Many individuals leave their charcoal barbecue to burn for hours after they have finished cooking.
This is a massive waste of charcoal, not to mention a fire danger.
Continue reading to find out how to securely dispose of briquette ash after you’ve completed cooking on a charcoal barbecue.
Contents
- How to put out charcoal grill
- Equipment to help put out a charcoal grill
- Can I use water to put out a charcoal grill?
- What’s the best way to dispose of old charcoal and ash?
- Can I reuse charcoal briquettes?
- Wrapping it all up
- FAQs
- Is it safe to let charcoal burn out?
- How long to let charcoal burn before closing grill?
- Can you pour water on charcoal grill?
- Does charcoal give off carbon monoxide when not burning?
- Will water put out a grill fire?
- How do you lower the fire on a charcoal grill?
- Does charcoal burn faster with lid on or off?
How to put out charcoal grill
It is extremely simple to extinguish a charcoal barbecue safely. Stopping the fire is as simple as turning off the oxygen supply and waiting for the coals to burn out.
1. Shut the grill down
The first step in properly putting out a charcoal barbecue is to cut off the oxygen supply to the charcoal.
Close the lid and block the air vents. Grills with adjustable intake vents beneath the grill and exhaust vents on top of the grill lid, such as the Weber Kettle, are available.
Check that all of them are completely closed, since even a tiny bit of air might keep the charcoal burning.
This will deprive the fire of oxygen and prevent the coals from burning, allowing them to be reused.
If you’re cooking at home, you may go dine, and your grill should be virtually cold by the time your dinner is over.
If you’re camping or need to put out a fire fast, use tongs or a metal spatula to push around all of your ashes to verify they’re no longer burning.
Just don’t do it too quickly, or the coal may get enough oxygen to keep burning.
2. Remove the ash and charcoal
After you’ve turned off your grill and let it to cool, pick up any residual coals with tongs or heat-resistant gloves and place them in a separate bucket.
Some grills, such as the Weber Kettle Premium, include ash collecting systems that make this task simpler.
Do not immerse hot coals in water because the resultant vapor might burn you.
Using an old brush, remove the ash from your barbecue before putting it into a pail of water filled with baking soda (or salt). Small non-flammable granular particles, such as baking soda or salt, aid to soak up grease and smother grease fires that cannot be extinguished with water alone.
After it has totally cooled, wrap it in aluminum foil and throw it away.
Pouring this mixture down the drain might cause clogging.
3. Deal with any hot coals
If they’re stubbornly refusing to go out, shower them with extra water from a garden hose (while staying a safe distance away) until they go out on their own.If you followed the procedures above, you should not have any hot coals to deal with; but, if you took shortcuts, you can always put out any live coals that are still burning within the bucket by covering them with either baking soda or water.
Once the coals have been removed, dispose of them in the same manner as the ash.
Equipment to help put out a charcoal grill
To securely set out your charcoal grill, you only need a few conventional barbecue items and a few extras from the kitchen pantry, which include:
- Aluminum foil
- A wire grill brush and a dedicated brush
- Grill tongs
- Heatproof gloves
- A bucket of water
- Baking soda
To ensure you have all the knowledge you need to properly set out your grill, we have compiled a list of the most often asked questions and answered them for you:
Can I use water to put out a charcoal grill?
It is never a good idea to pour water straight over hot coals. It has the potential to produce a flare-up, and you don’t want to be standing near your grill when this occurs. While water may be used to complete cooling off coals, we never recommend throwing water straight into your barbecue.
What’s the best way to dispose of old charcoal and ash?
Taking old charcoal and ash to the landfill is the best method to dispose of it. If you’re only cleaning up your grill, ash may be dropped securely into a metal container or bucket with at least one side perforated for ventilation and placed in an outside trashcan away from flammable materials.
Before disposing of possibly hot ash in a trashcan, always double-check that it is not labeled No Hot Ashes, since the heat created by even day-old ashes is capable of melting through a plastic trashcan and starting a fire.
Can I reuse charcoal briquettes?
You certainly can. Charcoal briquettes may be reused as long as you haven’t used water to put out your barbecue. Simply store your briquettes in a metal container and allow them to cool before reusing them. Then, remove any extra ash and place it in your charcoal bag.
Wrapping it all up
Charcoal grills are a fantastic method to prepare really tasty food, but they may be dangerous if not properly extinguished. Using this tutorial, you’ll have all the knowledge you need to set out your charcoal barbecue fast, safely, and successfully.
