Grilling – Can You Get 900F in a Charcoal Grill?

Instead of dousing the coals, in a primitive setup, you would be better served to manipulate distance from heat source as your form of temperature control. It can be as simple as adding or removing bricks to space your grill from your flame, or as complicated as a pulley-based system to raise or lower your grate.

Using water will cause your coals to smolder, which can give off creosote (less likely with charcoal than wood, but still a possibility). This can impart a rather nasty flavor into your food.

If you are unable to or uncomfortable with changing your grate distance, then salt or some other dry smothering agent would be viable.

I'm not sure how many steaks you're doing at once, but if you're not using the entire grill surface, stack the charcoal up. (Not sure how well it'd work with the entire grill surface and, e.g., two starters full of charcoal. With the grill open, it'll surely work.)

You can cook steaks with the lid off, that'll likely lead to the coals burning faster (hotter).

Stacking the charcoal does two things:

• the stack is higher, so it gets the charcoal closer to the meat. You can't lower the grate on a Weber kettle, unfortunately.
• there are more briquettes under the meat, each putting out heat.

A good stack is hot enough to brown a steak, even if you put it on the grill dripping with marinade (not that you should). Make sure to have a pair of tongs, you won't want your hands anywhere near it.