The Biggest Disadvantage Of A Charcoal Grill Is Also A Major Fire Hazard

Deciding what type of grill is best for your outdoor cooking needs can be difficult. There are certainly pros and cons to both gas and charcoal grills, but when it comes to charcoal in particular, things can get a bit dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. The trouble here is that unlike a gas grill, when you are done cooking with charcoal, it can hang onto heat — and just plain continue burning — for quite a while. To help explain the best practices for charcoal grill operation, safety, and cleaning, we sat down with a true expert, Scott Thomas, owner of The Grillin' Fools.

As he explains it, the safest way to put out a charcoal grill is simply to let it sit. "Usually by the following morning, the ash can be removed," he says. Sooner than that, the leftover embers from the charcoal may still be too hot for traditional garbage bins, potentially setting other trash on fire or even melting the can itself. As a test, he suggests that you "churn up the ash pile a bit. Any sparks or anything glowing orange means it's not all the way out."

If it isn't all the way out, though, you still should never pour water on a hot charcoal grill. This is the tried-and-true technique for dousing a campfire, but it doesn't work well in a grill. First off, splashing water and hot steam can result in burns, but the rapid change of temperature can also harm the grill itself, and the mixture of water and ash can turn to a difficult-to-remove sludge that sticks to the bottom of the grill. The best practice is also the easiest: Just let it burn itself out.

There is another option for cleaning the grill without such a long wait. "The best advice I have here," Thomas says, "is to buy a small metal trash can with a lid and a metal scoop/shovel." With such a receptacle, ashes can be safely scooped out of the grill before they are completely cold to the touch. Then the grill is ready for the next round of cooking, and the coals can be snuffed out and cooled under the tight-fitting lid of the metal bin. "By the following day," Thomas explains, "you can dump the ash into a regular trash can. One cook will barely fill the metal trash can, so you can empty the grill of ash 5 or 6 times before you need to dump the metal trash can."

Once the majority of the ash has been scooped out into the safety of the metal can, Thomas suggests that it's important to get the nooks and crannies as well, which can be difficult to do with the same metal shovel used for removing the rest of the ash. The best tool for this job, he says, is a wet/dry shop vac, but only once any and all hot coals have been scooped safely into the bin. "That way," Thomas says, "you ensure that no hot coals are pulled into a plastic shop vac."

Home cooks might need a few more tips for cleaning charcoal grills than they do for the gas alternatives, but with the right knowledge and equipment, charcoal is perfectly safe. You just need to make sure that the ashes coming out between grilling sessions are either already nice and cool or are transferred to a safe receptacle to finish that cooling process before joining the rest of the garbage.