Unlike gas or pellet grills you can’t just turn off a charcoal grill. There’s no knob or switch that’s going to make the coals go out. This might be the biggest drawback to using a charcoal grill.
There’s really only three ways to put out a charcoal grill. The first is to close both the vents and try to snuff out the charcoal. Next is to use water to drown out the charcoals. Last is to open the vents all the way and let the charcoal burn itself out.
That’s three vary different ways of putting out a charcoal grill. Each of these ways has a advantage and a disadvantage to them. Lets take a closer look at each and see what there advantage and disadvantage are and when you might use one over the other.
Ways Of Putting Out Charcoal
Snuffing it Out
Snuffing out a charcoal grill is the most preferred way to put them out. To snuff a charcoal grill out all you need to do is close both the vents all the way and wait. By closing both the vents air can’t get in and CO2 can’t out.
With out air there can’t be fire. So once the fire uses up the air trapped in the grill it will die out. The problem with snuffing a grill out is if your grill isn’t air tight the grill might not go out or it might take a long time to go out.
Even if your grill does have a good seal and goes out with no problem there’s still a lot of heat trapped in the grill. This means you’ll have to wait to put the grill cover on or to put it away.
If your going to try to snuff out your charcoal grill you should do it right after you remove your food. Just close the vents after you’ve removed your food and go eat.
As long as your grill has a good seal it should be out buy the time your done eating. Depending on how long you give it it might even be cool enough to put the cover on or to put it a way.
The advantage to snuffing a charcoal grill out is that you can easily relight the left over charcoal. This way your not wasting any charcoal. You’ll just need to light a chimney starter worth of charcoal and add it to what’s left in the grill.
Once you’ve added the lit charcoal to the left over charcoal mix them up a bit and close the lid. Wait until there’s little to no smoke and your good to start grilling.
Drown it Out
Drowning out a charcoal grill is the fastest way to put out a charcoal grill. To drown out a charcoal grill your going to need water. You can either use a hose and spray the charcoal until there out. Or you can use a pitcher of water and pore it over the charcoal until it’s out.
I don’t like using this method of putting out a charcoal grill. First off it’s messy really messy. The ashes are going to get everywhere once you start adding water to the charcoal. So be prepared to give the grill a good cleaning before you use it again.
Second It’s not good for the grill. The number one thing that can go bad on a charcoal grill is the metal. Once you have rust holes in your grill you can’t control the air, and if you can’t control the air you cant control the heat.
By using water to put out your charcoal grill your adding unnecessary moister in to your grill. If you don’t clean the grill right away the ashes are going to hold this moister and your grill will start rusting from the inside out.
Also charcoal that has gotten wet doesn’t burn well if you can get it to burn at all. Charcoal is really good at soaking up and holding in moister. Even if you do get it to relight it’s going to give off a lot of smoke and wont burn as hot as using new charcoal.
But like I said it is the fastest way to put out a charcoal grill and to cool it off. So if you don’t have time to wait for the grill to cool off or need to put it away in a hurry then this is the best option. Just make sure to clean it as soon as possible.
Letting it Burn Out
This is a decision your going to need to make if there’s a lot of charcoal left then I won’t do this I would try to snuff it out. But if most of the charcoal is gone then it might be easier to let it burn itself out.
To do this you can leave the lid open and open the air intake all the way to make the charcoal burn faster. You wont have any charcoal to reuse but sins it’s burning out it will cool off faster.
With the lid off all the heat is escaping instead of getting trapped in the grill. So as the charcoal burns out the grill is cooling at the same time. It might be faster to let the grill burn itself out then to snuff it out.
Just like snuffing out a charcoal grill your going to want to do this as soon as you take your food off the grill. This way it has time to do it’s thing and it might be cooled off by the time your done eating.
Conclusion
Now you know the three ways to put out a charcoal grill. If you have the time and don’t like having waste then you can snuff out your grill. All you have to do is close everything and wait.
But if your in a hurry and can’t leave a hot grill unattended then you really have no other option but to use water and drown the coals out. This will put out the fire fast and cool off the metal.
But if there really isn’t anything left to burn in the grill then it might just be easier to let it burn out. Just leave the lid off and open the air vent all the way. This way the charcoals burn faster and in return burn themselves out.
As Always, Happy Grilling!