Most Weber gas grills have thermometers constructed inside the lid. These thermometers can easily let you know how hot the grill is.
Generally, these thermometers can read temperatures up to 600- or 700-degrees Fahrenheit.
However, a Weber grill is designed in a way that it maxes out at around 500- to 550-degrees Fahrenheit.
This can be confusing for some users, who might be wondering the reason that Weber offers thermometers that can read temperatures beyond what the grill is designed to attain.
To ease this confusion, you should liken the thermometer to a speedometer present in the car.
For example, your speedometer might read speeds of up to 180 miles per hour, but that does not mean that you will take your car all the way up to that speed.
Similarly, there is no point in getting a grill to go beyond 550-degrees Fahrenheit.
But once you exceed that threshold, you significantly increase the chances of burning your food.
Besides, being dependable and high-quality, Weber grills are also designed to be efficient.
Operating a grill at 600- or 700-degrees Fahrenheit means that a great deal more fuel will be required, with little to no benefits to show for that extra energy consumption.
Some grill users feel that, unless their grill is extremely hot, they will not be able to get sear markings on their foods. However, this is a myth and simply isn’t true.
Moreover, even though a lid thermometer is an extremely useful feature to have on a grill, what the thermometer is displaying is essentially the temperature of the air inside the Weber grill.
This means that the grates, themselves, are going to be significantly hotter than what the thermometer is showing.
If you want to check the internal temperature of the food that you are grilling, you should use a probe-type thermometer.
What is the Maximum Temperature that Charcoal Grills Can Hit?
The maximum charcoal grill temperature will depend upon a number of factors.
Factors include the method with which you have set up your grill and the kind of coal that you are using.
On average, a charcoal grill should be able to go up to 600- to 650-degrees Fahrenheit. The maximum temperature, meanwhile, can be around 900- to 1000-degrees Fahrenheit.
If you are cooking with an open lid, you will only be able to reach a temperature of around 400- to 500-degrees Fahrenheit.
However, if you close the lid, this range will increase to 600-650.
To make your charcoal grill temperature go up, you can open up the air vents and allow the outside oxygen to enter the grill.
The increase in oxygen will increase the burning of the lump coal; this, in turn, will lead to a gradual increase in the temperature of the grill.
How to Increase the Temperature of a Weber Grill?
There are a few methods that you can implement to increase the temperature of your Weber grill.
This section will be discussing the simplest and most effective of those methods.
Increasing the Quantity and Quality of Your Lump Charcoal:
If you feel that the grill temperature is going down, gradually increase the number of lump charcoals in the grill.
Since lump charcoals are made using natural hardwood, they can produce more heat and burn for far longer.
The burnt lumps of charcoal will help ignite the other lumps, thereby upping the temperature of your Weber grill quite quickly.
However, remember to wait for a while before introducing food to these new lump coals – allow them the time that they need to completely and thoroughly heat up.
Keep in mind that the better the quality of the lump charcoal is, the greater the increase in temperature will be, and the longer you will be able to sustain this higher temperature.
Using Charcoal Chimney Starters:
A good chimney starter can allow you to heat the coal up before you introduce it to the Weber grill.
Charcoal chimney starters have been particularly designed to heat up coals for quicker and better grilling.
Remember to gradually add coals to your chimney, and let them burn for a fair amount of time.
Once you are satisfied, you can take the coals out and put them directly onto the grill.
Mixing Charcoal with Cooking Firewood:
Yet another straightforward method of increasing your Weber grill’s temperature involves combining the briquettes with some cooking firewood.
The reason that we are using cooking wood is that this kind of wood can burn for considerably longer, compared to briquettes and lump charcoal.
You can go for fire woods like cherry wood or pear wood.
These woods will not only increase the temperature of the Weber grill but will help you maintain this temperature for a longer period of time.
Opening the Vents and Cleaning the Ashes:
One reason behind low grill temperatures might be the ashes that have been left over from the last time you used the grill.
These ash residues prevent the grill from effectively burning the coal and, consequently, keeping it from reaching the desired temperatures.
If you think that your Weber grill is not reaching high enough temperatures, examine the gas connection.
Open up the vents to encourage oxygen exchange, which will allow the grill to stay hot for at least around 30 to 45 minutes.
Let the charcoal be for 20 minutes so that the grill has ample time to heat up before you introduce food to it.
You can also:
- Reduce the distance between the fire and food
- Use a lower grate (the length of the grate is inversely proportional to the grill temperature)
- Use a cooking grate made of enamel cast iron. These cooking grates are specifically designed for Weber grills and have excellent heat-retention abilities
- Use lump charcoal instead of charcoal briquettes
Wrapping Up
To sum up, most Weber grills can reach temperatures of up to 550-degrees Fahrenheit.
If you feel that your Weber grill is not reaching sufficiently high temperatures, there are a few things that you can try to remedy this problem.