Grilling in Cold and Snow
We are now officially in winter grilling season.
We at BBQLovers are grill fanatics, as you can probably tell. We don’t let rain, wind, and definitely not snow and cold stop us from grilling all year round. In fact, few things beat a really good winter cookout.
Picture loads of snow, 10 degrees below zero and brilliant sunshine. Fantastic grilling weather, if you ask me.
Of course it’s easier to grill in the summer, but why should everything be easy?
If you need to brush up on the basics, there’s our guide to grilling methods.
In winter it can take a little longer for the grill to come up to temperature, but no more than 5–10 minutes. A good grill holds its heat even in cold weather. It may take a few more briquettes when it’s cold.
We usually use about an extra ¼ of a filled chimney starter, or about 25 briquettes. Make sure to keep the lid closed as much as you possibly can.
There’s no reason to open it all the time. When you open the lid and it’s very cold outside, everything cools down very fast and it takes a long time before you get the heat back up.
Wind is worse than cold for your grill, though.
A grill heats up the air around it, which means it keeps a stable heat inside. If it’s very windy, the heated air around the grill is blown away too. This means the grill has to take valuable energy from the coals to keep the air around it warm.
In other words, the wind is your biggest enemy, sucking the heat out of your grill. You have surely noticed that it takes much longer to make, say, pulled pork when it’s very windy.
The exception is the Big Green Egg smoker, which has ceramic walls on the inside. These keep the heat trapped, no matter how much it blows. On these windy days you should shield your grill or smoker from the wind as much as you can.
There are examples of people who have built enclosures around their grills and smokers to get away from the wind. Of course you don’t need to go that far, but it can help a lot if your grill is placed somewhere very windy.
Gas grills can be more sensitive to the wind than a charcoal grill. It has happened that the flame blows out on a gas grill if it is far too windy. On top of that, it can be nearly impossible to use the side burner when it’s really windy.
Snow is usually no great obstacle to grilling, other than that you sometimes have to dig out your grill. It doesn’t affect the heat or the grilling itself, though. We think it is pure poetry to fire up your smoker on a cold, sunny winter day with loads of snow.
Darkness can also be a problem. In winter we don’t have many hours of daylight in this long, narrow country. Definitely not in the north. There are simple solutions, though.
Some Weber models have a light attached to the handle, which helps you when grilling in the dark.
Weber’s lights can also be bought separately and fit many common gas grills on the market.
Why not get yourself a headlamp at the nearest hardware store? Does it look silly? Who cares, it works perfectly.
It can feel tempting to roll the grill into the garage during the winter months and grill under a roof. This is absolutely not a good idea. Charcoal gives off carbon monoxide, and if you don’t have enough ventilation it can be directly deadly. Gas grills also give off some carbon monoxide, but not to the same extent; however, they come with another danger. If a burner were to go out and gas leaks into a space that is not sufficiently ventilated, a serious explosion can occur.
That is why we at BBQLovers.se advise against any grilling in enclosed spaces. Grilling and BBQ is an outdoor sport, so let’s keep it that way.
The bottom line is that in winter the gas grill is our best friend. You go out, light it, close the lid, wait until it’s hot and then put the food on. Charcoal grills and smokers generally need a bit more attention, while the gas grill more or less looks after itself. If you also have a wireless thermometer (which every serious griller should own), all you have to do is wait until the meat reaches the right temperature.
At BBQLovers we usually have a Christmas tradition. It’s heated mulled wine on the side burner, grilled sausage and a fire in the Weber Fireplace. For us the grill is as much a Christmas tradition as pickled herring.
How do you grill in winter?
Please feel free to share.