completely cut down the oxygen supply and starve your charcoals of oxygen and stop them from burning.

Brush the burgers with the oil. Grill the burgers until golden brown and slightly charred on the first side, about 3 minutes for beef and 5 minutes for turkey. Flip over the burgers. Follow this tip: The grill needs to get good and hot before any food is added.

After lighting the grill , cover it with the lid and let the charcoal heat up for at least 15 minutes. You'll know it's ready when it looks gray and ashy. Flare-ups can be scary, but there are some easy steps to help you prevent and control them when they happen. Trim the Fat.

Flare-ups usually happen because of excess fat, sauces or oily marinades. Keep the Lid Open. Avoid Wind. Move Your Food. Burn the Grease Away. Don't Use Water. Turn off the Burners. Clean Your Grill. The top grill vent is called the exhaust damper, which releases smoke and excess heat from the grill. This serves as the passage for air outflow.

Together, these vents control the cooking temperature by regulating the inflow and outflow of air in the grill.

One cannot function properly without the other. Reset the regulator by turning off the burners on your gas grill. Turn off the propane tank and disconnect the hose from the tank. With your gas grill lid open, turn the burner knobs to high for about two minutes, and then turn them off again.

Reconnect the hose to your propane tank and slowly turn on the gas. The less air, the cooler the internal temperature of the grill. No air and the fire goes out. On my Weber kettle, I always start with all three bottom vents open. Then I close each partially to get the charcoals burning at the rate for the type of fire I want. Think of the dampers on the lid like you would a chimney. They vent hot air and smoke out of the top of the grill, which then pulls fresh air through the bottom grill vents.

Because this exhaust is critical to how much air comes into the grill, the top vents are more important than you might think. The vents also play a role. We'll give you some tips on how to use the vents. It's the most accurate way to control the temperature in the barbecue. This option allows a lot of oxygen into the BBQ. The lower vent is open and draws in as much oxygen as possible and feeds it to the fire.

The top vent is open and vents the burned hot gases so they aren't absorbed by the meat. This is the perfect situation for:. This draws in less oxygen through the barbecue than when you open the bottom vent all the way. This way is suitable when you don't want to grill at very high temperatures. For instance for indirect grilling. Smoking a dish is done by drawing in as much oxygen as possible and not venting a lot of smoke. The venting is limited because the top vent is only half open.

Do make sure that the top vent is right above the dishes. This way, you reach relatively low temperatures, get a lot of smoke in the barbecue, and lead the smoke past the dishes. If you close the vents all the way, no oxygen will enter the barbecue. The charcoal or briquettes will stop burning.

You only use this option if you want to extinguish the barbecue.